BMW M3 G80 vs BMW M4 G82
We watched 17 videos from 13 reviewers. Need a back seat? Get the M3; on daily use it wins eight calls to one, and it holds its value better. Want the one that feels sportier? That's the M4, but it's a feeling, not a faster car. Most of the speed and fun calls here are really about trim and gearbox, so pick those first, then the body.
Counts are head-to-head calls: each time a reviewer picked one car over the other.
Performance
Competition trim feels significantly more potent than the base manual.
“503 horsepower in this car definitely feels a little bit more potent than the base manual car.”
Handling
CS feels significantly more planted than the standard M3.
“It just feels incredibly agile and you completely forget you've got an entire estate body style behind you.”
“The steering is incredibly sharp. The front end bites into corners with confidence, and the xDrive system gives you unbelievable grip coming out of the bends.”
Fun to drive
Manual M4 offers more engagement than the automatic M3.
Where reviewers split. Fun leans M4 three calls to one, but only Autotrader and Gagan Choudhary are really talking about the body: Joe Achilles compared a manual M4 with his automatic M3, and Savagegeese's one M3 win went to the manual car. Performance leans M3 three to two, but all three M3 calls are TheTopher's, and each one is really Competition vs. base manual. Handling has no clean head-to-head. One M4 win is from an M4 CS (TheStraightPipes), the other is a Zygrene clip comparing the M4 with the older F80 M3, and on the M3 side CAR magazine's handling note is about the M3 Touring, a wagon BMW doesn't sell in the US. Value rests on one call (AyyyMan), and one value impression on the M4 side is about the much pricier CSL.
“you still get the enjoyment of a decent manual transmission you feel like you're more engaged driving this”
“I love my m3 but i've been very open and vocal about the fact that it does lack a little bit of driving involvement... whereas this car well you can just have so much more fun”
“there's something about the m4 that makes me feel as if this is the sportier car... makes me feel a little bit more connected to it”
Daily drivability
M3 is preferred if the user requires more doors.
“if you could be doing 35 to 40 miles per gallon like i can be in my m3 with a zf8 speed auto compared to let's say 25 to 28 miles per gallon it does make a big difference”
“you guys have a much bigger door and a much bigger opening to basically get inside the car”
Value
M3 holds value better than the M4 coupe.
“the Coupes are more expensive and they lose more value”
Hear it in the reviewer’s words
“Same S58 straight-six and the same running gear, so the G80 M3 is the one you buy when the car has to carry people and the G82 M4 is the one you buy because it feels like the sportier car.
The M3's case is easy, and reviewers make it eight times to one. TheTopher puts it in six words: "you want more doors you get an M3." 8020 Automotive, ThatDudeinBlue, DriverReviews, AyyyMan and Carfection all land on the back seat and the rear doors, and Autogefuhl points out the M4's trunk is smaller. AyyyMan adds that the coupes "are more expensive and they lose more value." The M4's one practical win is a longer door that makes the front seats easier to get into.
The M4's case is feel, and that evidence is softer. Autotrader says "there's something about the m4 that makes me feel as if this is the sportier car," and Gagan Choudhary calls it "a little more wild, a little more free roaming." Neither points to a mechanical reason, and the only hardware edge anyone names is 8020 Automotive's "slight aerodynamic advantage" at high speed. Read the speed and fun tallies with care: most of those calls compare trims and gearboxes, not bodies. TheTopher's performance notes put a 503-hp Competition against a 473-hp base manual, Savagegeese drove a manual M3 against an M4 Competition, and Joe Achilles' extra fun in the M4 came with a six-speed his ZF8 M3 doesn't have.
Choose the drivetrain first (manual or Competition, rear-drive or xDrive), then the body. If you need the back seat, the M3 costs you nothing reviewers could measure.