The 2024 BMW M4 Is Basically A M3 With 2 Doors

Today we are going to be reviewing the BMW M4 Competition. Under the hood, we have a turbocharged 3-liter inline-6 that goes to an 8-speed automatic transmission. Fuel economy is 16 around town and then 22 on the highway, with power outputs of 503 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque.

You can check out the video review of this article down below.

Aggressive Looks

So starting with the hood, it has a super muscular design; it has the indentations at the top; it kind of just adds to the aggression. And speaking of aggressiveness, look at the daytime running lights with the LED headlamps.

We do have parking sensors here on the front end, and then we've got the larger kidney front grille; it just looks like these aggressive nostrils, basically. You've got the M4 competition badge as well on the grille. And putting it all together, the larger kidney grille works with the M cars because of how aggressive the hood and the overall design are. 

The tire wheel setup is 275/35R19 in the front and then 285/30R20 in the rear, so it is a staggered setup. We think they look absolutely fantastic. We've always been fans of M Wheels, and then you guys can see the red brake caliper, which matches the rest of the car. 

Speaking of M stuff, look at the wide, aggressive fenders and then the M4 competition badge on them. The mirror caps are blacked out. This one happens to have the carbon fiber roof, which is a really cool feature. Even the side skirts at the bottom are all blacked out.

The key fob has our unlock function or lock function, the opening here for the trunk, and then the M colors on the side. Popping into the trunk, we've got latches inside it to pop down the seats and get more storage. This thing's actually really practical for a two-door car. And adding to the practicality, you can press the button to lower down the trunk; that's cool because you don't see that. 

Anyway, we've got this blacked-out spoiler on the back along with the X drive and M4 competition badge. And then the tail lights look super sweet. The exhaust tip diffuser set up at the bottom is so aggressive. Putting it all together, we think that the style of the M4 is just super, super sweet. 

Impressive Fit And Finish

We've got really nice leather trim all over the door panel; just gotta trust me on that. Then we have memory seats, and we've got our window controls and mirror adjustments on the door.

The mirrors do power-fold in. The door handle looks pretty cool. We also have speakers for the Harman Kardon sound system on the door, and then we do have blind spot monitoring at the mirrors.

Now that we are sitting in the back seat, we actually have quite a bit of leg room back here. It's actually got a padded armrest, which is really nice. There’s padding above the armrest as well, which is really nice with the material used. We got our own little climate zone back controls for the back also. 

Really nice leather seats, perforated in the center, and some M colors on the seat belt as well. And then, if you're wondering, the headroom is fine.

Now, taking a look at the front seat, there’s a M4 badge on the headrest of the front seats. It's perforated all down the center portion. The power adjustments are on the side of the seats and then the pedals—a pretty cool setup. 

The steering really has a really nice leather trim all around, and we love the carbon fiber trims on it. There's a M logo at the bottom as well, along with a heated steering wheel button on the. The stitching on it is also really nice.

We have carbon fiber with the paddle shifters, along with our M2 and M1 modes, and then your practical stuff like your cruise control controls for the center stack and then your regular stocks there on the back. 

We have a full digital gauge cluster in here, and if we put it in M1 mode, this will pop up with a little M1. And then you have to press a couple times for the M2, and everything gets a lot louder; just says M2 with that. But I can also press an M mode button, and if we pop it into the sport mode, it'll actually change the gauge cluster, so that's kind of another little fun part of it. 

In reverse, we do have a 360-degree camera system. We love how we have a car wash mode that's hilarious. Anyway, trajectory lines turn with the steering wheel. We got that bird's-eye view option, and then this one has automatic parking, which is pretty cool, and then there's also the backup assistant.

As with the rest of the infotainment system, we have a shortcut bar here on the side, and it does respond like very quickly overall. And then yes, we have the giant app page, which is the best way to put it. We like how the climate controls, by the way, are always accessible, and this does have heated and ventilated seats as well as a dual zone up front. So yeah, overall, we would say it's a pretty good system.

We've got carbon fiber here on the dash and then leather trim here at the very top. And then we got the normal vent layout, with a little radio control and some climate stuff down below. Then there’s a carbon fiber storage cover, which houses a wireless phone charging pad, some cup holder action, and a little 12 volt port. 

We have a little dial next to the shifter to control the infotainment system if you don't want to use the touchscreen. We've got our M shifter with the adjustment for the transmission to make it more or less aggressive.

And then next to that, we have buttons for our stability control, camera system, parking sensor, and auto-stop start. There are buttons for the engine stop star, your M mode, your setup for everything, to make the exhaust ladder quieter, your auto hold, and then your parking brake.

And back to practicality, we've got a center console with a little USB port inside. We really like the trim on top of the center console. We like the fit and finish overall inside; it's pretty nice. We have the glove box lined with felt, which is also another nice feature. 

BMW's modern fit and finish is honestly super impressive. I'm impressed with how far BMW has come because when I worked at a dealership, I remember we'd get some you know older BMWs traded in. When I say older, I'm talking like 2000 to 2010 to maybe 2015, and like just since then, since even 2015, it's like they've improved their cars so much.

Drives As Aggressively As It Looks

Let's see how the M4, aka the underrated M car, drives. Everyone wants an M3; that's literally like you ask anyone BMW M car, they say M3 nobody talks about the M4 and it's the same exact car as the M3 just two doors versus four doors but like the driving dynamics, the powertrain, like everything is the same, it's the same car. We just find it kind of hilarious that we live in a world where there's now hatred for two-door cars.

While setting off, yes, it's an M car, so even in this more comfortable setting, this is a firm car; the suspension's firm, and the seats are also firm. They're comfortable, but they're firm. But with that firmness, you get really sharp handling the steering's kind of light in this mode. But we're sure it'll weigh up in the more aggressive settings. But it's direct, so that's a good thing.

The handling's like, this thing feels like it is just planted, so we think that's a big positive. This is a car that you could daily drive; it is a little bit noisier, but you could daily drive this; no problem. 

So yeah, it has like a luxury car; I definitely wouldn't call it super luxury; it's an M car, and it's a Competition at that, so hopefully you understand kind of what you're getting yourself into with this. 

In the most aggressive setting possible, the car gets your heart racing. It is aggressive, like aggressive-aggressive, like super aggressive. Now, we do recommend that if you put the transmission in the most aggressive setting, which we had it in, we would recommend automatic mode. If you want to do manual mode, we know this seems counterintuitive, but have it in the less aggressive setting because in the most aggressive setting, the transmission is so like fiery that it can kind of be a little bit lurchy with the car in a sense.

So we recommend doing the less aggressive or even number 2. 2 is kind of like a nice middle ground, but 3, the downshifts are beautiful because they're like super snappy, and the upshifts are super snappy, but you've got to be like doing some performance driving for it to make sense. 

We think the car looks really cool on the outside; actually, the style's grown on us, the big grill, and everything it's got has honestly grown on me. We think this drives amazingly well. It's super fast, it's super fun, and it handles great, so you know there's not really a lot of negative to say about it.

Might As Well Get An M4 If You’re Okay With 2 Doors

We think this is underrated. And we think you should be honest with yourself. Like, are you getting an M3 because you need the four-door practicality or because you want to be able to say you own an M3? If it's the latter, we would look into the M4 because these are not only easier to find, but we're sure that you can get a slightly better deal on this compared to an M3 because, again, everyone else is trying to get the M3s.

The M4 is basically, literally, not basically, an M3 just with two doors, so if you want M3 fun and you don't want to deal with the hassle of trying to find an M3, that's what the M4 gives you.