BMW M4 CSL vs Porsche 911 GT3 Touring (4K)
foreign W says m is the most powerful letter in the world by adding three extra letters makes it much more potent c s l those letters were affixed to the three liter CSL soon after BMW's M or Motorsport division was founded 50 years ago before its cars were even badged M the CSL got off to a flying start as well winning the 1973 European Touring Car Championship and laying the groundwork for the m road cars we know today but until now BMW has only dusted off the CSL suffix once since and that was for the 2003 E46 M3 CSL and that car's now revered as one of the best M cars of all time so all that CSL name is powerful it carries with it a ton of responsibility foreign but now to celebrate its 50th anniversary bmwm is facing up to that pressure with the M4 CSL just a thousand will be built in total and only a hundred are coming to the UK and that makes it the rarest CSL of all now I'll admit to some unprofessional bias here on a lifelong M fan I owned an E36 M3 for 18 years and gave up my own CSL track treatment and while I didn't get on with the previous M4 I clicked with a new one straight away so I really really want this car to be good now there's a load of stuff to talk about here but I really want to focus on weight to start off with because that's what this car is all about and after all CSL originally translated as Coupe Sport lightweight BMW now says it's competition spot lightweight presumably to give them more scope for other models but please please don't do an SUV BMW so CSL Coupe Sport lightweight or competition sport lightweight they have saved 100 kilos from this car so that's a little less than the original well the E46 M3 CSL which was 110 kilo saving and this is a heavier overall car as well so it's a smaller percentage but nonetheless 100 kilos is still a significant amount and it weighs 1625 kilos din which is still quite a heavy car but nonetheless 100 kilos very well done BMW so to do that we've got carbon fiber components so as well as the carbon fiber roof which is standard on the M4 we have got [ __ ] fiber Bonnet and the boot lid which is swept up in a ducktail style like a homage to the original E46 M3 CSL now that saves 11 kilos few other bits and pieces here and there including that monster kidney Grill that's a bit lighter at half a kilo lighter a bit more from the rear lights and they've also saved 21 kilos from this area as well so we've got carbon ceramic brakes they're normally an option on the M4 but the standard here we've got lightweight Hollow Wheels we've still got the same tire sizes and monster 275 section at the front two eight fives at the back and and just to note as well we are on the Michelin Pilot Sport for S Tires not the cup two r's that they did the Nurburgring time on and they've also got lightweight spring struts apparently and a few other bits and Bobs that saves 21 kilos and at the back we've got the titanium exhaust silencer that saves 4.3 kilos and while we're around here you can probably see the ducktail spoiler as well like the E46 M3 CSL no figures on downpours though by the way now if we take a look inside to load more weight saving measures in here so lightweight carbon fiber bucket seats well actually our car gets another optional set of carbon bucket seats like you can get in the M4 a little bit more luxurious you've got electric adjustment but no rear seat is standard that saves another 21 kilos and BMW says there's lightweight soundproof because that's 15 kilos the BMW has saved a little bit of weight off the climate control system but crucially it's still in there as is the infotainment system and I know it's a little bit perverse when you're trying to save bits and pieces or little kilos and grams here and there but it reminds me of a conversation I had with Gerhard Rick to the old M division boss back in 2007 and they just done or a few years ago they've done the M3 CSL and they had an internal Sweepstake if they could guess how many customers would add back in the air con and the stereo system which was optional on that car and Richter said he thought it would be 50 but actually in the end 80 25 percent of customers added it back in so it just goes to show you it is what customers want to more spec let's get out on the road and see how the M4 CSL feels to drive but of course for every customer wants is a great M division engine and this one is a three liter twin turbo straight safer my God this thing can really kick it's got 40 brake horsepower extra at 542 brake horsepower it's really responsive I think it does feel extra responsive versus even the standard car which is highly responsive presumably because it's got those you know 100 kilos fewer it's got a lovely reach as well just like the standard car has right up to 7200 RPM but it's the bit in the middle the torque that I think is interesting because officially it's the same figure 479 pound foot of torque from 2750 RPM there is a little bit more reach on that it goes up about 400 RPM higher as a peak but my sense is that there's a lot more torque in this car and presumably that is because you've got the 100 kilos fewer it's got less to Lug around now it is a bit of a mixed blessing I think I was really chewing at those tires it is a bit of a mixed blessing because while you've got that really meaty mid-range and and while you can use all the revs on a straight road when you're doing you know on a road like this it's twisty you're short shifting more it sort of emphasizes more of a diesel kind of character and you know I think that does detract from the interaction in some ways and interestingly we've got the eight-speed auto transmission so they could have gone for the manual that's available in other markets not the UK to save more weight but presumably this is the way to kind of get around the ring fastest for that Nurburgring seven minute twenty time they did and you know what it really does punch it's only a regular Auto I say only but it is it's a pretty ferocious kind of gearbox really when you dial it right up to the third setting it really punches and I think they're trying to make a point in that you know it's not a dual clutch gearbox but it can still be pretty direct and very very quick now again a little bit like the talk the interesting thing with the gearbox is there's no kind of claims for recalibrated shifts or on more sort of urgent ships but it feels like they're more urgent to me and I don't know if that's because we've got solidly mounted um a rear axle solid matted rear axle and stiffer engine mounts there's less slack in the drive line perhaps and you're kind of feeling that sort of the punch of the gear shifts a bit more abruptly and to the extent that I've wound it down from the third setting to the second one it was interested in jumping in this car straight away and I drove it around town initially and I actually quite liked it around Tony it could be a gnarly old thing but but while it's stiff and it feels stiff and it's body structure and its suspension has got a decent amount of compliance the steering is really really nice and it's got this kind of urgency but effortlessness to it as you just sort of cruise about foreign the steering is fantastic on this car it's really really accurate it's got a nice quiet kind of light weighting so and it responds every kind of little movement is doing something so it's reacting really quickly really sharply really feels all connected on the front end the chassis is lowered eight mil as different Springs helper springs as well for when it gets into real sort of compression different anti-roll bars and it all adds up wow the other thing to say you know with this chassis it feels very very light and on his toes you now I said it was 1625 kilos before but there's no way it feels that heavy it definitely has a very Nimble agile feel to it and I think part of that has got to be the young sprung weight with the carbon ceramic brakes and and the yeah the lighter Hollow Wheels as well it's a very rear biased feeling car this I know it's obvious because it's rear wheel drive but you're constantly getting that kind of Thumper mid-range pushing you through corners and it I wouldn't call it intimidating maybe it is a little bit intimidating at first because you feel like you've got a big old sort of womp coming into the back wheels but it has got really good traction we're on 4S tires so not the the kind of Maximum cup 2rs which I reckon this car is going to feel so precise on those tires but we've got four S Tires on and it does really well actually at putting down the power it's chewing a little bit there and sort of straining but for how much is going on here with a 479 pound foot of torque it is actually really really impressive now you can go up on the variable traction control system through 10 different settings that works really well but it's still even when you turn everything off in the dryer it has got a lot of traction to get all that down remove the rear seats the CSL has no rear seat so as you get up to speed you do get quite a lot of road noise so that's one thing you know clearly it's a hardcore track car but you are sort of losing that bit of refinement as much as you've got a very subtle ride it is uh pretty loud in the back there the way this car just flows down this road it's really impressive it's got that compliance but there is feel through the steering it's got a very very strong front end so it just all combines to give you confidence together with that traction response it's really impressive mostly here I am short shifting on these roads and that you know I would prefer to have a bit more kind of go up to the top of the Rails even then putting it in third gear it's still soaked all that up so it is a very very competent chassis it's nice and reactive but very secure as well well I has got some guy with these things good as the M4 CSL is it does carry a huge premium of almost 50 000 pounds over the standard M4 competition at 128 820 pounds and that puts it right into the orbit of another two-seat rear wheel drive German icon the 911 GT3 yeah wow foreign so this is a GT3 but it's a GT3 touring so it's interesting combo head with the M4 CSL which kind of dials up the aggression of the M4 to the max the touring kind of makes the GT3 a little bit more palatable for the road now the things that we've got that are the same we've got four liter flat six naturally aspirated engine we've got a choice of manual or pdk dual clutch gearboxes so this one gets the manual and that's 50 of sales of the touring at the minute we've got the same rear wheel steering apparently the same Springs and damper's got a choice of cast iron brakes or carbon ceramic optionally so this one's cast iron spec and the things that are different and we've not got the huge swan neck rear wing that makes it look like an rsr race car so much more subtle it has a wing that pops up at speed instead and conversates for some of that lost downforce slightly subtler uh appearance including the the front end hasn't got the contrast black and inside we've got more layer there just for a generally plusher feel easy to think of the touring as kind of a new addition to the 911 lineup but actually it's something that dates right back to the 2.7 RS of 1973. Porsche was racing its RS race cars he wanted to make them as light as possible and homologate them at that that way so it's a little bit of a cheat to add in a more luxurious interior as an option for customers for Road use and that's what they did they put the 2.4 s
interior back in and this car that kind of rips on that with a bit more extra luxury now it's interesting actually to compare the evolution of these two engines between the CSL and the GT3 now if you look back 20 years ago the M3 CSL made about 360 brake horsepower and the GT3 did as well depending on which 996 you're talking about but both about 360 and the evolution since then has been really quite different while BMW has added twin turbos to its straight six engine to get to 542 brake horsepower it's done that and it has lost the character of that fizzy M division straight six Porsche is kind of continually evolved this flat six is naturally aspirated engine only increased it by 400 cc and yet it's still really in the ballpark with 503 brake horsepower plus it rips all the way out to 9 000 RPMs and it's astonishing engine wow and the other thing this engine's got gasoline particulate filters on it now which is supposed to muffle it but it still sounds amazing I mean for the video I've got the exhaust switch to its louder setting but actually I'm a little bit self-conscious because it does sound like there's a race car running around sounds absolutely amazing it made the exhaust lighter as well despite having the uh the gasoline particulate filters in there and you know just the soundtrack the way it sounds like a race car it is so invigorating in this engine it's the big difference between these two engines as well as the noise is the torque though so the BMW hits really hard with 479 pound foot of torque and that's from 2750 RPM the Porsche is three four seven pound foot so much much lower but it doesn't come in until 6-1 so that's almost where the BMW is making its peak power so it's a huge difference now in some ways that's a win on paper for the BMW but I personally I really like having torque put up on a higher Shelf I really work for it and just means that the rear tires aren't getting overwhelmed and when you're uncorking that that performance you're doing it with real intent of course the other difference is with the gearbox that you can get a manual gearbox with this car 50 of customers do and I really think you know this is the way that I would spec my car I love the short throw how precise it is the tactility and involvement of it clutch is really nicely weighted and you can heal and Tow you can flip the throttle all that stuff and I know it sounds a little bit overindulgent sometimes but do think that involves it adds to the involvement and and that just really makes this car more special for me much as I think pdk is absolutely fantastic now with the manual you do lose half a second off the knot 60 times so it's 3.9 seconds so it's a big big drop top speed goes up a little bit to 199 miles an hour but to be honest I don't care about those figures at all is the bit in the middle that's important so this engine then let's just see if we can wind this out somewhere it's a 2000 RPM or 9 000 RPM absolutely insane still had a little bit of Headroom up there so you know I think it's interesting context is that this costs 503 brake horsepower only 10 or 10 PS or 10 brake horsepower more than its predecessor but it's just you know it's great that Porsche is sticking with this and and not you know not going Turbo because you just get that response and that reach and that power band and it's just it really makes this car now the other thing is this car weighs 1418 kilos versus the BMW at 16 25 so it's a lot lighter as well so when you factor in power to weight the Porsche is a long way or a decent way ahead of the BMW it turns the tables I think the context is interesting these days as well isn't it when we've got 700 plus supercars becoming kind of normal and 503 brake horsepower can seem a little bit limb but honestly when you're strapped into this thing and you're winding it out to 9000 RPM it's absolutely ferocious and I can't really imagine wanting any more than this it's just absolutely amazing now the other thing we need to talk about is the suspension so it's double Wishbone at the front derived from the 911 rsr race car obviously being around decades before that my RX8 has got that as well but it does make a big difference here it keeps the cornering nice and flat the front end is so precise on this car really turns in nicely you've already got that lack away from the engine being at the back but combined with that double Wishbone it just keeps it really nice and pure I mean if anything I would say it's there's a slightly sterile feel because it's just less perturbed by bumps and things it's still communicating still talking to you but it is a more sterile kind of pure consistent feel I've said this ride can feel quite choppy at times vertically and I think you know there is a little bit of that but I think generally over this rougher section here you can probably see it but I think generally it's still got a lot of compliance to it's still very usable and and feels you know it's certainly not going to knock you offline the other thing that's really surprising about this car is just how throttle steerable is you probably saw it there it will you know it's got P0 Corsa tires on it which I really like but they're very very grippy and it will grip and go and you know ping off down the road but still very throttle steerable and adjustable and again that's adding to that interaction and compared with the BMW you know the BMW is more of a hit and this has got something that you can meter in a bit more precisely and play with in in quite an engaging way an extremely engaging way so yeah it's just the way this car hangs together as a whole the the suspension house got some compliance to it the accurate steering the strong front end the way you've got that amazing engine and the tactile manual transmission but you've still got grip to put it all down and yet you can play with that balance as well it's just a beautiful beautiful package three gets off to the best possible start by looking so pure and perfect just standing still and making the driver feel so comfortable before you even turned the key foreign six is mind-blowingly special with its ferocious reach to 9000 RPM and of course it's the gt3's USP but while it dominates the experience it doesn't overwhelm it everything else is superbly integrated the steering the pedal feel and in particular how it combines mighty grip and competence with a benign throttle steerable balance that encourages you to really dig in to that performance it's the winner of this test and I'll take mine exactly like this one touring pack manual gearbox and all
2022-10-01 20:39
