- Delivered across Sydney
- Bond and fees shown before you pay
- Never swapped to a lesser car
We hire both generations, which means we have no particular reason to push you towards either. The G80 is the better car by almost every objective measure. The F80 is the one more people come back talking about. Both of those statements are true and the gap between them is the whole comparison.
Try the one that suits the day
Tell us the date, your age and the forecast. We will tell you which generation to take and why.
The Objective Answer Is the G80
Let us deal with this first, because pretending otherwise would be silly.
The G80 M3 Competition makes 375kW, which is 510 horsepower, and 650Nm from the S58 engine. The F80 Competition makes 331kW, or 450 horsepower, and 550Nm from the S55. The G80 is faster in a straight line, has more grip, stops better, and in xDrive form puts its power down in conditions where the F80 simply cannot.
It is also a considerably better car to spend three hours in. Better seats, better insulation, a far better interior, and a gearbox that is smoother at low speed than the F80's dual-clutch.
If the question is "which is the better car", the answer is the G80 and there is not much of an argument.
That is not the same question as "which should I hire for a Saturday", which is what this page is actually about.
What the F80 Does That the G80 Does Not
The F80 is rear-wheel drive only, has less mechanical grip, and a chassis that talks to you more. The practical consequence is that it involves you in the driving in a way the G80 does not need to.
A G80 xDrive on a good road is astonishingly quick and slightly remote. It is doing so much so competently that you are asking for outcomes rather than managing a process. That is a genuine engineering achievement and, for some people, less satisfying.
The F80 asks you to be more deliberate. Weight transfer matters. Throttle position on the exit of a corner matters. It is the car people describe as "more of an event", and that description is accurate rather than nostalgic.
It is also, for exactly the same reasons, the one more likely to catch out a driver who does not respect it. Those are two sides of the same characteristic, not separate facts.
The Age Rule Decides This for a Lot of People
This is the most practically important part of the comparison and it has nothing to do with how the cars drive.
Every M3 on the fleet, F80 or G80, needs a driver of 25 or over with a full licence.
So if you are under 25, the comparison is academic: neither generation is open to you yet, and the Mustang, Camaro and Taycan are the performance cars that are.
At 25 or over, both generations are open and the rest of this page applies.
Young Driver Cover does not arise on an M3, because nobody under 25 can drive one.
Price, and What the Difference Buys
The stock F80 is $400 a day and the Stage 1 $530. The G80 Competition is $700 and the G80 xDrive is $850.
That is a meaningful gap, and the honest framing is that the extra buys speed, all-weather capability and comfort rather than a better day out. Plenty of people have a better Saturday in the F80 and spend $450 less doing it.
Where the G80 clearly justifies the difference is on a long drive, in poor weather, or if the point of the day is to go genuinely fast with the least drama. Where the F80 clearly wins is a dry day on a good road when the driving itself is the point.
Longer hires taper on both, so a weekend is not simply double.
The Weather Question, Which Is Not Optional in Sydney
Sydney weather turns fast, and this is where the comparison stops being about preference.
The G80 xDrive is the only all-wheel-drive M3 we have. On a wet road it is composed in a way that a 450hp rear-drive car is not, and the difference is largest at exactly the moments that catch people out - pulling out of junctions, exiting wet roundabouts, accelerating on a greasy surface under tree cover.
The Northern Beaches roads are the specific case in point. They hold damp for a long time under cover, and we have written about that in more detail in the M3 in the wet.
If your date looks wet and you have the choice, take the xDrive. If your date looks wet and you are in an F80, drive it accordingly and give the tyres time to warm.
Which One for Which Day
A dry Saturday on the good roads south, driver over 25, budget open: the F80, and the G80 is the safer recommendation but the F80 is the better day.
A wet day, or a long drive, or a first time in a fast car: the G80 xDrive.
Under 25: an F80, and that is the whole answer.
A weekend with three passengers and luggage: the G80 for comfort, the F80 to save $600 across two days. Both genuinely work, which is unusual for cars this quick.
A wedding or a formal: neither, probably. Both are fast cars rather than occasion cars, though the M3's four doors make it more workable than most - see the M3 as a wedding car for the honest version.
The Only Way to Actually Settle It
Take both. Two bookings, two drivers, the same road on the same morning.
We can do that because we have both generations, and it is the only comparison that is worth anything, because every written comparison including this one is somebody's opinion about a feeling.
Each car needs its own named driver meeting the rules for that tier, which means the G80 driver has to be 25 or over. Each carries its own bond and its own cover if applicable. It is two hires rather than one, and it is priced that way.
If you want to do it, say so when you book so we can hold both rather than relying on two separate bookings landing on the same day.
Everything else about the four cars is on the M3 hire hub.
Living With Them, Which Is Half of a Hire
Most comparisons stop at the driving. On a hire you also sit in the thing for two hours getting to the road and two hours getting back, so the rest of it matters.
The G80's interior is a generation better and it shows immediately. Better materials, a far better screen, more supportive seats for long distances, and considerably less road noise at motorway speed. If the day involves an hour of freeway at each end, that gap is real rather than academic.
The F80's cabin is showing its age. It is well built and entirely pleasant, but the switchgear and screen are from the middle of the last decade and it sounds like it. The Competition bucket seats are excellent when you are driving and firm when you are not.
Boot space and rear seats are close enough between them not to matter. Both genuinely take four adults, which is the M3's whole trick.
The gearbox difference is worth flagging. The F80's seven-speed dual-clutch is sharper when you are driving hard and noticeably less smooth at crawling speed - it shuffles in traffic in a way the G80's eight-speed automatic does not. In stop-start Sydney traffic the G80 is the more relaxing car by a clear margin.
Which One Ages Better in Your Memory
A slightly unusual thing to write about a hire car, but it is the honest heart of this comparison.
The G80 xDrive is the more impressive car and the harder one to describe afterwards. It is so composed and so quick that the experience compresses into "it was extremely fast", which is true and not much of a story.
The F80 gives you more to talk about, because more of what happened was down to you. The corner you got right, the moment the back moved and you caught it, the bit where you were braver than you expected. That is a different kind of value and it is why the older, slower, cheaper car is not obviously the lesser choice.
If you are hiring for the experience rather than the performance, that distinction is the one that actually decides it. If you are hiring to go genuinely fast with the least drama, the G80 xDrive is simply the better tool and the F80 is nostalgia with a $450 discount.
Neither of those is the wrong reason. They are just different reasons, and knowing which one is yours settles the comparison faster than any specification sheet.
If the BMW M3 Competition F80 is booked
We never move you down a tier. If your dates are taken, these are the performance cars we will offer instead, and we will tell you plainly if none of them is free rather than substituting something lesser on the day.
F80 Competition
- 450hp
- RWD
- Age 25
- $400/day
The more demanding car and the cheaper one. Rear-wheel drive only, and the cheaper of the two generations.
G80 Competition xDrive
- 510hp
- AWD
- Age 25
- $850/day
Faster everywhere and far easier to use all of. All-wheel drive turns a wet day from a compromise into a non-issue.
Or take both
Two bookings, two drivers, one weekend. Both generations on the same road is the only way to genuinely settle it.
Guide rates, weekday winter pricing. Longer hires taper; the exact total for your dates is shown before you pay.
The bond held on your card equals the excess of the cover you choose. It is a pre-authorisation, released after return.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the G80 faster than the F80?
Yes, and by a clear margin. The G80 Competition makes 510hp against the F80 Competition's 450hp, and the xDrive version does 0 to 100 in roughly 3.5 seconds against about 4.0 for the F80. It is also faster in the conditions where it matters most, which is anywhere the surface is less than perfect.
Is the F80 more fun?
More involving, which is not quite the same thing. It is rear-wheel drive only, it has less grip and it asks more of you, so a good drive in an F80 feels more like something you did. Whether that is more fun depends entirely on whether you enjoy being asked.
Which is better in the wet?
The G80 xDrive, and it is not close. All-wheel drive with 510hp on a wet road is manageable in a way that 450hp through the rear wheels is not, particularly for someone who has not driven a car like this before.
Why is the F80 cheaper to hire?
It is an older car. The minimum driver age is the same 25 on every M3, so the difference is price and character, not eligibility.
Does the F80 have a manual?
The F80 was sold with both a six-speed manual and a seven-speed dual-clutch. Ours are the dual-clutch cars. If you specifically want a manual M3, we do not have one and would rather tell you that than have you find out on the day.
Which one should I book for a weekend away?
Either works, because both have four doors and a boot. The G80 is the more comfortable long-distance car by a reasonable margin. The F80 is the one that makes the good road better and the motorway section worse.