BMW’s M cars are its sporting heroes—sharp, agile and powerful. But the Competition Sport versions sit a cut above. The latest effort from Bavaria is the 2025 BMW M4 CS, which naturally turns the wick up on an already fast coupe.
The real question, though, is whether a little extra moxie can help you fall in love with that face. The BMW M4 has polarizing looks, with the automaker pushing the classic kidney grille to hilarious proportions in recent years.
It’s the best M4 you can buy new today, so let’s dive in. What treats has BMW lavished upon us this time?
The New Special One
The CS gets a healthy power bump of 40 horsepower over the M4 Competition. The turbocharged 3.0-liter six now delivers 543 horsepower. Unchanged, however, is the peak output of 479 pound-feet of torque. The engine is paired with BMW’s M Steptronic 8-speed automatic gearbox, which sends drive to all four wheels.
If you want to get silly, you can even disable the DSC all together and configure the xDrive all-wheel-drive system to only send drive to the rear wheels. Then you can hang the tail out with abandon. If you’re more serious about going fast, though, be reassured that BMW has thrown all the technology it can at the M4 CS to help it fling around corners faster than the base model. Everything from the electronically controlled dampers, electric power steering, and Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) systems have been tuned to give the model an edge.
The model has also been lightened by some 77 pounds compared to the M4 Competition with M xDrive. The M4 CS features a carbon fiber roof, which not only sheds the pounds, but does so up high. The result is a lower center of gravity, which aids in handling and reduces body roll—not that the M4 suffered too badly in this regard, anyway. BMW didn’t stop there, though—the hood, front splitter, mirror caps, diffuser, and rear spoiler are all carbon fiber too. Some of these components make more of an impact than others.
Wheels, however, don’t go the composite route. Instead, BMW specced a nice set of forged alloy wheels in an exclusive design, which you can have in a matte gold bronze, or matte black. It wears a staggered setup, with 19-inch wheels up front and 20-inch wheels at the rear. Keep that in mind before you go doing a tire rotation.
Also exclusive are the two new paint finishes—Riviera Blue and Frozen Isle of Man Green metallic. However, BMW has thus far only provided images of the latter choice. It’s probably the pick of the two, anyway.
The model will nevertheless feature areas without paint to make sure everyone knows you have the CS model. A pair of stripes show off the carbon fiber of the hood, while the roof is similarly left bare. Naturally, there’s plenty of badging, too, as well as a special weight-saving kidney grille that BMW says is reminiscent of the M4 GT3 race cars.
BMW also included a neat touch for the lighting, too. Parts of the headlights glow yellow instead of white, mimicking the Signal Yellow units often seen on GT racing cars. It’s a minor thing, but it’ll give you something to talk about at Cars and Coffee. “See the headlights?” you’ll say. “They’ve got a little yellow bit. Exclusive to the CS model, you know.”
Also, it’s worth bringing up—don’t confuse the CS with the CSL. The latter is an even-more-exclusive set of letters that applies only to limited-edition lightweight models. BMW built just 1,000 examples of the M4 CSL, which was really just a darling for the Nürburgring.
More Is More Is More
It’s interesting to see how the BMW lineup has developed over the decades. Once upon a time, it had its base lineup. Higher first numbers denoted bigger cars that were more luxurious. Higher following numbers denoted submodels with bigger engines. Then, the M models came along, which represented the absolute pinnacle of performance.
Today, though, that’s not enough. You’ve got the 4 Series, and then the M4 for those who want the best in performance. Except, then there’s the M4 Competition if the basic M4 isn’t enough for you. Now the M4 CS sits another level above that.
This creates a problem for BMW, as it becomes increasingly difficult to differentiate these models—particularly from a visual standpoint. Once upon a time, just an M badge was enough. But then the Competition model needed to be a bit more, and the M4 CS had to be even more than that.
The result is a car that really has to shout about what it is. Don’t get me wrong, I like the carbon fiber accouterments as much as anybody. It’s just a little jarring seeing that level of venting and bodywork on a car that isn’t a barebones, stripped-out track model.
The lipstick on the nostrils is a bit much, too. It was one thing when Volkswagen used this trick on the Mark 1 Golf GTI. It was a simple touch that elevated the sports model above the rest of the range. But here, it’s just more noise on an already cluttered design. It also draws attention to the vehicle’s most controversial styling feature.
I will say one thing, though. It really shows you that this is one vehicle that looks better with a front plate fitted. It helps cover those nostrils so they’re not so imposing. No more will young children flee your approaching BMW, terrified they’ll be sucked inside the engine bay by the almighty suck of the turbochargers.
In any case, BMW won’t find it too hard to sell a few of these. If you’ve got an M4 Competition, you’re probably going to want to trade up lest you be considered a lower-class member of your regional Beemer club. Take my advice—get the green one, it’s the choice of the bunch. Come back and let me know if the extra 40 horsepower makes all the difference on the highway onramp you use to commute to your successful dental practice.
Image credits: BMW
I have not read the article, just jumped in to answer the headline and its yes.
The trim level differentiation also gets harder as the number of M-badged BMWs proliferates throughout their lineup. Ex: M330i
The entire front end of this car is a trainwreck of design.
I find it interesting that once I was start to get used to the broad strokes, they ruined the little details. I loved the headlights, but they moved away from the hex rings to weird little dashes. They also made the taillights details curvy when the rest of the car isn’t and filled in the nostrils with weird details.
Ugh, these are the cars that just HAVE to pass me right before the tight twisties on my off ramp and slam on the brakes ruining the fun of buying an all Aluminum light weight ~1600lb car.
Then once we hit the stoplight at the bottom cant turn right on red onto a 4 lane highway until all four lanes are clear.
Utter waste of a supposed performance vehicle.
No.
But the wide European front license plate acting like a pseudo-divider can.