[mfifield01]

I have been looking at ordering an M3 Comp xDrive. I found a preowned 2022 at the dealership and test drove it today. It looks like you have to turn off DSC to go into 4wd sport or 2wd. I thought you could leave DSC on in 4wd sport and M Drive Professional was only really needed for 2wd. The dealership brought out a few "Product Experts", but they couldn't really explain how 4wd sport works. This lead me to think you would probably want the M Drive Professional if you want to drive in anything other that 4wd. Can someone explain how the 4wd sport works with DSC off?

[NYG]

I don't think you can use 4WD or 4WD Sport with DSC off.

4WD Sport is MDM which sends more power to rear and allows some slip.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[chris3g]

You’re miss-using some terms which I think is causing the confusion. 4WD SPORT is available when the DSC is in MDM (m-dynamic mode). This is unrelated to MDrive professional. MDM is a mode
of the DSC controller where traction control is disabled and stability control is turned down to allow additional drift angle before the car will step in to correct you. It is essentially an intermediate level between DSC ON and OFF.

M drive professional is a marketing term for an option package which includes track view, drift analyzer app, and enables 10 stage traction control when the car is in 2WD MODE. Without 10 stage traction control, unlocked by the mdrive professional package, 2WD mode can only be used with traction control fully disabled.

The combinations you can use are

DSC ON - 4WD
DSC MDM - 4WD SPORT
DSC OFF - 4WD, 4WD SPORT , 2WD
2WD + Traction control - when M drive pro package is purchased.

[mfifield01]

I'm learning the terms, so correct me as I go. Under the individual mode control (at the bottom), it had 4WD Sport greyed out. The info stated that DSC needed to be off. We turned it off and you could select 4WD Sport. Did we miss an area that had DSC MDM?

How much intervention is there in DSC MDM?

[chris3g]

Originally Posted by mfifield01

I'm learning the terms, so correct me as I go. Under the individual mode control (at the bottom), it had 4WD Sport greyed out. The info stated that DSC needed to be off. We turned it off and you could select 4WD Sport. Did we miss an area that had DSC MDM?

How much intervention is there in DSC MDM?

My memory on idrive 7 is a little hazy at this point but as I recall you can set MDM mode by pressing the physical traction control button, or you can long hold it to get DSC off. You can also configure MDM or DSC off in your m1/m2 presets and then you can enable it by triggering the m1 or m2 mode from the buttons.

I don’t believe that bmw specifically quantifies how much intervention there is beyond “less” and “later” as compared to DSC ON.

[jimbethesda]

Originally Posted by chris3g

My memory on idrive 7 is a little hazy at this point but as I recall you can set MDM mode by pressing the physical traction control button, or you can long hold it to get DSC off. You can also configure MDM or DSC off in your m1/m2 presets and then you can enable it by triggering the m1 or m2 mode from the buttons.

I don’t believe that bmw specifically quantifies how much intervention there is beyond “less” and “later” as compared to DSC ON.

There should also be a traction control item when you press the "setup" button, but there isn't which leads to confusion. chris3g is spot on in their responses to you. Before switching to 4WD Sport or 2WD, you need to turn off DSC completely or put in MDM. There is a traction control button near the gear shift. A short press toggles between fully on and MDM. If you hold it down for a few sec, it turns it completely off.

Your conclusion is mostly correct. If you think you'll ever go into 2wd mode, I think M Drive Professional is a good option to add.

[mfifield01]

Good info. Thanks.

I doubt I would use 2wd. I don't see any advantage, except for drifting.

[RichardGM4]

Originally Posted by mfifield01

Good info. Thanks.

I doubt I would use 2wd. I don't see any advantage, except for drifting.

I've had the 2WD option on both my last car (G82 M4CX) and current car (G80 M3 CS) for a total of 2 years and 4 months and I've hardly ever used the 2WD option. Maybe half a dozen times in total.

I don't really see the point as I don't drift my car and the xDrive system is so good, you really don't notice when it's starts delivering power to the front wheels. It's not like an old school mechanical AWD system or old electronic AWD system, where you can feel the front wheels pulling the front of the car in an almost contradictory direction to the rear wheels, like they're competing against each other.

The xDrive system is pretty seamless in how it delivers and manages the power to all the wheels - it's a remarkable system considering the power and torque it's putting down onto the road.

It provides so much grip, particularly when pushing on while driving on poor road surfaces, in wet conditions, etc, that it means you can enjoy more of the cars power and capabilities, more of the time and more safely, than if you were running it in RWD only.

They clearly made it available for the purists but as you're already carrying the extra weight of the front diff, drive shafts, etc, whether you use them or not, why would you not take the benefit of AWD?!?

[mfifield01]

Originally Posted by RichardGM4

I've had the 2WD option on both my last car (G82 M4CX) and current car (G80 M3 CS) for a total of 2 years and 4 months and I've hardly ever used the 2WD option. Maybe half a dozen times in total.

I don't really see the point as I don't drift my car and the xDrive system is so good, you really don't notice when it's starts delivering power to the front wheels. It's not like an old school mechanical AWD system or old electronic AWD system, where you can feel the front wheels pulling the front of the car in an almost contradictory direction to the rear wheels, like they're competing against each other.

The xDrive system is pretty seamless in how it delivers and manages the power to all the wheels - it's a remarkable system considering the power and torque it's putting down onto the road.

It provides so much grip, particularly when pushing on while driving on poor road surfaces, in wet conditions, etc, that it means you can enjoy more of the cars power and capabilities, more of the time and more safely, than if you were running it in RWD only.

They clearly made it available for the purists but as you're already carrying the extra weight of the front diff, drive shafts, etc, whether you use them or not, why would you not take the benefit of AWD?!?

Yes, the traction is amazing in 4WD.

I won't add M Drive Professional to a build. I need to decide on DAPP (doubt I'll use it).

They had a MY24 order open up and are pushing me to take the slot. I'm thinking about waiting until MY25 orders open, but not sure how far back I would be on their list.

[SwankPeRFection]

Originally Posted by RichardGM4

I've had the 2WD option on both my last car (G82 M4CX) and current car (G80 M3 CS) for a total of 2 years and 4 months and I've hardly ever used the 2WD option. Maybe half a dozen times in total.

Something to point out and highlight for people reading this…. It’s important to note that the CS comes with the M Drive Pro slip option built in, whereas a Comp may not have it. I’m not saying you don’t have it on your past M4CX because that wasn’t clear in your post, but if you didn’t, it’s not a good comparison because out of the box, the CS has it and it kicks in on 2WD mode as part of the flip when configured. If you didn’t have this option on your past M4CX, then the CS should be even more usable and controllable in 2WD mode because of it. People often forget this capability is built into the CSL/CS natively.

[Gottagofast]

The first 6 months of my XDrive ownership, I drove it exclusively in 4WD Sport mode. After getting comfortable with the handling and the limits of the car, I've been driving it in 2WD mode almost permanently, bar some severe weather condition of course.

[NYG]

Originally Posted by mfifield01

Good info. Thanks.

I doubt I would use 2wd. I don't see any advantage, except for drifting.

Big advantage if you're tracking the car but unnecessary everywhere else.

[RichardGM4]

Originally Posted by SwankPeRFection

Something to point out and highlight for people reading this…. It’s important to note that the CS comes with the M Drive Pro slip option built in, whereas a Comp may not have it. I’m not saying you don’t have it on your past M4CX because that wasn’t clear in your post, but if you didn’t, it’s not a good comparison because out of the box, the CS has it and it kicks in on 2WD mode as part of the flip when configured. If you didn’t have this option on your past M4CX, then the CS should be even more usable and controllable in 2WD mode because of it. People often forget this capability is built into the CSL/CS natively.

Yes the 10-stage traction control setting in 2WD mode was included on my M4CX (I think it comes as standard on the UK 4WD cars but perhaps someone else can confirm)

[kjx]

Originally Posted by RichardGM4

The xDrive system is pretty seamless in how it delivers and manages the power to all the wheels - it's a remarkable system considering the power and torque it's putting down onto the road.

After having owned the M4 for more than 2 years, I'm convinced that the 2WD mode and the 4WD sport modes were meant to convince people that they have options if they were hesitant about M xDrive.

M xDrive is so bloody damn brilliant that I've almost never gone away from regular 4WD in daily driving. The one time I tried 4WD drive sport and pushed hard I realized that it was for shenanigans and not really for extracting the max possible out of the car safely. I drive hard - pedal to the floor fully sometimes and think it's not enough (lol).

2WD + 10-stage traction control - I've only used it in driver training on a skidpad setting to learn that.. I suck at maintaining a drift on a car like this.

[PVC]

I use the RWD mode when going down steep hills sometimes. It feels a bit more relaxed that way and with the 10 step traction control, it's safe enough.

I find myself tweaking those settings every once in a while to spice things up. It's a nice to have feature that you cannot retrofit and lets you get more out of your car.

[pizza240]

I use 2WD for more spirited driving and it's a lot of fun. 10-stage TC is very good, but there is no intervention when faced with off-throttle oversteer or oversteer under braking.
I find that 4WD Sport / MDM makes the car very capable, but you'll smell the clutch after accelerating out of few hard corners. This is obviously from the multi-plate clutch mechanism sending power to the front wheels when it senses slip under acceleration.
It's probably fine for the car, but I like the simplicity of the RWD mode and the lack of smell (and what I perceive as wear on the clutch).

[fl1by]

Originally Posted by mfifield01

Yes, the traction is amazing in 4WD.

I won't add M Drive Professional to a build. I need to decide on DAPP (doubt I'll use it).

They had a MY24 order open up and are pushing me to take the slot. I'm thinking about waiting until MY25 orders open, but not sure how far back I would be on their list.

I would give very serious consideration on the headlights that might be available on your MY25. Laser lights are excellent. The model change lights are not very attractive to myself, regardless of their functionality.

[SwankPeRFection]

Originally Posted by fl1by

I would give very serious consideration on the headlights that might be available on your MY25. Laser lights are excellent. The model change lights are not very attractive to myself, regardless of their functionality.

From what I’ve seen, you don’t have any headlight option other than the BMW LED basic ones… not unless they bundled that shit with some unnecessary package just to cash grab.

[Juanero]

I've been using 2wd mode more often lately. Slip the rear out at random times on the road, straight roads or not. Kids love it. Wife hates it.

Been setting the TC lower and lower. Lately, I've been at 4 and not sure I want to go any lower though.