We in the northeast had a beautiful fall. Almost no rain, consistent 65-degree days. Sigh. All that changed as soon as my 2025 M3 was delivered. Frigid. Snow. Boo. But that won’t stop me from making it my own. And along the way, I’ve discovered a few areas where BMW has been cheaping out despite raising the price significantly.
The differences between the 2022 M3 and the 2025 BMW M3 LCI
Do you think BMW notices Machines With Souls? If they do, consider this an answer to all those satisfaction surveys they send me.
The original base MSRP on my 2022 model was $69,900. Walk into a dealer today and the price starts at $76,700. One, two..carry the ten…uhh yea, that’s a $6,800 price difference. It gets worse:
- M3 Competition models used to say “M3 Competition” on the door sill. Now they all just say M3.
- There used to be a small badge on the center console by the shifter. That’s gone (but we’ll add it back in).
- The 2025 model is missing a cargo net on the passenger side in the trunk.
- They’ve taken away the 12V outlet in the trunk
- The rear calipers used to come with a small clip that had an M badge on it. Gone now.
- The ambient lighting is reduced.
- The headlights are different of course, but LEDs are cheaper than laser units. Saved production cost there.
- The engine cover used to have M POWER written in silver. Now, it’s just gloss black.
Taken on their own, none are a huge deal, but add them together along with the price increase, and it makes you wonder just how cheap BMW will make these things. Remember too, the X3 M50 is already worse off inside than the previous generation, big screens be damned.
So what we’re going to do is this…
Truth be told, I like how my original M3 came out, so a lot of the modifications I’ve made can be brought over with relative ease:
- M door lock pins
- M Performance Alcantara seatbacks
- Alcantara air bag cover
- Alcantara arm rest
- M Performance gas cap
- Fall Line Motorsport strut brace
- Blackline fluid caps
- AWE exhaust with midpipe
- Floating center wheel caps (on summer wheel set)
We’ll add a new Armaspeed intake, and the missing badge in the center console because it’ll annoy me forever. Most of these can be installed in my garage – the G80 isn’t a difficult car to work on, for the most part.
But we’re also going to leave things, either because they don’t fit or I want to change it up:
- Manual transmission iND shifter (duh)
- Portimao Blue Metallic engine cover…ditto
- M Performance Steering wheel – the new car has a different shape
- iND Black Roundels. I love them, but I don’t want to pop them off – I can order new ones.
- All the carbon fiber on the outside. In the spring, I’ll take it to J&B for some new goodies to change up the look. Plus, the fins act like a beach as they pick up rocks and stones all over the place. No mas.
- Pardon me, but I never liked the bolt kit from Downstar. It looks like it came from Pep Boys. Also feels like it’s significantly overpriced.
The little Competition console badge on the 2025 BMW M3 LCI
You can get the piece from GetBMWParts, or even your local BMW dealer. Takes five minutes to install:
- Tape off the area with blue painter’s tape – nothing too sticky.
- Use a plastic trim tool and lift up the back portion of the original cover
- Just press the new one into place and remove the tape
Some say you need to remove the entire console to do this, but it’s not true. Also, you won’t scratch the trim around the area unless you’re silly. I promise.
Calling TySpeed
The two things I had no desire to do myself were the airbag cover (goes boom) and AWE exhaust. Though I still have the old M3’s exhaust sitting in my basement, it’s huge and uncut, so I’d need a pickup truck to bring it to TySpeed. Instead, why not just swap it off the new car? They are identical.
Since we were adding winter wheels, the guys also swapped the Future Classic 12mm spacers. Swapping the suspension would be bad, since this is a new car and it should use new parts, so I simply ordered the new M3 with the M Performance Suspension already.
The airbag swap
And that’s all. Aside from some window tint, AMMO ceramic coating and the upcoming J&B bodywork, the car is ready to enjoy for the spring season. See you out there, say hi!
Thanks To Tyler, Dan, Max and Tim for making this seamless, and their attention to detail!
