Page 62 - Sharp Summer 2021

CARS
The Hills Are Alive
BMW M and Alpina have built some very fine, very fast new machinery
by MATT BUBBERS
FROM THE ROLLING GREEN HILLS of Bavaria — land of lederhosen, weisswurst, Werner Herzog, and
pale golden beer that flows as fast and free as the Isar river does through the heart of Munich — comes the cars of Bayerische Motoren Werke. They’ve been making fast machines here for more than 100 years, so, yes, they’re pretty darn good at it. These hills? These hills are alive with the sound of horsepower.
2022 BMW M3
There’s a cottage industry of fans, enemies, analysts, and pundits who scrutinize every move LeBron James makes. The car world has its own LeBron-like icons, a handful of perennial all-stars who changed the game, and the BMW M3 is certainly among them.
The 2021 model is the sixth iteration of the M3 since 1986, meaning this thing has been dunking on other cars since before plenty of us were ever born.
Predictably, car people are scrutinizing every facet of the
2021 M3 sedan and its two-door M4 twin. People either love
or hate the in-your-face grille, the yellow and blue colourway,
or the fact that it has a traditional automatic transmission, rather than a dual-clutch automatic transmission. Sure, arguing about these finer details is fun, but go too deep down that rabbit hole and you’ll miss the forest for the trees: the new M3 and M4 are go- ing to run circles around any pretenders who dare challenge them.
Little Cars, Big Heart
The M2 CS is hardly BMW’s first take on the formula
by MATT BUBBERS
SPECS
ENGINE:
3.0-LITRE TWIN-TURBO I6
POWER:
473 or 503 hp
PRICE:
$84,300 (M3); $85,100 (M4)
Not only do they have all the raw power and perfect chassis balance of models past, but now they’re also more usable and customizable. For the first time, all-wheel drive is an option. (Rest assured, diehards, rear-wheel drive is still standard.) The 3.0-litre twin-turbo straight six comes in two power levels, 473 or 503 hp — both are ballistic and smoother than ever. Drivers who like to row their own gears can still choose a six-speed manual transmission. You can even select from two different brake-pedal feelings.
Somehow — at a time when cars increasingly behave like rolling smartphones and are in danger of becoming too similar to one an- other — M has come out with a hardcore driver’s car to please the diehards while also appealing to a new, broader audience. Just like when we’re watching LeBron play, we’re not sure how M Division does it, but we’re happy to report they’re still on top of their game.
62 SHARPMAGAZINE.COM
SUMMER 2021
2002 TURBO
A 1970s pocket rocket that’s still a handful
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