Forget the Porsche 911 GT3 RS. This BMW is a better car for a third of the price.
While visiting Los Angeles earlier this year, I had the opportunity to drive the 2025 BMW M4 Competition and find out just what kind of a car it is. I have to say that it is truly a track-ready vehicle that can also do double duty as a daily driver. If you think of it as a more civilized rival to the GT3 RS version of the 911, then you are on the right track.
The car I was loaned came with literally every conceivable option available, including the Driving Assistance Pro Package, Parking Assistance Package, Carbon Package, and Executive Package. It came in at an as-tested price of $108,945, which included the special-order Chalk BMW Individual paint color and the wild Yas Marina Blue and Black leather interior with yellow highlights, all of which paired perfectly with the exterior paint color.
The interior of the M4 was comfortable even with the carbon fiber sports seats installed and I was able to drive my wife as well as my sister and brother-in-law around in the car. Everyone was comfortable for our many excursions on the roads and freeways of L.A., which are so poorly cared for that they often resemble those of a war zone. Try that sometime in a GT3 RS and get back to me on which car is better.
The car attracted lots of positive attention wherever I went, including being followed by a pair of other BMW M owners who asked me questions about the car when I pulled into a gas station. They came away impressed with the 2025 M4 Comp, especially after I told them about its performance.
Speaking of performance, according to a few tests (which I completely believe), the 2025 M4 Competition is capable of a staggeringly fast 2.7-second 0-60 time, a quarter mile time of 10.7 seconds, and a top speed of 188 mph. Since those figures are equal to or better than those of the GT3 RS, I would say that they are strong enough – especially when you consider that the M4 can comfortably seat four people and carry their luggage.
The driving experience was simply awesome, with a true feeling of driver involvement. This car, much like the last-generation M5 Competition, just seems to take a set in a corner and hook up perfectly. It does this at very extreme limits and the speed you can carry through a corner is simply mind-boggling. That combined with the awesome sound of the S58 engine in Sport mode makes this something that any performance-minded buyer would want in their garage. When you roll in the luxurious materials used in the interior, you have a machine that feels like a German-built Aston Martin Vantage that is better engineered and faster in every way. On a track, the M4 Comp would be amazing and I am sure you would embarrass the owners of supercars that cost 3-4 times as much – a type of fun that is impossible to quantify.
Now for the styling. The grille is big, but unlike the one on a stock 4 Series coupe, it looks perfect because it really balances the aggressive look of the M-specific front end and adds a bit of menace. The M4 Competition is made to stand out in a crowd and does that quite well.
So after a week with the 2025 M4 Competition, what are my takeaways? Well, the suspension is uncompromising and could get a bit tiring on poorly maintained roads. It is still livable as a daily driver, but just barely. I personally do not like the wide single screen for the dash and really miss the separate instrument cluster that the M4 used to have. That being said, the connectivity and information offered by the new dash is much improved compared to the old dual-display version. However, I love that BMW still uses their standard shifter for the automatic transmission on this car as I hate the toggle that you see on other BMWs (sports cars – whether they have an automatic or a manual – need a shifter). The M4 Comp’s performance is simply staggering. It is brutally quick and fast in the best possible way yet it offers true supercar performance. It might be the best ultra-high-performance daily driver on the planet.
The M4 Comp has another advantage over its rival from Stuttgart. A 2025 Porsche 911 GT3 RS offers lower performance, less comfort, and less usable interior room and utility. The cabin materials and overall build quality of the Porsche are no better than those of the M4 Comp. In addition, the Porsche is not as comfortable nor as fun to drive on a daily basis, in my opinion. Before you go on about the magic Porsche steering feel being better (which is nonsense at best and propaganda at worst), go out and actually drive the M4 Comp first. It has great steering feel and is a true driver’s car in every way. The fact that the M4 Comp costs $108,000 and the Porsche with equal options and equipment goes for more than $300,000 makes the BMW look like the best performance car bargain available today.
If I were buying a car in this category, I would not even consider the Porsche GT3 RS nor anything from Italy. I would simply head over to my BMW dealer and get one of these amazing cars, possibly in the Individual color of Sonic Speed Blue Metallic and with the same interior colors as the one you see here. I would take the $200K left over and buy a nice, new, fully loaded SUV for the winter months and still end up with 100 grand in the bank.
Source: www.classiccars.com