Spent Saturday driving the G80 at the M Track day at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Let me start by saying I’m the quintessential M3/4 owner. It’s mostly a weekend car. I don’t track my car. Mostly driven on backroads with the occasional road trip. That said, driving the G80 on a track like COTA really showed it’s potential. I drove the M5 also. The M5 felt more at home on the 3.4 mile track due to AWD and the long sweeping turns and long straights. However, as stated above, I’m not buying a car based on how it navigates around COTA. On the backstretch, both the M5 and M3 hit 148mph before the braking zone. The M5 simply felt more planted/confident at that speed. I would surmise it has to do with it’s size/weight. However, the G80 felt more at home on the tighter sections of the track. Much easy to “point and shoot”.
First, the carbon seats are NOT for me. I’m 6’2”, 200 lbs and they are not comfortable. I can’t imagine having to climb in and out of these even on an occasional basis. As for track use, they are perfect. They give you a feeling of confidence that the normal comp seats don’t. But as I said, they are difficult to get out of and I can’t imagine spending any significant time in them. My $.02. Otherwise, the interior is a major upgrade over the F80.
The G80 is definitely more intuitive than the F80. It responds quicker to driver steering input. Of course after driving the M5, it felt like the G80 was half the weight. The transmission was quick but it’s not a DCT. It had some difficulty finding the right gear but I wasn’t in manual mode. That would have solved most of it’s issues, I believe. The most telling test was the drag race. We raced the M4/M8/X5M/X6M. The AWD models were MUCH quicker off the line. I believe the traction control “detuned” the boost on the M4 until it detected adequate traction. The object of the race was to arrive inside of a predetermined area first. Therefore, you had to finish “inside the box” without going past the cones that outlined the finish area. You punched it off the line but at a certain point you had to brake to finish “inside the box”. I was a passenger for half the races and a driver for half. As stated, the M4 was MUCH slower off the line but once traction was achieved, it was a bullet! I watched the speedometer for each car when I was the passenger. Even though the M8 was quicker off the line, both cars reached 62mph before heavy braking was required to not over shoot the finish area. That was telling. My opinion is the AWD M3/4 will be an absolute beast. The current version is quick but it’s like experiencing significant turbo lag. AWD will resolve that, IMO.
Overall, it was an eye-opening experience. The G80 is incredibly competent and powerful (maybe too powerful for 2wd). The handling is precise and the interior is a major upgrade (sans carbon seats). As for the design, everyone has his or her opinion and mine is as irrelevant as anyone’s is. But behind the wheel, it is evident BMW M did their due diligence to get it right.