BMW M4 CS first drive review: The ultimate track day warrior?

It might seem like we’re a bit late to the party but it’s taken this long for BMW to hand out the keys to what is its most aggressive M4 variant of the current G82 generation yet – the BMW M4 CS.

Launched globally in 2023, Australia had to wait until the end of 2024 and into 2025 before we could get our hands on the limited-run M4 Competition Sport. Even then, just 50 cars were allocated for our southern outpost.

Now though, BMW has released the hounds and tossed us the keys to not only its fiercest M4 currently available, but also the gates to Bathurst’s iconic Mt Panorama circuit for some unfettered wheel-time to see what the CS is capable of.

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First a refresher. For $254,900 plus on-road costs (some $63,000 more than the M4 Competition and over 80 grand more than the ‘regular’ M4), buyers score the full catalogue of M Division’s CS performance goodies.

The S58 twin-turbo 3.0-litre inline-six makes 405kW and 650Nm, up 15kW over the M4 Competition and a generous 37kW and 100Nm over regular M4. It’s mated to a ZF-sourced eight-speed torque converter automatic transmitting outputs to all four wheels via BMW’s xDrive all-wheel drive system. That combination results in a 0-100km/h claim of 3.4 seconds while 0-200km/h is dispatched in a staggering 11.1 seconds.

It’s a blistering turn of speed, one evident the moment you exit Mount Panorama’s pitlane and stomp on the gas for the long, long drag up Mountain Straight. There’s an urgency to the way the CS reacts, snarling and growling angrily as the speedo runs through the numbers at an unnerving rate.

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The M4 CS is, on paper, the quickest of the three CS models BMW rolled out at Mount Panorama on this day, both to the benchmark 100km/h but also, more tellingly, to the 200km/h mark. And yet, despite its ferocious turn of speed, the M4 in this incarnation feels settled and composed, like there’s more – much more – to give.

Spring rates have been stiffened – by 3 per cent up front and 5 per cent at the rear – along with CS-specific tuning and calibration for the dampers and anti-roll bars. That fettling is keenly felt through some of Mount Panorama’s more challenging sections such as The Cutting and the downhill Esses into the Dipper where the 4.8m long coupe remains beautifully balanced through changes of direction.

Rear-wheel bias (it can be forced into pure RWD for those brave enough) has been engineered into the M4 CS’s all-wheel drive system, resulting in a car with a little more tactility during cornering than just about anything with a friendlier 50:50 front-to-rear-bias. The panacea here is that should you get a little too greedy with the throttle, the CS’s stability control will intervene, feeding more torque to the front wheels, ensuring the M4 doesn’t stray too far off line.

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It breeds confidence from behind the wheel, allowing you to exploit the CS’s abilities further with each successive lap. Tuck the nose in sharply and the CS responds with composure, the rumble of ripple strip evoking ASMR by the shovel-load.

It’s a big part of the M4 CS’s appeal, that ability to flatter even the meekest of drivers looking to shed their cardigan and play race car driver for a day.

Certainly, that’s how I felt as the speedo nudged a scarcely believable 270km/h down Conrod Straight, each successive tug on the carbon-fibre paddle-shifters emitting an explosion of sound, matched gutturally by grin-inducing burbles on downshifts.

The brakes too, standard-fit steelies on our test car (carbon-ceramics are optional, a snip(!) at $19,000), were immense, pulling the 1755kg coupe up in a predictable and entirely controllable manner. No squirming here, just a dip of the nose that tucks into the corner politely before you power through the exit, clipping the next ripple strip just because you can.

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And that’s the thing about the M4 CS, and really, the broader CS range, cars that flatter the driver, allowing you to exploit more performance on the track than you believed you were capable of.

It’s a rare thing that a car engineered with at least one eye firmly on the race track can offer such a confident experience from behind the wheel, it’s rarer still when that confidence can make you feel like a superstar. By that measure, the BMW M4 CS has succeeded.

Specs