Review: 2016 BMW M3 w/ Competition Package By Matt Maran Motoring

What's up everybody super dork fan here for another car review. This is, of course, the 2016 BMW m3, with a competition package, huge thanks to Erin for allowed me to review his brand-new m3 for you guys today so about the m3. Well, it looks really awesome. These have always been obviously the benchmark as far as the sports sedan segment goes, and you know this. One in particular looks great here with the competition package. It has these specific wheels in addition to all the performance enhancements I'll get to in a minute, but I just love the way that you know everything looks on this car from you all the little details like the hood bulge and the side mirrors- and you know just everything is bulging.

You of the know rear quarter panel. There that's bulging out, and you know fenders that are nicely flared here, and you know I, just I love every single little detail of it. You know the front bumper looks very aggressive, I like the way they've updated the taillights there in the back. This one has the black badges and the black grille, and it just makes for a really nice package all together for us for the interior of the 2016 m3. Well, it's very nice and typical, be in baby fashion anyway.

First thanks for seeing that, and these very unusual looking seats, that's the first thing you know it is. These are the first seats I've seen that have holes quite this big in them, but they look very cool and sitting down in them, they're a tad on the firm side, but they just feel sporty I, they're, so comfortable- and you know very nicely- you know lined in leather here and a nice contrast stitching. Everything is very nice about them, and you know the bolstering and everything is great as well. Very aggressive, beefy bolsters that hold you in place really well, and you know just honestly really cool seats next to the steering wheel in the BMW, which is also fantastic, as usually on. The M cars in particular and famous for these nice thick wheels that really beefy to hold on to here great 9-3 position here a good little ten two notches as well, and you know I just I love.

You know the metal finishes here on you know, for the steering wheel are just really high-quality, looking just a few little buttons, nothing too cluttered, which is also refreshing. These paddles in the back, are you know, metal and just feel really awesome to use as well, and it's overall just a really cool wheel. Next to the gauges in the m3, which are typical, you know BMW M gauges, and they look really great I mean you know very similar font to ones in the past and I, really like that. Color display there on the bottom that you know it's kind of like auxiliary gauges almost there with the way you know, it'll display all your settings for all the different. You know driver controlled things you can set up here, and you know nothing over the top.

It's not as crazy as a full digital dash, or you know anything like that. But I know cool to have a little of a digital portion. I still enjoy the analog gauge. They look really nice I, like you, know the automatic redline control there that you know whenever the car is warming up, it's higher, and then you know as the car warms up, then you see those little lights start to go away, and so yeah just really nice to look at these gauges coming over the side of the dashboard. Here you know pretty typical bundle view stuff still really nicely.

You know they. This great widescreen display that's nice and glossy now, and it looks just a little more polished than it did in the past. I, don't know if that's just a recent thing, but you know over the 2014 models. I know for sure this looks a lot nicer now and just you know the even, even like the little icons on the map, or you know a lot more higher-quality looking and a little slicker. You still have all the same basic.

You know I Drive control system. Here you know, use the large wheel down here, and you have the nice little button shortcuts, but you navigate through everything there, and you know it takes a little getting used to, but not too clumsy. You know I still prefer touchscreen stuff myself, but you know, as far as controllers go I mean it's pretty straightforward in the way that everything's laid out- and you know it's nice- you can even have you know the M power gauges here. So you can see how much horsepower and torque you're making in real time and along with all kinds of other cool information. You can, you bring up here on this display, and then you just come down to your standard other.

You know BMW stuff, you get in all BMWs year with a know: CD Drive, a bunch of preset buttons, nice volume knob, and then you have the climate controls here, which again you don't have a nice resistance to them. I, like that, they finally ditched the orange display here for the climate and replace it with a know, a little higher resolution, looking white one there and so nice to have that little change, but the overall, just all very simple, light nicely laid out anyone, that's driven any other BMW in the past. Yours will feel right at home with this it's from a storage space in the m3, it's a mixed bag, so, first off on the door here, really nice, you have a large bottle holder and a large map pocket which is really great to have coming over the center. Here you have this tiny little chubby in here, and then you also have a power outlet there, and then you have your two upholders, which are a nice large size. So that's all really great, and then you got in the back here.

Just have this armrest, which is nicely padded, very soft and again very expensive feeling, and you open that up, and you have a very shallow center console here, though that's the only drawback here, you do have a USB jack, an auxiliary jack in there, and this one has this smartphone adapter thing as well, but you know wish it was a little deeper because that's really not too useable, honestly I mean you can fit. You know small things. You know packs of gum and stuff like that in there, but not an abundance of space. Like I said aside from the doors, you know just really not a lot of places to put things here up front. Unfortunately, backseat space in the m3 is a pretty good.

You know, I mean the 3-series in general, all have a pretty good backseat here for this generation. You know, so I'm five foot, nine me sitting behind myself. I still have a couple inches of legroom there, a couple inches of headroom, so you know not the roomiest of back seats, but I certainly should work for most body types and most people, and you have perfectly useable in everyday circumstances, and there are comfortable seats as well. They're heated back there here for the m3, and so overall, just yeah nice back seats. Trunk space in the m3 is average.

It's not amazing, but it's not too small either. You know you could fit I'd say you know most of your luggage for four people back there, four full-size suitcases might be a tight squeeze, but you know still pretty good trunk and, like I said for the class of car. This is in its pretty good. If you want a larger trunk, you can always go up to the m5 or something like that, but perfectly useable. You know for four people.

I think you know in most circumstances all right, so have a go for a drive. The m's here just out of this nice typical BMW key nothing special about there, but you know nice weight to it. Anyways keyless entry and push-button starts you just hit the engine start button. It starts right up, alright, so setting up in the 2016 BMW m3. So first thing you notice in this car well in the transmission, is currently in the efficient mode as far as the shifts and things go, and so it's very smooth to start off now, if you were put that into sport or something, then it starts feeling more like a dual clutch transmission, which is what it is, but it's really smooth here in the efficient mode.

Other things you notice right off the bat. You have a very low sitting position if it feels lower than a standard 3-series. It feels a lot sportier as well, and so you know- and you also of course have the hood bowl to look out over as far as visibility goes not bad at all. You know you do have you know a little of a hood to look over there, like I, said with the bulge, but not bad at all and honestly, it's a great view. You know see that powerful bit there, and otherwise, as far as the other visibility goes out of the sides.

Here, it's pretty good. You know you have a B pillar, but you know being four doors. It's easy to see around. Do you out of the back is great as well just cruising on a main road now with a suspension in comfort mode, and it's pretty smooth? Now it's still a little firmer damp than usual. Now again, that's also its part to do with the competition package, which gives completely re overhauls the whole suspension setup to give you a much more aggressive setup for track use and whatnot, but it still is, you know perfectly smooth enough to daily drive in things like that, just a little on the firmer side.

Alright, so we'll put the transmission in the manual mode here and let's turn down on this background here, how it does straight here we go. Okay, that's a rash, so we have with the competition baggage m3 the three liter, inline-six twin turbocharged engine that does 444 horsepower. Unfortunately, six confident, torque. Now that's a little more than the standard m3, which has 425 horsepower so and combined with this very quick shifting double clutch transmission. Zero to 60 time is four seconds flat, so I mean we're talking about some very, very impressive numbers and now just hitting the gas here like in fourth gear.

You know under 3,000, rpm and then stomping on it. You do have to wait a little and then this surge comes on, so I. You know I, wouldn't necessarily call it lag. It's just. The boost threshold is a little higher, but it's kind of cool because it actually makes it feel like a traditional turbocharged car.

It's not completely lag free, but I like that, because it gives you some drama waiting for it to. You, know kind of really kick in and start pulling like a freight train and when it does go behind it, it pulls, and it's kind of impressive Duke. Is this thing it? You can feel it in the back whenever you stomp on it wanting to let those tires loose and those aren't some skinny tires here, so I believe what we're dealing with this 245 in the front 265 in the rear, Michelin pilot, super sports, and so you know, should be pretty sticky tires, but this thing just being a torque wad story. Suppose this was the spin up try second year full this time, it's been about two years since I drove the m4, but it feels just as fast as the m4. This one also I have to add, does have the GTS odd tune like flash done to it, I'm, not sure how honestly put how much of a difference that makes but should still be, you know, relatively close to stock and that either way, though it's just it's a fantastic performer.

Another thing that's important to mention is this road is far from perfect, probably here it's very bumpy and non-ideal at all. You know for handling or anything like that, but it's soaking them up so well we're just really gliding over them as we go around some corners too many corners in this part of town here where I'm driving in Ohio. But you know it does seem to handle very well. Of course, it's a 1. It's a BMW ?, it's an MD, MW and 3 at the competition package.

So you better believe it's going to handle brain. You already knew that before you watch this video, but you know it does feel very flat now this one has the car roof which helps you know, lower the center gravity a little and I think this way around 100 3,500 pounds, I think low 3400 range, and you know it's a pretty pretty, pretty lightweight to that's one thing is one of BMWs, some larger ones, obviously, of course, being large or feel heavier. This does not feel heavy at all so far, I'm going to try and find some more force push around, but I feel really lightweight, really agile and just a ton of fun. Here's a better corner does a good job here. I mean that's a phenomenal job.

I mean it just. Obviously this is far from pushing the car even close to its limits, but it does feel very confident, sparing as you would expect. There's a nice corner. Yeah, it's it sticks really well, and it's just so flat, pretty impressive, but anyway I'm going to drive this go around for a while longer here, and I'll come back and give you some updated impressions, so I missed, remember, you're around for a while longer now and the words that keep coming, to my mind are competent and capable it's just I mean. Of course.

This thing is just you know, so I'm performing that anything on any public road is going to basically make it. So do we feel like it's breaking a sweat and I mean all the controls and everything make it feel very competent, capable as well I mean this one doesn't have the super expressive carbon ceramic brakes, but even the standard brakes here I mean they all. You have to stop really well and I. Didn't get you up to speed, really quick. Other things that, like the steering weight, is really perfect in the sport mode, but I love the adjustability.

Now you know a lot of cars have adjustability and some do more than others. This, though, the modes are spot-on, like comfort mode for the steering, it feels like a standard, 3-series, really nice great for just cruising around. You put it into sport mode, and it's just enough weight to make it. You know, feel really sporty. It's not overbearing.

You could do the Sport Plus mode if you really want super heavy steering for some reason, but it's really the ideal here in this more boat whenever you're doing sporty driving it. So it's nice that you know those modes actually line up with how they feel one important thing with these game. Dummies, you're always going to remember, is the dual clutches. You have to turn the transmission mode up to one of the higher performing ones I'm. Now, in the sharpest mode, it's nice and quick, the township bangs into the gears for the up shifts, and so it's not the smoothest because of that.

But honestly, if you want to do sporty driving, you have to put it into that, because otherwise, if you leave it in the slow transmission mode, it actually does feel pretty slow about the same as your standard, run-of-the-mill automatic, so that get annoys you've got to make sure you keep it in that sporty transmission mode. Once you do, then, like I said it's really quick, and I love that gives a little shelf in each up shift as well, so that it definitely- and this thing I'm these feel so much faster than the numbers suggest, and some people argue that BMWs are often underrated. I find that very easy to believe, simply because every VM delay have ever driven seems to feel faster than the horse. Martin bumpers say they should be, and I know that the M before was the same way. This feels faster than 444 horsepower.

I mean it's, it's just a rocket. It's an absolute rocket I wish I can push it harder, but it's a combination of the fact there aren't very many curvy roads around here and also just rain for very brief few minutes. So the roads are a little wet and even though this is visual by Super sport side, this thing consoling wants to break traction, which has a sign also that it's fast that 444 horsepower because I think if it was only 444, it wouldn't have this much trouble putting the power down, but it does put the power down. Well, it's not like I'm fighting with them to keep it going in a straight line or anything it's just. You can tell, and it's just a struggle, there's probably some micro computations going on and some computer somewhere a million times a minute or something to you know figure.

All this out make sure the thing doesn't go crazy, because I do have all the stability and traction control systems on, because it's not my car, a lot of public road here, but yeah. It's just it's a really fun, though, and II still feel very, very involved in the driving experience and that I can't believe how hard this kid pulls every time you step on it. It just throws you into the back of your seat, and these brakes too. I mean there's no travel to them. Really I mean they are so many feeling and just there this thing is, so I'm just so easygoing so fast to this so anyway, yes, very, very impressive.

There's a reason why the m3 continues to be the benchmark for performance of sports sedans. It is a riot to drive it's a rocket and the way that it propels you forward the handling it just doesn't you need enough to to second-guess yourself. I mean it will take everything. It seems without any kind of struggle, and overall it's just one heck of a car one small little complaint I can give. Is this one does have the active exhaust I believe because it's part of the competition package here, but I'm still only getting engine noise and getting stuff from the front and not really going to hand the back I do hear some kind of little backfire or something going on back there, but even in the higher you go, you know there's no opening of any exhaust.

It's just all straight engine noise, which is cool. It sounds good, I love the way this thing sounds, but it would be cool to have an exhaust on it. I think, to give you a little more sound one. Other thing I want to mention real quick is the price of the m3, because that's something depending on how you option it that can I really put this in a tricky position as far as where it's priced at, so you know this story at low sixty thousand. Even this one with competition package is still under seventy thousand dollars, which doesn't sound so bad.

But then you know if you want things like a backup camera, that's part of a 3,500 or bundle, and you know all the other little options that are part of packages and some ones are even ? la carte, can get pretty expensive and then, before you know, if Is like this one you're at 80 thousand bucks, and you know once you get to that price point you're. You know starting to look at some heavy hitters. You know the CTV is only a few thousand bucks. More GSF from Lexus is only a few thousand bucks more obviously, the German stuff is always a little more expensive because you're you're paying for you, know the German quality, and you know they're designed the badge and all that kind of stuff, and so you know, obviously you can't get into a m5 anywhere near eighty thousand bucks, but you know you can't get into some of the competitors that are maybe a little less prestigious, and so you know the performance is spectacular. Is an eighty thousand spectacular? Maybe not it all depends on the person of the buyer, of course, but you know you spend a few thousand bucks more.

You can get something a lot faster in a straight line, although, like I said this is no slouch, but for those that want a drag racer, you know for a few thousand dollars more there's some other options out there. You know again that all just comes down to personal preference, but uh. Furthermore, you know if you take it easy on the options. These were actually pretty good value. So yeah, that's basically at about the m3 year, just fantastic in every single way.

Honestly can't find anything to fall aside from the lack of an exhaust note. Otherwise, it's just a ton of fun and so huge thanks to Aaron for a load me review his brand-new m3. Here we go 779 miles on it currently, and so I really appreciate it. Let me drive it here today so anyway. Let me know your thoughts on the m3 and thank you guys very much for watching.

I'll see you next time. Take care.

Source : Matt Maran Motoring