New BMW M3 2021 review – 0-60 test, lap time & FULL driving impressions | What Car? By What Car?

This is the brand new BMW m3. This is our first review of it and in this video I'm going to be showing you how fast it is in a straight line why it doesn't always want to go in a straight line and how fast it was around our test track. That's on top of all the sensible stuff, of course like how much it costs and how much standard equipment you get and how it compares to its main rivals. The alpha Julia quadrifoglio and Mercedes c63 AMG so stay with us for all of that, but first a very quick reminder to subscribe to the channel if you aren't already and if you want to buy any new car head over to the deals section of our website, whatcar. com, because you could save yourself quite a lot of money. Now the looks, let's start with those, because although the m3 is based on the three series, it does look quite different.

Doesn't it, and I'm not just talking about the color and all the bits stuck on the outside here, we'll talk about that stuff more in a minute. I'm talking about the actual face of the car, so the new m3 uses the same nose and this big kidney grille here that's proved pretty controversial. Let us know what you think in the comment section below as the four series coupe that was launched last year, there is an m version of the four series as well. It's called the m4 and although it has two fewer doors than this car, it actually costs 1300 pounds more. We're not entirely sure why, because both cars are fundamentally the same, underneath we've driven the m4 quite a lot over the last few days as well, not only here but on the road as well, and certainly everything we're going to tell you about the way this car drives also applies to the m4, assuming both cars are spec the same.

Of course. This particular car has the m carbon pack on it. It's very expensive cost 6750 pounds, and it gets you lots of carbon fiber bits on the outside, including rear, diffuser rear spoiler, and these mirror housings. You also get carbon fiber bucket seats on the inside as well. We'll talk about those more later on.

If you think six thousand seven hundred fifty pounds is quite a lot of money, but you like the carbon fiber stuff on the outside, then don't worry because you can have it on its own for a mere four thousand one hundred pounds, or you could just not bother because you get a carbon fiber roof as standard anyway. One thing you don't have to pay extra for, though, is this paint. It's called Isle of Man green, and it's one of six metallic and two solid colors that are included in the price. If you want something particularly specific, you can have it through BMW's individual scheme, but you will have to pay extra. These alloys are standard as well, although there is one slightly different design to choose from if you'd prefer, and you can choose between bi-color, which these are where parts the wheel are polished, alloy or just go for full jet black, either way the wheels are 19 inches at the front and 20 inches here at the back, and you get Michelin pilot sport, 4s tires, you can actually pay a bit extra to have pilot sport cup 2 tires, which are track focused tire that are legal for road use.

If you'd prefer, you can also choose to have the brake calipers painted in black, blue or red like these, and if you see a m3 with gold calipers. Well, that means it has optional carbon ceramic brakes, they're very expensive. They cost 8 000 pounds, and they're designed for hardcore track driving, but we've driven the m3 and the m4 quite hard at our track here over the last few days and had no issues at all with the standard brakes. So we probably wouldn't bother, but the most important feature of the new m3 is under here. It's a three liter straight six like the one in the old m3, but it's a completely different engine, it's very similar to the one in the x3m actually, but it has more power, 503 bhp, to be exact, which, coincidentally or not, is exactly the same as the v8 powered Mercedes, c63, AMG and v6 powered Julia quadrifoglio, which are of course, this car's main rivals.

All of that power, as with both of those cars, is sent to the rear wheels, but the m3 will very shortly be available in four-wheel drive form as well the price. Well, the m3 is only available in competition form. Here in the UK, there are lower spec versions available in some other markets, so it starts just under 75 000 pounds there's only a few hundred more than a c63 AMG, but it is about 7 000, more than the Julia quadrifoglio. And although you do get quite a lot of standard equipment, you might be surprised to hear you have to pay extra for keyless entry and powered tailgate. Now we won't spend too long in here, because the m3 is essentially a three series inside, of course, and we have an in-depth review on that car.

You can watch by clicking up there at the top if you want to, but there are a few things I want to show you and one of those are these carbon fiber bucket seats that I mentioned a bit earlier on. They come as part of the m carbon pack, or you can also have them on their own for 3 400 pounds, and they are absolutely brilliant, comfortable, really, really supportive, and actually they save around five kilos per side over the seats that you get as standard. I quite like this light gray or Silverstone as BMW calls it, but you can also have black orange or this rather strange, looking sea blue, which won't be to everyone's taste. If you prefer there is this slightly odd carbon fiber hump between my legs and that's designed to lock you in place a bit better when you're going around corners, it takes a little of getting used to, but it really does work, and you'll probably hear a few people say: oh, you can't leave foot break well. Firstly, you can, if you really want to, but secondly the m3 is fundamentally a road car, so really you're going to be doing that often anyway, I feel quite comfortable with the seat in its lowest position.

Here I can see out nicely I'm just over six foot. The only thing I wish is that the steering wheel would go a little lower. I do feel like I'm reaching up into the sky a bit it's coming out on some neck height rather than chest height, because the 3 series wasn't designed with these carbon fiber buckets in mind, but it's not a major issue. All I need to do is just drag the seat up a little and I can reach steering wheel comfortably. Absolutely fine.

Now something m cars have come in for a bit of criticism for in recent years, is girth. I'm talking about steering wheel. Of course, they've just been really thick and chunky, which some people love, but others, including myself, would prefer something a little slimmer. This isn't too bad at all. It's perhaps slightly thicker than I'd, ideally like, but certainly not annoyingly.

So that is a good thing. You've also got these red m buttons here and what they allow you to do is pull together your favorite driving settings, so you can adjust the stiffness of the suspension, the weight of the steering and the responsiveness of the engine individually, but you can also group together those settings and access them quickly by pressing one of these buttons, so you can use one of them for say, town driving and another one for country, road driving. So that's a good feature to have these paddles here behind the steering wheel are standard on UK cars because you can only have an eight speed automatic gearbox. You can have a manual in some other markets, but in recent generations of the m3 BMW didn't sell many manuals in the UK at all, so it's decided not to offer one this time around, which is totally fair enough now, unless you're, an absolute idiot you're not going to be doing this on the road, but one of the things the m3 has become famous for over the years is, and BMW has absolutely played up to that. With this latest generation car there's even a function that can record the length and time of your drifts, you actually get a little score up there as well.

It's a gimmick, let's be honest, but if you ever do find yourself a track like this, then it's a bit of fun and what's wrong with that. So what about performance? Well, as luck would have it I'm just coming on to the mile straight here at mill brook, which is where performance test cars, so it's probably best. I just demonstrate now. First, I need to engage launch control, which is a bit of a faff. You first need to turn the tracks control off, which you do by holding down this button here, then you need to put the gearbox into first gear and select the most aggressive change setting which is s3.

You then need to make sure the steering wheel is pointed straight ahead, of course, hold down the brake press, the accelerator all the way to the floor and then yeah, it's just not getting off the line properly today. For some reason, this is a problem that we have encountered with: BMW launch control systems quite a lot actually when they work they're brilliant when they don't they're, quite frustrating, so naught 60. There was 4.5 seconds. This car is capable of a lot faster than that. In fact, the m4 that we had here a couple of days ago, it was slightly warmer weather, which probably helped that did not 60 in 3.8 seconds. That is a faster time than we've ever figured the alpha Julia quadrifoglio or the Mercedes c63 AMG.

So clearly, the m3 is a very quick car when everything's working properly the problem is it doesn't always, as I've just demonstrated what about through the corners well with anything fast like this or even hot hatches. Actually, we time them around our handling circuit up here at mill brook, it's quite a short circuit. It's only 0.9 miles long, it's narrow, and really it's designed to simulate a country road now to go really quickly around here today. I need to put on a helmet I'd need to get the track closed, but we did exactly that a couple of days ago in the m4 and that managed to go around this circuit in 41.2 seconds, and that probably doesn't mean a lot to you. But trust me.

It is quick, the c63 that we tested here on the same day, that was more than a second behind and on a short circuit like this. That's a lot and like this car, the m4 was on its standard pilot sport 4s tires rather than the really sticky cut twos that I talked about earlier, but it isn't just about lap times. Of course, the m3 is perfect. Fun as well, the steering is quick, it's very precise, so you can place the car exactly where you want it. Even at really high speeds, it isn't the most naturally weighted steering in the world, and you get a bit more feedback from a c63, but otherwise tough to fall.

Body control, though, is absolutely fantastic and bearing in mind this is heavier than the car. It replaces it handles quick change of direction better than the Julia quad folio and the c63, that's for sure, and the brakes they're fantastic as well, not only in terms of how quickly they can stop you, but also how stable this car is under braking. That's one of the main reasons. It was so quick around our test track, but what about the ride? Well, as long as you switch the suspension to a softer mode, it's pretty good, actually, certainly for something. This performance focused, it's still fairly firm, of course, but it isn't jarring or crashing which cars of this type can sometimes be, and it works really well on the road.

So that's good news. There is quite a lot of road noise. Car has fat tires. Of course, that's not surprising, but it is a quieter cruiser on the freeway than a c63 AMG. So, overall, it's not going to be a car, that's difficult to live with on a daily basis other than the fact that real-world fuel economy isn't brilliant.

In our tests this car averaged 26 MPG, not bad for a car with 500 brake horsepower, but still not exactly brilliant either. The only slightly disappointing thing, perhaps is the sound of the engine. It's certainly loud, it's bass, and it leaves you in no doubt that lots of power is being produced, but it isn't the sort of noise that will have you just accelerating to hear the engine alone like you would do in a v8 powered c63, but is the m3 a better all-around performance saloon than the c63 and the Julia quadrifoglio? Technically, it is without question: it's slightly faster in a straight line, but it's much, much more capable through the corners, and it has better interior as well. So if those things are your priorities, then you should choose the m3, but if you prefer something slightly less serious with lower limits, but a little more playful handling for the road at least, then we can absolutely see why you choose the c63 still especially given that it has that fantastic v8 engine, but for lots, more information about the m3 and our full written review of the m4 head over to our website rockcar. com or just click the link up there at the top of the screen shortcut your way straight to it, and if you enjoyed this video, then please do give it a like leave us a comment below and other than that.

We'll see you next time. You.

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