BMW M4 Competition Hire Sydney: Review, Specs and Which Drivetrain to Ask For

The M4 Competition is the coupe built on the same platform as the M3 Competition xDrive, with two fewer doors, a carbon-fibre roof and the same 375kW S58 twin-turbo six. It comes as a rear-wheel-drive car or with M xDrive, and the choice changes what the car is like in the wet far more than it changes the numbers. It is confirmed by request, so send your dates and say which drivetrain you want, and we will tell you honestly whether we can deliver it.

★★★★★ Rated 5.0 from 1,431 reviews across Drive Tribe

Specifications

Two versions of one car sit in that table. The engine, gearbox and body are shared. The
drivetrain line is where they part, and it is the first thing to settle before you send dates,
because it decides what the car is like on a wet Tuesday as much as on a dry Sunday.

What It Is Actually Like in Sydney

The grille, and then everything behind it

The tall kidney grille on the G82 divided opinion the day it was shown and has not stopped
since. In the metal, and particularly in a dark colour, it reads as less of an event than the
photographs suggest, and the rest of the body is as good as BMW has done: wide rear arches, a
low roof in bare carbon fibre, and a stance that looks planted even parked outside a cafe in
Double Bay. People will have an opinion about the front. Nobody has a bad one about the rest.

The carbon roof is not decoration. It removes weight from the highest point of the car, which
is why the coupe feels slightly keener to change direction than the M3 sedan on the same
platform. It also means no sunroof, which some people mind and most forget within a day.

Rear-drive or xDrive: the weather decides

The rear-wheel-drive Competition is the traditional M car. On a dry road it is precise and
adjustable, and with the traction control wound back it will move the tail on the throttle in a
way the all-wheel-drive car has to be asked to do. On a wet road it is a car that demands
attention. Six hundred and fifty newton metres arriving from low in the rev range through two
rear tyres on a greasy Pacific Highway is not a scenario to learn in. The 3.9-second 0-100 figure
belongs to this car, and it is a dry-road figure.

The M xDrive version sends drive to the front axle only when the rear starts to slip, and the
rest of the time it behaves like the rear-drive car. The 3.5-second figure belongs to this one,
and unlike the rear-drive time it is repeatable in most conditions. It also has a mode that
disconnects the front axle entirely, so nothing is given away for the days you want the purer
car. For a Sydney hire with weather you cannot choose, xDrive is the one we would steer most
people towards, and we say so before you book rather than after.

The short version of the choice:

• Rear-drive: 3.9 seconds to 100km/h, lighter, the purist's car, best on a dry day with an experienced driver.
• M xDrive: 3.5 seconds to 100km/h, repeatable in the wet, with a rear-only mode for when the road is dry.
• Both: 375kW, 650Nm, the same eight-speed automatic, the same carbon roof and the same 2+2 cabin.
• Neither: a car for someone who has never driven anything with this much torque and would rather learn on a hire.

The S58 is the best engine BMW builds

The 3.0-litre twin-turbo six makes 375kW and 650Nm and does it with almost no lag. From
2,500rpm to the limiter it pulls in one continuous shove, and the eight-speed automatic keeps it
there with shifts that are quick enough that a dual-clutch is not missed. On the M1 north it
overtakes trucks in the time it takes to look in the mirror. On a road like Bells Line of Road,
where the corners are open and the climbs are long, it is the car that turns a two-hour drive
into the reason for the trip.

The noise is a straight-six with turbochargers, which means a hard-edged howl at the top of the
range rather than a V8 rumble. The C63 S on the same tier is the car for people who want the
rumble. This one is for people who want the rev range.

It takes premium unleaded and, driven the way the car invites on a good road, it drinks it.
Driven gently on the motorway it is surprisingly moderate for the output, and a Sydney to
Newcastle return on one tank is no trouble. Budget for the enthusiastic day rather than the
quiet one and there will be no surprise at the pump.

Where it belongs

The Royal National Park road from Waterfall to Otford, early enough that the cyclists have not
arrived, is what this car is for. So is the run down through Stanwell Tops to Sea Cliff Bridge
and along the coast to Wollongong, and the return over Macquarie Pass if the day allows. It is
happy on the motorway too, sitting quietly in eighth with the dampers in comfort, which is more
than can be said for some of the exotics that share its pace.

What it is not built for is the inner city. It is wide, the doors are long, the front lip is
low, and a tight underground car park in the CBD asks for patience and the cameras. Book it for
the drive and the arrival, and use something else for errands.

Things You Should Know

2+2 means two, plus company for a short trip

The rear seats are real and children will be comfortable in them for as long as the trip
lasts. Adults will fit for a run to dinner and will not thank you for a run to the Hunter. Access
is over a folded front seat through a long door, which in a tight car park is its own puzzle.
If the trip involves four adults for any distance, the M3 Competition xDrive has the same engine
and four doors, and it is the honest recommendation.

The rear-drive car in the wet is a serious car

This is the one point on the page worth reading twice. The rear-wheel-drive M4 Competition
with 650Nm is entirely civil when driven with care, and it will punish carelessness faster than
almost anything else on the Performance tier. A wet roundabout, a painted line, a tram track in
the inner west: each of these is a place where a heavy right foot will bring the traction control
in hard, or worse. Drivers who have not spent time in a powerful rear-drive car should ask for the
xDrive. There is no loss of face in it and a great deal of bond in it.

The front lip and the driveway

The M4 is low at the front and the lower lip is the first thing to touch a steep driveway or a
high kerb. Approach ramps at an angle, take speed humps slowly, and tell us about the driveway at
your address when you send dates so the handover can happen somewhere flat. The wheels sit on
low-profile tyres, so the same care applies when parallel parking. Both are the common items on
a settlement for this class of car, and both are entirely avoidable.

Who Books This Car

Drivers who want the current M car in its coupe form for a specific drive: a birthday run
through the Royal National Park, a weekend in the Southern Highlands, a day on the Old Pacific
Highway that has been planned for months. People arriving at an event in something two-door and
unmistakable who do not want a supercar's attention or a supercar's bill. Existing M3 owners who
want to know what the carbon roof and the shorter body change, which is more than they expect.

It is priced from $795 a day, which puts it just under the M3 Competition xDrive on the same
tier and above the C63 S, and a long way under anything with a mid-mounted engine. Longer hires
taper, and a three-day weekend is the natural shape of a booking.

It is confirmed by request. Send your dates, an address and your drivetrain preference, we
check what we can source, and we come back with a straight answer before anything is charged. If
the answer is no for your dates, we say so and offer the M3 xDrive or the C63 S instead.