The Test Fest 2023 recently held in South Carolina was the perfect opportunity for the luxury brand to bring some of its latest toys for members of the media to play with. The M3 CS obviously couldn’t miss the event, and BMW decided to bring a boldly configured version of the super sedan. Painted in the optional Frozen Solid White Metallic, a matte color from the Individual catalog, the flagship G80 wowed the crowds with its gold wheels.
While the special color is optional, some will be surprised to hear those flashy Gold Bronze wheels are actually standard. If that’s a bit too much, you can have the same 19-inch front and 20-inch rear forged wheels with a subdued black finish. BMW decided to go all out and opted to show off the M3 CS with the pricey carbon ceramic brakes with gold calipers, although you can have those in red as well.
As with other CS models before it, the M3 CS has limited availability. BMW has said it’ll build the performance sedan for about a year, without revealing how many units are going to be produced. We’ve heard anywhere between 1,700 to 2,000 cars will be assembled. Production for the US market started in March 2023, so you only have a few months to buy the hardcore version of the M3 Competition xDrive. Before options, you’re looking at an eye-watering $118,700, plus another $995 in destination and handling fees.
The CS badge won’t go on a hiatus for long because an M4 CS is coming later in 2024. It has already been teased by BMW M as its fastest production car around the Nürburgring. An M3 CS Touring is widely believed to land in 2025 when we’re expecting the M2 to get the CS treatment as well.
Of course, lest we forget an M5 is coming next year, so there’s yet another model worthy of the CS badge. However, even if BMW M is planning a beefier derivative, logic tells us that it will arrive later in the product’s life cycle. After all, the F90 M5 CS was unveiled in January 2021 whereas the regular M5 premiered in September 2017 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. With an M3 CS Touring on the horizon, perhaps its bigger brother will also follow suit. Fingers crossed it’ll happen.
Note: BMW also brought a second M3 CS to the Test Fest 2023, a Brooklyn Grey example with the same gold wheels but red brake calipers.
Source: BMW USA
