{"id":34905,"date":"2022-10-31T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2022-10-31T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=34905"},"modified":"2022-10-31T08:00:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T12:00:25","slug":"bmw-m4-csl-top-gear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=34905","title":{"rendered":"VIDEO: Top Gear Drives the BMW M4 CSL for Speed Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, it\u2019s awards season. And I don\u2019t mean the Oscars or the Emmys (I\u2019m not quite sure when those are and I can\u2019t be bothered to look it up). Instead, I mean various car of the year awards, which will be held by every major automotive publication on earth, each with its own cute little name. Top Gear\u2019s is Speed Week and first up is the BMW M4 CSL<\/a>. Can BMW\u2019s latest performance car hang with the best in the business?<\/p>\n

In this new video, we get to see Ollie Marriage flog the M4 CSL on track and explain how he feels about it. And he\u2019s refreshingly honest. There will be YouTubers who test the M4 CSL, feel its speed on the road, and label it brilliant without a second thought. However, Marriage has a rather nuanced opinion about it.<\/p>\n

The BMW M4 CSL, to paraphrase marriage, is a car that isn\u2019t quite sure of what it\u2019s supposed to be. As he points out, the \u201cL\u201d in its \u201cCSL\u201d name stands for \u201cLightweight\u201d but the M4 CSL is anything but. It\u2019s surprisingly heavy for a car that literally has the word lightweight<\/em> in its name, checking in at almost two tons. And you can feel that when you drive it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just too big and too heavy to hang with some of the other performance cars in the test, while on road. Cars like the Porsche Cayman GT4<\/a> will eat the M4 CSL\u2019s lunch on a twisty road. However, as Marriage points out, the M4 CSL is great on track. Its steering is hyper-responsive, its chassis is balanced, and\u2014despite having super glue for tires\u2014is more than powerful enough to cause smokey, violent drifts. He likened it to a Nissan GT-R, so you know it\u2019s grippy.<\/p>\n

So he\u2019s a bit conflicted about the BMW M4 CSL. On one hand, it\u2019s a fantastic track weapon but it feels cumbersome and obnoxious on the road. Should BMW have saved the \u201cCSL\u201d nameplate for the M2? Probably, as the new M4 is just too big and heavy.<\/p>\n