Article Abstract
- The M3 CS Touring averaged 28mpg over 489 motorway miles on day one, then spent the next day doing passenger laps at Anglesey earlier than driving straight to Edinburgh — with none complaints from the automobile.
- The carbon ceramic brakes glowed crimson by way of repeated arduous laps throughout an evening observe session and by no means pale, underlining why Harris charges the CS to date above a typical M3 remap.
- At £140,000 it is double the value of a typical M3 Touring, however Harris thinks it’s going to maintain its worth — a pure, non-hybrid efficiency property that BMW M is unlikely to construct once more.
Chris Harris awoke in Dubai, flew to the UK, loaded up a British Racing Inexperienced BMW M3 CS Touring, drove to North Wales, spent a day lapping Anglesey at evening for charity, then drove to Edinburgh. He referred to as it a check. Most individuals would name it a breakdown ready to occur. The automobile prices round £140,000. His opening verdict: presumably the perfect all-round efficiency automobile ever made.
The journey begins at 8pm with Harris working on roughly 20 hours of journey. The vacation spot is Anglesey Circuit, the place Mission Motorsport the place Harris reveals us why the M3 CS Touring is THE M automobile to purchase at the moment. Getting there meant 489 motorway miles. The CS averaged 28mpg with no explicit effort at economic system. Harris’s major criticism on the drive wasn’t fatigue or the winter climate — it was that BMW deleted the cup holders once they constructed the Competitors up right into a CS. In addition they took out the middle armrest. That’s consistent with most complaints in regards to the CS fashions.
The fastened bucket seats, which appear like devices of struggling, turned out to be wonderful hour after hour. Higher than wonderful — Harris reckons they’re extra comfy over distance than the usual chairs.
The observe day
At Anglesey, Harris pushed the automobile by way of passenger lap after passenger lap, finally into the darkish. The carbon ceramic brakes glowed crimson and stored working. No fade, no lengthy pedal. It’s a 1,800kg property doing repeated arduous laps by way of the evening, and the brakes simply didn’t care. At 9pm the occasion completed. Harris loaded the boot and drove to Edinburgh.
That’s actually what the entire video is about. 5 hours after leaving the circuit, the automobile was cruising north of the border. The 14.5mpg common from the observe day is what it’s, however the truth it might go from that straight to a motorway run with out skipping a beat is what Harris retains returning to.
What’s good, what isn’t
The suspension is the large improve over the usual M3. Harris is obvious which you can remap an extraordinary M3’s engine and get comparable energy figures, however the CS chassis tune isn’t one thing you’ll be able to simply replicate. The throttle response is sharper too — the sort of factor that tends to get blunted when tuners chase headline numbers on the expense of really feel. The boot is effectively thought out. Heated flooring for canine, rear seats that fold from the boot space, a towing eye tucked in a little bit bag in a cubby. Sensible in a means that implies somebody on the engineering workforce really makes use of touring vehicles.
On the value
At £140,000, the CS Touring is dear in a means that’s arduous to argue with a straight face. A normal M3 Touring is round £70,000 and is, by most measures, an excellent automobile. The CS prices double and comes with fewer locations to place your morning espresso. However Harris suspects these will maintain their worth. Given what occurred to E46 M3 costs, that’s not clearly incorrect. And truthfully, this automobile even at a excessive worth level would promote like scorching truffles in America….
