BACK TO BUSINESS
SOME PEOPLE THINK coriander tastes soapy. This is because their olfactory-receptor gene translates its herby taste into a “Fairy Liquid” tang. Perhaps, a similar phenomenon occurred with the previous BMW M3. People I respect rated it, but I got a distinct taste of diesel truck with overtones of snap oversteer.
The new G80 M3 starts to heal the relationship below 30 kilometres per hour. I am creeping away from home early to meet the others in the Peak District and even now the M3 Competition feels rock-solid — it is a structural rather than bone-shaking thing, kind of an if-McLaren-did-super-saloons sense of togetherness. One word? Tight.
Then there is the seating position in gorgeous (optional) carbon-fibre bucket seats — touring-car low, grip like riding a loop-the-loop rollercoaster — plus the steering is quick, pretty feelsome and light-ish, helping ease away a chunky 1,730 kilograms. I am connected to this car like a plug in a socket.
Flying start, then, but we are heading to the Peaks to give the Competition some lower-case competition with the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S, Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, and Audi RS 4. Our route promises to provide a stern test. Up there you need grip if you are to avoid having to ask Mountain Rescue for a recovery truck, strong performance to power up elevations like funicular railways, and brakes that laugh in the face of 30 per cent descents. Crucially, you need suspension that gels with the tricky primary undulations that define the dramatic landscape.
For now, the M3 is making a decent job of the drive there. Its suspension is resolutely focused (“Comfort” is all you need in the United Kingdom), but it retains daily usable
