BMW M Coupé review
BMW Z3 M Road Test
Test date 25 November 1998
Price as tested £40,600
For Fabulous engine, performance, distinctive appearance
Against Dull handling, poor packaging, lifeless steering
The BMW M coupé has a lot to live up to. Conceived by a group of five engineers working overtime and undercover to radicalise the Z3 roadster, it promises to be a no-holds-barred return to the enthusiast-focused philosophy upon which BMW once built its reputation. This, the theory goes, is the car for those who find the contemporary M3 too soft, too understated, and the M roadster too fragile. In other words "the ultimate driving machine" is back.
It is an odd looking car – almost like two very different cars bolted together. At the front end you are greeted with the rather benevolent gaze of fairly typical roadster styling, then walk around and you see that it is married to something altogether more unusual at the rear. Monster rear tyres, oversized arches, added to a hatchback. It all makes the car look schizophrenic when you consider the conventional sportscar design at the front. Despite the M coupé's many new styling cues, its roaster roots are obvious. It’s identical to the roaster from the A-pillars forwards, but where the open car fades at the rear to a timid tail quite at odds with its aggressive nose, the coupé, with its elongated hatch/estate rear deck, is pure aggression. From its blistered wheel arches to its big chromed exhaust, the M is a pedigree Rottweiler, not one cross-bred with a poodle.
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