The BMW M4 CSL is finally here. The lightweight, high-powered coupe is the company’s latest M offering that arrives just as BMW celebrates 50 years of its iconic performance brand.
BMW is only planning to produce 1000 units worldwide making it rather rare and extremely enticing for customers and collectors.
Thanks to a host of improvements over the ‘regular’ M4 Competition, it has grabbed the title of the fastest series-production BMW ever to lap the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife circuit with a time of 7:20.2 to complete a lap.
Visual changes and enhancements are all about maximising performance but the biggest gain comes under the hood. The twin-turbo 3.0-litre inline-six now cranks out 543 hp (404 kW) and 649 Nm (479 lb-ft) of torque available from 2,750 to 5,950 rpm. Boost pressure was also pushed from 24.7 psi to 30.5 psi in the CSL.
Power is sent exclusively to the rear wheels via the eight-speed M Steptronic transmission with Drivelogic. BMW says the M4 CSL will hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.7 seconds. It needs just 10.7 seconds to hit 200 km/h (124 mph) and will go on to a limited top speed of 307 km/h (191 mph).
Since this is a CSL you would expect it to shed weight and you would be correct. They eliminated a total of 108.8 kg (240 lb) thanks to the removal of the rear seats, switching to lightweight sound insulation, using interior and exterior carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) components, and installing a titanium rear silencer.
The standard M Carbon ceramic brakes shed more weight, while BMW’s extensive use of CFRP for the hood and trunk also reduced the coupe’s weight but one of the most significant cuts came from BMW installing M Carbon full bucket seats.
These are exclusively designed M Carbon full bucket seats with track driving in mind. They lack lumbar support, power adjustability, and heating. However, BMW will offer heated M Carbon bucket seats with complete power-adjustability as a no-cost option if the standard seats are a bit too extreme. If the manufacturer is saying this, we can only assume these seats are immensely harsh.
BMW also used CFRP for the double-bubble roof, which helped reduce the car’s overall curb weight and lowered the car’s centre of gravity. They also stiffened the car’s engine and transmission mounts while installing a specially developed strut brace that connects the two spring strut towers with the front end.
The M4 CSL gets suspension that lowers the ride by 7mm (0.3 inch) but BMW also designed many suspension parts specifically for the CSL, such as the anti-roll bars, wheel camber settings, and dampers.
The 2023 BMW M4 CSL will have a starting price of $140,895 in the US of A and if you know what the price of the M4 Competition goes for stateside then you know it is almost double.
We knew it would be expensive but wow this is quite extreme if the same pricing formula applies to us in South Africa, then this will easily come in at over R3m.
Production begins this July and South Africa will be getting 15 units in total. The M4 CSL comes in either Frozen Brooklyn Grey metallic, Alpine White solid or Sapphire Black metallic and SA will be getting 5 of each.
