BMW M3 fans are a highly critical lot. Some are grumbling that the new 2015 M4 coupe is too big and too tech-adled to be a worthy successor. Plus, it’s got the wrong number on its trunk lid.
For its part, BMW has made a very convincing argument for the M4’s pedigree. One that involves a lot of trie smoke.
To “initiate” this newest member into the M-car family, the German carmaker set up a drifting course made up of 52 cars, and put the M4 to work in a short video.
Related: 2015 BMW M4 and M3 first drive
Thirty-seven of those cars belonged to BMW customers, and included examples of every previous generation of M3, and even an enthusiast-favorite 1 M Coupe. If the M4 didn’t measure up, vague electric steering wouldn’t be the only thing making current M3 owners angry.
However, as the carmaker was quick to note, no BMWs were harmed in the making of this film.
The M4 performed flawlessly, drifting around around the parked cars in one of the most precise displays of hooliganism ever recorded. Speaking of precision, the course was set up in the shape of the BMW M logo. These are Germans, after all.
While it is a very different car from previous generations, the M4 (and its M3 sedan sibling) is well on its way to establishing an impressive reputation of its own. It already beat its predecessor’s Nurburgring lap time, clocking a 7:52 lap in the hands of German automotive magazine Sport Auto.
