Why I think people need to stop complaining about BMW's M4 naming

"///M3Toastr" (m3toastr) 02/19/2014 at 16:46 • Filed to: BMW, M3, M4, #oppositelock, oppositelock

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BMW fans are a very diverse bunch. We range from hooligans who shred through corners with the traction control off, to proud owners who detail their garage-queen once a fortnight. We have every single age group under the Roundel-umbrella. Children not 6 years old have a poster of a shiny new BMW M6 in their bedroom, and men and women who're a lifetime more knowledgeable than I am proudly look upon their 1972 BMW 2002tii sparkling next to their 2014 550i. My E36 M3 and I are proud to be among this amazing group of fans.

However, lately I'm getting a little tired by a section of vocal BMW fans. I'm talking about those who CANNOT stop complaining about BMW's renaming of the 3-series coupe to the 4-series. By proxy, this makes the M3 coupe the M4. This post will focus more on the M3 and M4, since people are much less upset about the 335i and the 435i.

I think people need to stop getting so upset over this, and the following is my explanation of why:

Let's start with the E30 M3.

The E30 M3 is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful machines to ever grace this earth. This generation only offered the M3 in the coupe and convertible layouts, but for reference, this is an E30 sedan:

Mind you, the E30 sedan is not an M3 and was never offered as such, but this is just for reference.

Let's move on to the E36

Pardon her brake dust and paint chips. This was the only photo I could find with the angle I was looking for, and I don't have to blur the license plate thanks to the reflection. Here's my E36 M3 coupe.

This is an E36 M3 sedan:

If anyone is still with me, I'll begin to point out what my argument is right about now. Notice how at this stage in the M3 life the sedans and coupes are pretty similar. Different, but not by much. Let's move onto the E46.

I could look at Imola red all day. What a gorgeous color.
Here's a sedan. Again, the E46 was a model not offered with a sedan M3.

Hey! Wait a minute! What's going on here?!
Yeah, right about now is when the coupes start to look different from the sedans. Admittedly, using the photograph of a 330ci would have been a better comparison, but I have a fetish for Imola Red.
EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that Imola Red was available on post-facelift ZHP E46s. My new excuse for using the M3 is "Because racecar"

Finally, let's move onto the E9X 3-series. The E90 is the sedan, the E92 is the coupe, and the E93 is the convertible. For the sake of comparison I'll include the non-M photos as well

E92

E90

So, here's where I come to my main point. At this point the sedans and coupes are hardly the same car anymore. Exterior wise, they have almost NO common parts, both in production and appearance. If you had the two of them parked next to each other they would appear to be different models. BECAUSE THEY ARE DIFFERENT MODELS.

The 3-series coupes and sedans over time have become SO different that I can understand and justify renaming one of them. Now I will say that I do think keeping the coupes as the 3-series would have made more sense historically, BMW is trying to move the coupes to even numbered models to fall in line with the 5/6/7 models. I will also agree that the 4-series Gran Coupe is an AWFUL move on BMW's part. However, if you come up to me and ask me what I think about the renaming of the 3er Coupes to 4, I will always endorse it without a pause.

damonchoy > ///M3Toastr 02/20/2014 at 16:29

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"Admittedly, using the photograph of a 330ci would have been a better comparison, but I have a fetish for Imola Red."

You're a bimmerphile who isn't aware of the existence of non-M Imola Red E46s The 2004+ facelift E46 330i and 330ci ZHP (US) and M-Sport (Canada + other countries) were allowed to be ordered in Imola Red!

How do I know? I drive one!

///M3Toastr > damonchoy 02/20/2014 at 16:41

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Just because I'm a bimmerphile doesn't mean I know absolutely everything about the brand, but I do appreciate you pointing this out.

damonchoy > ///M3Toastr 02/20/2014 at 17:21

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Oh, I didn't mean for you to take it like that, haha. I know nothing about 5-series vehicles newer than the E39, 3-series vehicles newer than the E46 or 7-series vehicles newer than the E38. No one can know it all!

Just a bimmerphile letting another bimmerphile know that one of his favourite BMW colours was actually more available than he thought! I thought you'd be happy! ;)

Behzad > ///M3Toastr 04/26/2015 at 15:59

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You talked A lot about How BMW M3/3 series cars are Ultar Freaking fantastic cars , but you didn’t explain the Elephant in the room you first started to talk about !

Why Should We Stop Complaining about BMW M4 naming !

I’ll tell you why we shouldn’t stop complaining !
Because You don’t just split a Deeply rooted , madly beloved, globally acknowledged and praised historical piece of Art’s Sedan and Coupe Versions and call them different things ! , after over 3 decades for M3 , to come out in both Coupe and Sedan Version and to be Globally recognized as “THE M3” , and considering the fact that most people who buy M3 are rather rich young motor enthusiast who’d like to go for a Coupe , so for 3 decades The M3 is widely and best known as a coupe , So now BMW suddenly splitting these two versions of the Exact SAME car and calling them different things (M4) , is like a popstar or an actor who just got globally famous and madly rich suddenly decided to completely change his name !!! or an advanced and Widely known Country like U.S.A suddenly changing its name to Yankee Land !

Everybody Freaks out , many people get confused ...
The worst thing is that ,like i said most people know M3 as a Coupe , but now you have to buy an M3 which is Called An M4 !!!

If i buy one i’ll Manually Strip away its M4 Badge and Replace it with an M3 !!!

///M3Toastr > Behzad 05/29/2015 at 23:27

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“So, here’s where I come to my main point. At this point the sedans and coupes are hardly the same car anymore. Exterior wise, they have almost NO common parts, both in production and appearance. If you had the two of them parked next to each other they would appear to be different models. BECAUSE THEY ARE DIFFERENT MODELS.”

Did you miss this part of the post? Because you’re telling me I did not address the main topic when that’s been in the article since I wrote it in February LAST YEAR.

Behzad > ///M3Toastr 11/09/2015 at 07:58

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It just staggers me how much of OCD problems people have ,(No offense), that it even have spread throught the minds of engineers and managers in manufacturers , Why can’t you people simply deal with it ???!!!!
it’s an M3 Sedan and then there’s an M3 Coupe , a Coupe BASED ON THE M3 , it’s the same platform , it’s the same chasis . the same engine , body panels are different a little bit and so the cabin is shorter.

but it is completely understandable , M3 Sedan , M3 Coupe , THEY ARE TWO FACES OF THE SAME COIN , A SINGLE PLATFORM , A SINGLE CAR , TWO DIFFERENT VERSIONS, TWO DIFFERENT BODY STYLES, you don’t need to create a whole new breed just to make a different body for the same car , unless you want to create something really unique , like Mercedes Benz CLS , it’s a coupe based on the platform ,chasis and engines of E class , but it is an entirely different car , now the E class has its own coupe version , and CLS is considered an entirely different game .
it’s like the Relation between BMW 5 series and 6 series , they’re base on the same chasis and platform but are totally different cars , but it’s not the same with M3 , they just sell two body styles with two different names and for me to get a new M3 and i prefer it to be coupe,which i rekon most M3 buyers and fans do , after 3 decades to pay for a historic masterpiece of motor car and realized they’ve basterdized it by renaming it M4 , it just pisses the **** off of me.

///M3Toastr > Behzad 11/19/2015 at 18:23

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You said that the 5 series and 6 series are different cars with the same chasis and platform, and that’s exactly what I’m illustrating. The 3 series coupes and sedans started almost identical, but as of the F80 M3 and F82 M4 the cars have so much of a distinct difference that a new nomenclature is justified. As of the E9X generation an untrained eye wouldn’t even be able to tell they were the model family parked side by side.

“It just staggers me how much of OCD problems people have ,(No offense), that it even have spread throught the minds of engineers and managers in manufacturers , Why can’t you people simply deal with it ???!!!!”

Counterpoint: Why can’t you simply deal with the name change? It happened, and whining about it on my article every 6 months won’t change BMW’s mind.