Costs & verdict
Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is
The BMW M4 Competition looks rather expensive when compared with the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio and the Audi RS5. The Competition is also the most potent incarnation of the M4 (in Germany, the starting price is quite a bit lower because the M4 is available in non-Competition specification with a manual gearbox).
The M4 Competition is also predicted to enjoy slower depreciation than the Quadrifoglio, while the RS5 is fractionally stronger than the M4 in this respect. As with all performance cars, it'll be far from cheap to run: on our real-world test route, the M4 managed an average of just 26.3mpg.
That said, the options list is eye-watering, and most items are bundled into packs. For example, the Ultimate Pack gives you carbon-fibre exterior highlights, the M Carbon bucket seats, laser headlights, keyless entry, a heated steering wheel, a more advanced parking assistant function and additional safety kit.
The M4 hasn’t been crash-tested by Euro NCAP, but we suspect it would perform well. That’s because the BMW 3 Series saloon – which it has a lot in common with – scored the full five-star rating when tested. As such, it has plenty of safety kit as standard, including automatic emergency braking (AEB), a lane-departure warning system, a lane-keeping assist function, an attentiveness assistant and a warning for traffic crossing behind you.
In terms of reliability, we can tell you that BMW came a middling 13th (out of 30 manufacturers) in the brands league table of our 2021 What Car? Reliability Survey. For comparison, Audi came 18th and Mercedes was in joint 22nd place.
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