2023 BMW M4 CSL G82

The latest BMW to wear the hallowed CSL badge has an awful lot to live up to, not least a price tag of £128k.

WORDS by JETHRO BOVINGDON

PHOTOGRAPHY by ASTON PARROTT

Let’s not focus too much on the ‘L’ for now. Much has already been said about the new M4 CSL’s credentials to wear that particular badge despite a decent 100kg reduction in mass compared with an M4 Competition G82. Instead let’s focus on the lengths to which the M division has gone to create this car and mark its own 50th anniversary.

Does the ultimate M car live up to the legend?

‘There’s an energy about this car that immediately differentiates it from the G82 M4 Competition’

And discover if the result honours all the great cars that have gone before and sets a new benchmark for the M cars of the future. Deal? Okay, then. There aren’t enough pages in this magazine to go into great detail about each and every mechanical, structural, hardware and software change, but here’s a brief overview. The headlines are a 39bhp boost to the 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged straight-six for a total of 542bhp at 6250rpm and 479lb ft from 2750 to 5950rpm. The CSL G82 is limited to 190mph and covers 0-62mph in 3.7sec and 0-124mph in 10.6.

‘The way it can be teased on and around the limit is a time-honoured M division trait’

It rides 8mm lower than an M4 Competition G82, there are helper springs front and rear for maximum control in extreme situations, greater camber at the front, and rose joints replace much of the rubber in the rear axle. Dampers are also retuned for this application with Comfort, Sport (configured for use on the Nordschleife) and Sport Plus modes. It goes almost without saying that the CSL is strictly rear-wheel drive.

Just 1000 will be made, with 100 coming to the UK priced from £128,820. That’s getting on for a £50,000 premium over the M4 Competition. Delve deeper and you discover that even the familiar, for example the superbly effective M Traction Control, has been reconfigured.

It’s still activated by disabling DSC and levels 1 to 5 remain as on the M4 Competition (1 allowing the most slip, 5 the least). However, levels 6 to 10 are unique to the CSL and have been tailored to optimise traction on a circuit in various conditions. There’s also a new and extensive cast aluminium brace in the engine compartment to increase rigidity, and firmer engine and transmission mounts. The CSL appears to have been honed for precision above all else. It’s also notable that this is no aero-monster despite a Nürburgring lap time of 7:15.677. An approach in keeping with the E46-generation CSL, if not the original E9 CSL ‘Batmobile’ from 1973, and one that suggests that exploitable, consistent mechanical grip and accuracy has taken priority over pure lap-time capability.

Stripping 100kg from an M4 Competition isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. The big wins are easy. Removing the rear seats saves 21kg, for example. The new CSL’s fixed bucket seats cut another 24kg and a reduction in sound insulation and a new, lighter material where it remains deducts a further 15kg. There are new wheels, which in combination with lighter damper struts and coil springs cut 21kg. Then you’re into carbonfibre for the bonnet and bootlid – complete with E46-inspired integrated spoiler – saving 11kg, the titanium silencer shaving 4kg, and another 4kg disappearing thanks to a lighter kidney grille, the deletion of rear floor mats and other little details changes.

There really are changes everywhere you look. The carbonfibre centre console is 4kg lighter. Standard-fit carbon-ceramic brakes reduce unsprung and rotating mass and cut a substantial 14.3kg. Walk around the CSL, take a sit inside and whilst there’s none of the bare-bones racer feel of the original M3 GTS, there’s no question that the ambience is more focused, more special. It’s a comprehensive job, then. Although an M4 Competition specified with ceramics and the optional adjustable M carbon bucket seats would make that 100kg reduction more like 70kg.

So, no, it’s not a homologation car like the OG CSL or E30 M3. It’s not especially light even in the context of 2022 at 1625kg with fluids. But I’m excited. In fact, expectations are sky high. My brain isn’t locked in the ‘forchrissakes it’s 460kg heavier than an E30!’ loop. Instead I’m thinking ‘bloody hell, it could be like an M5 CS that’s lost 200kg’. Remember, the M5 CS is the reigning evo Car of the Year and shrugged off the challenge of Porsche’s 992 GT3, Ferrari’s SF90 and Lamborghini’s Huracán STO amongst others. It took the title from the terrific M2 CS. The M division is in a rich vein of form. The CSL could and should be absolutely outrageous.

To meet those expectations the CSL will need to shine in horrible conditions. After weeks of warm and dry roads, our time with BMW’s new would-be icon coincides with a fine mist of drizzle descending on south Wales. It’s cold, too. Our CSL is fitted with versatile Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tyres rather than the unbelievably sticky and standard-fit Cup 2 Rs, which will be a great help in terms of clearing water but there’s no question the CSL will be fighting both the weather and a compromised set-up. There’s no way the full agility and response will be retained without those extreme tyres.

Even so, there’s an energy about this car that immediately differentiates it from the M4 Competition. You sense it when the straight-six starts but at first it’s very much an undercurrent rather than a raging torrent. There’s more volume but the CSL isn’t loud. It’s a step or two below a GT3, for example, and it lacks the drama and clatter of a lightweight flywheel. It’s a CSL with an eight-speed automatic gearbox, of course. This particular car isn’t fitted with the fixed-back buckets (boooo!) and hence even the driving position feels familiar. Only the lack of rear seats and the Alcantara-trimmed steering wheel really mark it out. The latter is a good few millimetres too fat, as usual.

That energy springs forth just as the wheels start to roll. The gearbox take-up is abrupt. So much so that it can stutter and lurch if you’re not assertive with the throttle. I’ve never experienced a full automatic with such an aggressive immediacy. The tension and intolerance of halfhearted inputs is familiar from the previous M4 GTS, which had a deeply mechanical feel to its M DCT ’box. Channelling the divisive but wickedly focused GTS is no bad thing in my opinion. The CSL is pointedly not a GTS and is supposed to be more useable (hence the fitment of electronically adjustable dampers rather than a manually adjustable set-up) but any M4 that costs £130,000 needs to feel like a different animal to the base car. Those first few seconds are crucial. The CSL feels like a proper job.

There are more familiar GTS vibes as we nose quietly through a congested little town. The ride has the unmistakable feel of a car with rose joints. There’s more noise transmitted and the CSL shuffles over rapid-fire bumps. There’s no slack and it seems the dampers aren’t quite in their operating range yet, so the surface’s little imperfections can make the road feel corrugated. However, there’s no roll-cage to buzz and rattle and the CSL is definitely more mannered.

Above 30mph or so, the whole car seems to smooth out and there’s that delicious feeling of a stiff platform and expensive dampers combining to ruthless effect. The CSL’s gait is measured and accurate. Every ripple or divot makes it back to the driver but all the rough edges are knocked off. Information is delivered clearly and with poise. The CSL doesn’t appear to do ragged. In Comfort mode, I think it might ride better than the M4 Competition.

There are some inescapables, though. With more noise, more attitude and the delicious sense of purpose bubbling away just beneath the surface, the sheer scale of the M4 CSL seems somehow more tangible than in the more refined M4 Competition. There’s just so much volume around you, and the vast space where the rear seats would normally sit makes the CSL feel like a bit of an echo chamber. It feels big on the road too, requiring effort not to thud catseyes and creating a sense of claustrophobia even as the roads start to open out and climb.

It’s not an exaggeration to say the BMW feels twice the size of a Porsche Cayman GT4 RS and hence you tend to think harder about unleashing the CSL. Rather than scratch from corner to corner or in between villages, light and agile and ever-ready, the BMW requires a bigger stage. The same would be true of, say, a Ferrari 812 Comp and I doubt I’d be complaining, but it does mean you spend quite a bit of time looking for the perfect road where in a smaller car you’d already be on it. The E46 CSL has a fundamental ability to adapt to its surroundings and feels at home on bumpy single track, flowing B-road or the wide expanse of a circuit. I’m not sure the new car is quite so versatile. Or perhaps I should say the driver is less minded to get it really woundup without the space to breathe.

Part of that is simply because the CSL is so outrageously fast. Low-rev response doesn’t feel quite as smooth and polished as an M4 Competition’s but I think part of that is due to the aggressive, sometimes almost uncouth way the gearbox locks up. However, once the engine is fully lit, the 3.0-litre straight-six is extraordinarily brawny and utterly relentless. On roads glistening with moisture for the first time in weeks it’s an intimidating, puckering level of performance. And just when you relax, having marvelled at the way the CSL will dig itself out of corners without leaning into the traction control, you’ll hit a crest with, say, 5000rpm on the dial and the rears will spin up in a heartbeat.

It’s a bit of a monster. Remember how, if you chose the original Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tyres on the E46 CSL, you had to sign a disclaimer saying you understood the potential for death and destruction in sub-optimal conditions? Maybe BMW should dig out that old Word doc and make 1000 copies…

As with all new M division models, there is a lot of configurability here and the various modes are worth exploring. There are pre-programmed modes, plus the ‘favourite’ type ones that you can call up with the M1 and M2 buttons. It’s a great system but arriving at your preferred settings could take some time. Luckily, the process is made very easy indeed. Simply hit the ‘Set up’ button next to the gear selector and the iDrive system brings up a full menu system listing all the configurable parameters. Now you can toggle between Comfort, Sport and, in certain cases, Sport Plus settings for each individual item and start to home in on your ultimate M4 CSL.

At this point people usually sagely say that what you want is everything else dialled up to maximum but the suspension on Comfort. Now insert a cliché about Lotus and we can all go home. It’s an approach that’s rarely true and in the case of the M4 CSL it couldn’t be more inaccurate. Here’s the thing. The CSL feels way, way too soft in Comfort mode once that engine starts to really hit. There’s too much performance and too much weight to control over lumps and bumps. The helper springs might keep the main springs seated and functioning at all times but the CSL starts to feel oddly out of control as the road turns gnarly if you haven’t started to lock down the chassis. Sport mode is a considerable step up but, rather amazingly for a set-up tailored specifically for the Nürburgring Nordschleife, there’s still the odd moment of float where the body seems to be out of phase with wheels that are tracing the surface.

This is a shock not only because the M4 GTS was so nailed down in terms of body control but also after the almost spooky composure of the heavier M5 CS. On streaming wet, bumpy, narrow roads in Scotland, the big M5 just sucked up everything the road could throw at it and yet felt completely connected at all times. The ultimate confidence-builder. Yet here on the smoother sections the CSL just feels a tiny bit vague. Confusingly, as the road really starts to crumple and scrabble over the landscape, the overly supple feel evaporates and the CSL starts to feel harsh and lacking in suspension travel. Once again, I’m left wondering if I’ll find the CSL’s elusive sweet spot. I want a unique soundscape, too. It might be impossible to recreate the E46 CSL’s raucous intake roar but the new CSL needs something to set it apart. A few deep and meaningful thuds on the overrun isn’t enough.

Frustratingly, the sun only burns off the moisture right at the end of our time with the CSL and on roads nearer home that are less than ideal. Even so, the promise of the extensive upgrades begins to deliver. Front-end response is fantastic and there’s no question that the solidly mounted rear subframe and rose joints increase the feel zinging back through the steering and seat. On Cup 2 R tyres I’m sure it would be transformed still further. Yet the PS4Ss are great in one sense as they show the CSL’s strongest suit at lower speeds: balance. It may spring a surprise over big, sudden crests when the road is wet and cold, but even in Wales the CSL had shown lovely, progressive manners once loaded into a corner. Despite the sheer aggression of the engine and gearbox, the way it can be teased on and around the limit really is a time-honoured M division trait.

I really don’t want to hand back the key to the M4 CSL. Despite having covered hundreds of miles, I’m not sure I fully know the car’s ultimate potential. It can feel spaceship fast and beautifully adjustable one moment, but heavy and with stretched body control the next. It seems a little too supple on fast, smooth sections but then starts to unravel when things get really bumpy. And despite extremely fast, aggressive shifts, the automatic gearbox does feel slightly at odds with the car’s ethos in other areas. Much more so than it does in the M4 Competition.

Perhaps my expectations were set too high after the brilliant M2 CS and flawless M5 CS. Perhaps the conditions and the tyre fitment eroded too much of what makes the CSL special. For me, though, the M4 CSL feels like a car that doesn’t quite come together. It’s funny, those other recent CS models seemed to change very little over their Competition siblings yet delivered a completely different and much more complete driving experience. The CSL feels different, that’s for sure, but in this instance there’s a nagging feeling that it’s less than the sum of its considerable parts.

Below and right: sun came out as we got to Bedford, just in time for some exploratory laps of the West Circuit; Michelin PS4Ss struggle to do it justice here.

TECHNICAL DATA 2023 BMW M4 CSL G82

• Engine In-line 6-cyl, 2993cc, twin-turbo
• Max Power 542bhp @ 6250rpm
• Max Torque 479lb ft @ 2750-5950rpm
• Weight 1625kg (339bhp/ton)
• 0-62mph 3.7sec
• Top speed 190mph (limited)
• Basic price £128,820
• DrivesToday rating 5/5
• + Ballistic pace, beautiful cornering balance
• — Whole package doesn’t quite gel

Above: body control occasionally found wanting on testing roads, but corner balance sublime.

Right: carbon-shelled buckets up front; nothing behind. Below and right: sun came out as we got to Bedford, just in time for some exploratory laps of the West Circuit; Michelin PS4Ss struggle to do it justice here.

Above and top left: cold, wet roads provide a stern test for the M division’s latest production; weight-saving measures include carbonfibre bonnet and bootlid, the latter incorporating an E46-gen CSL-inspired spoiler.

‘The delicious feeling of a stiff platform and expensive dampers combining to ruthless effect’

ON TRACK

It’s a gorgeous evening at Bedford Autodrome when we join our own track event in the M4 CSL. The pitlane is busy and the newest limited-edition M division model gets lots of attention. We’ve driven straight from Wales and after just a handful of laps and taking care not to roast the tyres we have to throw the key to another magazine for its own photoshoot. So this will be a taste of the CSL on track rather than a full-blown session with lap times and data.

Immediately, the car feels hampered by its PS4S tyres. They provide decent traction (a definite strong point over the M4 Competition) and a sublime balance but soon start to wilt under the forces the CSL wants to exert. The engine really is an unstoppable force, lighting up the tyres at will (and sometimes when you’re expressly trying to avoid it). You can sense the inherent agility, too. The CSL wants to turn and on warmed-through Cup 2 Rs I suspect the sheer physicality with which you could hustle the car around would be intense and exciting.

This evening, though, it’s hilariously adjustable, if ultimately slightly frustrating that the true capability of the chassis is masked by tyres that can’t keep up with the demands placed upon them. There’s more body roll than in an M4 GTS and certainly a greater sense of mass to contain, but it feels set up to be fun, fluid and deeply indulgent. If this level of entertainment is retained as grip levels increase on those sticky standard-fit tyres, the CSL could be a riot. To be continued…