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      11-15-2014, 10:42 AM   #1
RIP1981
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My BMW M4 test drive (from Porsche pov)

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Hi all,

yesterday and today I had the oppertunity to test drive the BMW M4 and compare it with my own car. The first Porsche Cayman S model (pre Facelift 987). I also drove several Porsches in the last 2 years: Cayman 981, Cayman 981 S, Porsche 997 4S, Porsche 991 S, Porsche 991 4S, Porsche 991 S Cabrio. Some of them on the race track. But I'll start with my car in comparison.

Both cars are pretty hard to compare actually. While the Cayman is a real sports car, very precise, very much feedback, if you want it or not ... it feels more like a go kart, a lot smaller, narrower and compact. A lot noisier but with more engine sound.

It is a sports car which also can be used on the road as I drive it as dd for 3 years now. Manual gearbox (short shifter), mechanical suspension, everything manual and direct and hard but not as uncomfy as a Lotus Elise for example.

The BMW M4 however is completely different for my taste. It is a big Coupé, more like a very sporty limousine. It is a really nice daily driver. Very very confident. A lot of power everywhere in the revs. I had no adaptive dampers in the M4, so it was a lot harder than e.g. the PASM in the new Cayman, but still a bit more comfy than mine. I guess the adaptive dampers are like the PASM in the modern Caymans.

On the Autobahn it is a lot quieter. Less tyre noise, less wind noises, a bit less engine noise I guess than both. The old and the new Cayman. You can steer very lazy. It feels like on rails even in high speeds.
The LED light was very impressive. A really nice and wide light. Bright and good color (day white).

The double clutch transmission is different to the PDK. It doesn't creep when not on brake. It starts if you push the throttle. The PDK is more like a classic auto transmission.
The PDK seems a bit smoother overall and better to start but it has no real manual mode, which is a shame. Even in Sport Plus with M Mode it still does a kickdown if you push over the kickdown switch.

The DCT in the M4 however is really manual, which I really liked about it.

My settings:

Steering: comfort is best for me. Sport is a bit harder. Sport Plus much to hard for my taste.
Throttle: I couldn't test a lot here. Sport Plus seems to hold the turbo better and is a lot more aggressive. But even efficient was ok for me. Switched a few times between those 3.
Shifting: Mode 1 is really nice and smooth for dd. Mode 2 is a bit sportier comparable to sport in the Porsche PDK. Mode 3 is very aggressive. I had spinning wheels from first to second and to third gear. I find it a bit harsh even for sporty use. The automatic mode is still useable in daily driving compared to sport plus in a Porsche which uses first Gear up to 50 or more kph and second gear up to 100 km/h or so, even if you don't accelerate that hard.

So overall I think I even liked the BMW solution better, especially because of the manual mode, which stays there until you use again D. However the PDK seemed a bit smoother to me. Both are very nice transmissions for my taste.

The most important difference is the ESC. The standard setting is very very safe. My impression was, it doesn't give you the power even before something may happen. If you push the throttle hard the electronics seemed to think if it is ok or to much and just gave enough Power as safe. I would call it the "wife mode" :-P

So the first corner was a bit dissapointing as I didn't change the ESC setting. The BMW seemed to be a bit understeery, however didn't really allow understeer to happen and gave no power at the corner exit. It felt slow.
Later on I discovered the always blinking ESC light and switched to the ESC MDM mode in between on and off. Now the car was a completely different animal!

The same corner again was pretty impressive now for such a big car. It gripped a lot and you could balance the car with the right foot to some extend. It also allowed small drifts before helping to catch the car. Easy and safe but quick. I guess ESP off then is really of but I didn't test that on public road.

The car has more than enough power in the first, second and even third gear at the beginning. You have to control it yourself with the right foot. For a RWD car without the engine in the back or middle, the traction is pretty impressive. Still no car for people who just want to give full throttle all the time, but not as bad as I thought it would be.

However with that much power and no engine in the back it always felt light in the back when accelerating hard. Not as planted as the Porsches. They feel a lot more stable braking or accelerating and have no traction Problem at all in the dry.

I also tested the Launch Control (the only moment I switched ESC off), but it was by far NOT as impressive as in a 911 4S. The first jump to 30 kph is mighty impressive in a 911. From 50 up the BMW seems to pull it quite nice, but the first traction is a lot worse and harder to control.

The cornering itself ... I'd say it could be quicker than my old Cayman 987 S, but not as quick and light as a modern Cayman 981 S. Perhabs even closer to the 981 than to mine. Still cornering in my old Cayman is a lot more fun as you just feel a lot more what all the 4 tyres are doing.

The M4 gives enough feedback to judge the current situation and drive quick but not as much enjoyable feedback as the Cayman.
There you really feel on the road itself somehow. Difficult to describe. The new Cayman likes even more to grip.

Just from the feel. In the real world I don't know how much different they are for real.
I guess the M4 is a tad slower than the Cayman in hard corners but is a tad faster in acceleration than e.g. a GTS. But not as much as you would think in both categories, I guess.

In dd the M4 feels more confident because of the low rev power, while the Cayman sounds a lot better for my taste with more drama, but also seems to be more stressed, excited.

The sound of the M4 is a bit artificial on the inside. Not bad, but by far not as good as in a Porsche. On the outside however it sounds better than on the inside, especially standing behind the car.
It sounds interesting somehow in a good way, but not as good as a Porsche 6 pack. They sound more exciting. But as I said it sounds good.

I also drove several F30 BMWs, but mostly 320ds. And the difference in feel and cornering is a whole world. The M4 feels a lot closer to the Porsches than to an F30.

I was also shocked how different it looks. I saw a F30 335i parking beside my test drive M4 and it looked a lot narrower and less aggressive.

Car people (mostly men) looked a lot at it. Got attention from them. But for non car people (women :-P) it is just an expensive BMW.
A Porsche Cayman/Boxster/911 is a sportscar and a "real" Porsche. There is no cheap Porsche, so it is always expensive. And real sports cars everybody recognizes.

So the overall attention is higher in the Porsche, but the car people attention seemed a bit higher with the M4. But it is pretty new. So we'll see how it develops.

The image of the BMWs is a bit bad here in Germany. I guess it is a lot better in the US. A lot of mad people driving like idiots in the public traffic are driving here in BMW 3 series, mostly older ones.
You don't see a lot of those people on the race track. They prefer traffic signal races and drifts on the public road, putting innocent people in danger.

The Porsches however are mostly moved by old (rich) people who seem to fall asleep while driving. Always careful, often to careful. Still a better image than those of idiots.

However I don't give much on image. I drive a car because I like it not because other people look at it this or that way or certain other groups drive it a lot.

A lot of text Thanks for reading it this far. I will attach a few images and write a bit more later perhabs. If you want to ask something, feel free ...

Overall I really liked the BMW for what it is and what fascinates me about it. It is a very usable and still somehow exciting daily driver. The boot space and the seats in the back are really usable compared to Cayman with no seats and 911 with pseudo seats.

It will be a real hard decision somewhere in the future between the new Cayman S/GTS and the BMW M3/M4. If you can afford it, buy both Cayman for fun driving and M3/M4 for dd. You can't make a mistake there.

I guess I would be quicker on the race track in the M3/M4 but still have more fun with the Cayman.

Cya later
RIP
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Last edited by RIP1981; 11-15-2014 at 03:27 PM..
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      11-15-2014, 11:05 AM   #2
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Nice review. Thanks
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      11-15-2014, 11:27 AM   #3
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Nice review. After driving the 981 Cayman GTS I would have to mostly agree with your review. If you need a daily driver (backseats, trunk) the M4 is the way to go. However, if you can afford a second car and/or don't need backseats or a trunk and you want the best driving experience, there is just no reason to get a M4 over the Cayman GTS. The Cayman GTS feels better in every respect to the M4 in how it drives. The guttural sound from the GTS is intoxicating especially as it screams right behind your ears. The engine's flexible power delivery is a joy to ring out and has the character that IMO is slightly lacking in the M4. The brakes are unflappable and nuanced in a way that lets you have ultimate control (M4's brakes are also very good). The steering and chassis work in symphony with the driver in a way no other car can match.

The M4 as you said is good for what it is. It's a great all-around car (maybe the best currently available in the market) but if you want a car for one reason and one reason only: the joy of driving...then the Cayman GTS is without a doubt the way to go.

Last edited by onatuesday; 11-15-2014 at 11:53 AM..
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      11-15-2014, 11:48 AM   #4
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Very good and balanced review, thanks for taking the time to post.
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      11-15-2014, 12:08 PM   #5
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Yes, nicely done. IMO you capture both cars strenghts and character well.
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      11-15-2014, 12:15 PM   #6
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The car in the picture was the one you drove, right? I notice it has 641M winter wheels on it which means it also has narrower-than-stock 255mm rubber in the rear. Just something to keep in mind as far as your driving impressions of the car.

Appreciate your thorough review though.
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      11-15-2014, 12:48 PM   #7
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Nice review. Owning a porsche (not sports car) and now having more seat time in the F80, the "feel" of the cars are very similar. Wheras the base BMW cars are closer to my Lexus, the M3 is much closer to my Porsche in feel and overall philosophy. I think that some compromises naturally exist because the M3 is a 4 door sedan and the M4 is a GT coupe based on the same platform. And for the M4 to be closing in on the feel of a mid-engined pure 2 seat sports car is extraordinary. Especially one based on a car made for the masses.
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      11-15-2014, 01:39 PM   #8
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RIP1981, nice review. Thanks! BTW you said "right food" twice :-)
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      11-15-2014, 02:08 PM   #9
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Good review - thanks.
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      11-15-2014, 02:12 PM   #10
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Good read thanks for posting
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      11-15-2014, 03:11 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by trinim3 View Post
Nice review. After driving the 981 Cayman GTS I would have to mostly agree with your review. If you need a daily driver (backseats, trunk) the M4 is the way to go. However, if you can afford a second car and/or don't need backseats or a trunk and you want the best driving experience, there is just no reason to get a M4 over the Cayman GTS. The Cayman GTS feels better in every respect to the M4 in how it drives. The guttural sound from the GTS is intoxicating especially as it screams right behind your ears. The engine's flexible power delivery is a joy to ring out and has the character that IMO is slightly lacking in the M4. The brakes are unflappable and nuanced in a way that lets you have ultimate control (M4's brakes are also very good). The steering and chassis work in symphony with the driver in a way no other car can match.

The M4 as you said is good for what it is. It's a great all-around car (maybe the best currently available in the market) but if you want a car for one reason and one reason only: the joy of driving...then the Cayman GTS is without a doubt the way to go.
+1 well said

OP, great review enjoyed reading it
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      11-15-2014, 03:34 PM   #12
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Thx a lot

@mkoesel
Yeah, I noticed the 255 winter tyres later. This makes the traction impression even more impressive.

You really can't say the M4 has bad traction. For the concept the traction is pretty nice. It just has a lot of power
Though a 911 is in a different league in terms of pure traction.

I also have to tell that I had a problem with braking. The brakes were very good but the tyres made some rattling sound. We had been warned by the dealer. He said it is because of the tyres. The mechanics checked the brakes and everything is alright with them.

But those 255 winter tyres seemed to have some problems. It didn't feel really well braking with over 200 kph and feeling something in the steering wheel like some groove on the road or something.

The simple braking performance was pretty good though with the steel brakes.

I guess the usual summer tyres fit better

___
@m4pewpew

Btw. there are a lot of funny typos in my post The right food may be important also

I fixed some of them. I also wrote usuable instead of usable for two times. Or different instead of difficult. Well I am from Germany. Good way to practice a bit of english here
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      11-15-2014, 03:38 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RIP1981 View Post
Thx a lot
Good way to practice a bit of english here
Your English is better than the German of most on here. Actually, your English is better than many on here that have English as their first language.
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      11-15-2014, 04:07 PM   #14
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Thx a lot
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      11-15-2014, 04:28 PM   #15
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Did anyone else read the entire thing in a German accent? Your English is excellent, Europeans are very lucky to have such a fantastic education system! I very much wish i was fluent in multiple languages...

Very well written review, and as someone who was considering a 981 S/GTS or 991 S/4S, C63 and M4 before settling on the M4, i agree with pretty much all you said.

I would have loved to buy a 981 or 991, but they are just too impractical and "raw" for a daily driver. I could live with the razor sharp fidgety steering and very stiff dampers, but the lack of rear seats and no boot space to put golf clubs really we're deal breakers.

Perhaps in the future i could convince myself that having a C63/M4 as a daily and Porsche as a weekend sports car would give me the best of both worlds.
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      11-15-2014, 04:36 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RIP1981 View Post

Btw. there are a lot of funny typos in my post The right food may be important also

I fixed some of them. I also wrote usuable instead of usable for two times. Or different instead of difficult. Well I am from Germany. Good way to practice a bit of english here
Haha, I learned to write in English because of this forum again, and I have to say your starting place is way better than mine, and now I'm lurking around a German one to relearn to write that. Who ever said time spent with cars is wasted was wrong!

Thanks for the review!
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      11-15-2014, 05:08 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Merli View Post
Did anyone else read the entire thing in a German accent?
Me

Thx all
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      11-15-2014, 05:43 PM   #18
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Haha, I love it.. Great Post
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      11-15-2014, 05:46 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Merli View Post
Did anyone else read the entire thing in a German accent?
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      11-16-2014, 11:08 PM   #20
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I'm just glad the m3 is finally civilized enough to buy for my wife, so I can use it on occasion! So far I'm thoroughly impressed with the dual personality of it. Soon enough, I'll have some track impressions of it as well
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      11-16-2014, 11:43 PM   #21
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People like the OP are going to really like the M2. It will be the perfect size for many enthusiasts.
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      11-17-2014, 12:19 AM   #22
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I still hold out hope for a 1100 kilo Z2M... That would be comparable to the Cayman.
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