Here’s why the BMW M4 GTS missed the mark

Special versions are often complicated. They range from adding a little decal, to perhaps making some suspension tweaks, to going full-on race car level. The BMW M4 GTS that you see here leans very heavily toward race car level. This car is the real performance deal.

And that’s precisely why I think it failed.

The 2016 BMW M4 GTS Overview

It’s easy to think that BMW M has always been the way it is now. G80s taking over social media. M selling faster than they can build them. A million different color and trim combinations. It’s all fun, and it’s all great. But it had to come from somewhere.

Rewind 20 years ago, and you essentially had the E46 M3 and E60 M5. One engine for each. Two transmission options. Pick your color, see you when the lease it up. But there were cars elsewhere, like the E46 CSL, that were never sold here. Ditto for the E92 M3 GTS – a car that should have been sold here.

Once the F82 M4 was introduced, M decided it was time to start opening up the catalog in North America. Rather than dipping a toe into the market, they released the car you see here in 2016 – the BMW M4 GTS. It is a serious machine. Water injection allowed them to turn up the boost on the S55 (from 17 to 26 PSI). The back seat was taken out, replaced by a gigantic orange chassis brace. There was a height-adjustable suspension kit, more carbon fiber, and a gigantic wing that looks more at home on the back of an F1 car than it does this coupe.

Sounds fast. Sound fun. Sounds expensive. This car sold for over $133,000 when it was released. BMW even sent out little voucher cards in the mail to their top customers, eager to encourage them into the dealership. Remember that a basic M4 Coupe could be had for $65,000. The GTS has depreciated too – it’s by no means a classic.

Still – look at Porsche selling all those GT3s for the price of a house. Let’s look into this car more.

Performance Score: 9. Hulk. Smash.

It’s not just that this car is blindingly fast (it is), but the manner in which it goes about that speed. All of the daily driveability has left the chat, replaced by an angry orange monster.

Engine

The GTS has something no other M car ever had before or since – water injection. The science is simple – cooler air means more of it can fit inside the combustion chamber, and that means there’s more to ignite. The GTS uses a water tank in the trunk to inject it into said chamber, cooling the air down by some 77 degrees and allowing BMW to raise the boost. The result is 493 horsepower, up 49 from a regular M4. The system does add 22 pounds, but BMW takes weight out elsewhere.

Perhaps you think that years of exposure to powerful cars have dulled my enthusiasm for the GTS’s engine, but you’d be wrong. The S55 is really explosive here. It is not smooth like an S58 – this car rips and rips, encouraging you rev it. Peak power is up high – 6,250 RPM, so you’ve gotta stay up there if you don’t want any lag. That makes it much closer in personality to an S65 than a later turbo engine. It’s the best S55 I’ve ever tried.

Thanks to reduced sound deadening and a titanium muffler, the GTS is soooo loud but never pleasing. I’ve never really heard an F8X sound great, and the GTS is no exception. But it’s still fun. This engine has real personality, adding to the M4’s charm.

Transmission

The seven-speed DCT in the GTS features a unique tune for more sporty driving. It’s something you’d notice more so if you’re used to a regular M4, but I can tell you that the DCT is the right choice here.

The car shifts so quickly under load, it’ll genuinely snap your neck. Around town, there’s minimal clickity-clack or bucking, making me wonder why BMW ditched the DCT in the latest gen. This car is among the few that encourages you to shift for yourself, and those paddles got heavy use. Thank goodness, no manual was available.

Steering and Chassis

I think my big issue with this car lies in this portion.

First, the steering. It’s heavy regardless of being in Comfort or Sport mode (Sport makes it so heavy, a gym membership should be included). But heavy doesn’t mean it offers feedback, and the GTS is as numb as any other M car from this generation.

Then, the suspension. Sigh. The standard M4’s adjustable electronic springs get ditched for a HAS setup that is always rough, raw and stiff. This thing will kill your back, rattle your teeth, and shake your hair from its roots. Without any mode to change, you’re left to its devices of torture. The fact that you can adjust the height will not save you because you must get out, jack up the car, turn the wrench at each corner, and lower it. The GTS does not come with its own pit crew. You’re up, big guy.

That front lip is huge too, so expect to hit things if you’ve lowered the car from the track. A Corvette can lift its nose, why can’t this?

The track environment won’t save you, or at least it wouldn’t save me. This car is too aggressive and snappy for my taste. A softer rear set up would prevent that sense of snap oversteer. Maybe blame the older tires too – Michelin Pilot Sport 3s. This could use a set of Sport Cups, though that would probably worsen that rear end if the car lets go.

Not comfortable. Looking to kill you on track unless you’ve got an FIA license. I expect more from BMW M.

Brakes

Carbon ceramic brakes are standard on the M4 GTS (a $10,000 stand-alone option on a regular M4), and rightfully so because of this car’s performance and track-focused mission.

They work really well – perhaps one of the best braking systems I’ve used. Porsche CCBs tend to have a dead spot in the pedal if you really step on them, especially cold, but the GTS always gives you confidence.

Lifestyle Score: 4. Shell shock

From the moment you get into this car, you are all about that MOTORSPORT LIFE, and you’ll prove it to yourself every time you leave your friends and family at home. The back seats go away, replaced by some exposed roll cage. At least it’s beautifully finished in Acid Orange. My issue here is that you still carry the penalty of weight and size around with you. Wouldn’t a 1 Series be a better candidate, or really just a two-seater to begin with?

You also lose the split-fold pass through for the trunk, so don’t expect to carry a spare set of racing tires with you inside. But the trunk itself remains large and spacious. Guess you can go to Home Depot and stuff.

Up front are regular M4 seats – this before carbon buckets were a thing. They aren’t bad, but I think the bottom cushion isn’t long enough, and they don’t hold you in place the way you might expect. This car will rip your face off – the seats need to grip you tighter than an angry octopus.

Fuel Economy: 6. Be free, S55

What if you took away all the efficiency crap that a regular M4 has to deal with? Engine tunes eager to sip, and transmission settings designed to change down as fast as possible? Beats me – the GTS has to deal with all that too.

But BMW did make some tweaks as we talked about. So the GTS gets a combined 19 MPG, with just 16 around town. The regular M4 just does one better – 20 combined, and 17 in the city, so the GTS’s additional power is easily worth the trade off, even if it’s dependent on the water spray.

Speaking of, the 1.3-gallon water tank should last for the same distance as the 15.9-gallon fuel tank on a race track, so bring distilled water with you. On the street, BMW says you can go up to six fuel refills before worrying about topping off the drink.

Features and Comfort: 5. Barest of bones

How much does automatic climate control weigh? How about real door handles? An arm rest? These are questions you might contemplate during ownership.

The Land of Make Believe

There is something to be said for what is essentially a factory-built race car. Let’s have fun here for a minute, because this M4 does get some unique things.

Open the door to reveal acres of carbon fiber. Not that glossy stuff either – this is dry and real. The door handles are replaced by a strip of fabric that you pull, and it’s about as close as we’ll get to BMW M making a thong. There’s no arm rest, and most of the leather is replaced by random pads of Alcantara, including the steering wheel.

Automatic climate control gets replaced by conventional HVAC buttons, which is either cool, cute, or a disgrace because it came from a version of the cheapest F30 3 Series not even sold in America. At least it has AC.

Elsewhere you get M stripes on the seat belts, an embroidered GTS badge on the dash, and iDrive 4.0, complete with controller. It feels pretty dated at this point, but you can put Apple CarPlay in if you feel the urge. Navigation still works anyway.

Does it look like a $133,000 M car in here? No. Does it look like a race car? Maybe. You won’t care once you’re on a track with it at full afterburner.

Body by M

Perhaps one place the GTS shows its value is the exterior – it has a ton of things not available anywhere else.

Ours is painted Black Sapphire Metallic with Acid Orange accents, but you could also get Alpine White, Mineral Grey Metallic or Frozen Dark Grey Metallic. All look good on the car. Combined with GTS-specific 666-style wheels, and we have something unique already.

BMW adds a carbon fiber hood, rear spoiler with adjustable angle of attack, the biggest front lip I’ve ever seen from the factory, and a titanium muffler. This M4 also has special OLED tail lights that were never replicated on any other version of the car. They’ve since inspired dozens of knock-offs.

You know exactly what this car is, and it will always draw some Sunday morning responses. “Ohh, bro is dat a GTS?!”

Others special sport coupes to consider

• Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition
• BMW F82 M4 Coupe
• Lexus RC-F Track Edition
• Nissan Z NISMO
• 911 GT3 RS

The BMW M4 GTS was a novelty that opened the door for future projects

It’s hard to believe this car is almost a decade old – held up well, I think. But we’re starting to come to the point in its life span where the depreciation bell curve is going to nose dive. What a shame.

This example had less than a thousand miles on it – was it even broken in? In the time since it’s been purchased, it’s changed hands often and lost a third of its original value, all without turning a wheel in anger. And anger is what this thing does best.

It wants you to drive it hard. Very hard. Anything else, from lazy Sunday morning drives to a back road attack, is just wasting its super powers. This is Bruce Banner if he never turns into Hulk. Do you want to hang out with Bruce all day? Do you want to hang out with this GTS in a coffee shop parking lot?

No, you don’t. This M4 is too one-dimensional to be a real M car. It lost all of its comfort, something the F8X generation never did particularly well to begin with. BMW has yet to bring the GTS badge back, as the new M4 received a CS and CSL version instead. Perhaps this car is to blame for that, or perhaps the CS badge is just too rich to pass up. But I know M can do better, and you’ll find that out next week.

Want a GTS? Do it and buy one for $70k. I suggest making it angry often.

Thanks to AMMO NYC and Henry for making this car available!