Practical performance

IT may have four doors like an ordinary compact saloon, albeit an extremely buff one, but the BMW M3 Sedan promises as high a fun factor as the BMW M4 Coupe. The reason is clear - both the M3 and M4 have identical underpinnings despite their different bodystyles.

This is one reason why the M3 - with its much wider rear wheel arches - has different proportions from a conventional 3 Series Sedan (the M4 is already wider than a normal 4 Series, which itself has more expansive rear haunches than the 3 Series).

But despite looking less sleek than the two-door M4, the M3 body still manages to have an aerodynamic advantage. This is why the M3 requires only a slender lip spoiler on its bootlid instead of the M4's integrated ducktail.