Not long ago, goose bumps came as statutory company when race-tracks around the world were being enamored by the V8 chorus that F1 cars so laboriously emitted. To a slight dismay, things became aurally shallow when the shift to turbocharged V6 power was made. The stands and pits no longer echo with the banshee shrieks as slowly and steadily flat natured, less vibrant sounds fill the motorsport space. Much of this downsizing can be attributed to the overall global environmental calamity that we are slowly sinking into. Big, lusty, naturally aspirated motors are disappearing slowly, to make way for smaller, force induced, tree hugging power plants that emit less poison in the air. Modern sports cars get the job of quality motoring done in a clinical manner, without feeling the need to noisily emote, like in the past.
With that, the definition of a fast car’s underpinnings are slowly taking a major overhaul, and something like BMW’s i8 electric hybrid sports car is leading that change. But thankfully, their M Division still knows how to celebrate internal combustion, and the wraps were off from the new M3 and M4 twins last year, which follow M’s philosophy of sports cars that claim to have you grinning from ear to ear on the track, and still drop your kids to school without any fret. Yet, with lesser endowed but strong, turbo-charged engines, they herald a new era for M cars.
The new F80 series BMW M3 and M4 share the same, engine-downsizing sentiment with their gushy, turbo-charged, inline six cylinders of M TwinPower engine, waving those eight cylinders in vee from the last-generation M3 goodbye. So when the new M3 and M4 were revving their nuts off and flying by at the Buddh International Circuit on a wintry morning, we felt a tinge of remorse at the noise, which marked the end of an era as far as old school fast cars go. But we’re here to drive them, and that’s what we did.
M4 you ask?
After its illustrious past which started from the legendary E30 M3, the baby M range (before the M2 arrives) has split into two for 2014. It’s just a name to differentiate the coupes from the sedans, as the last generation M3 also spawned a coupe (E92), sedan (E90), and a convertible (E93).
For 2014: M3=Sedan (F80); M4=Coupe (F82)/Convertible (F83)
The new nomenclature can be attributed to BMW’s new numerology- even numbers denote coupes/4-door coupes/coupe based SUVs, while odd numbers denote sedans and proper SUVs. So, strictly going by past nomenclature, the new M4 is actually a M3 coupe, while the M3 sedan is, well, a M3 sedan. Anyway what’s in a name?