The BMW M3 CS Goes Beyond Power and Speed

The CS badge graces some of the best Bimmers ever built. For the first time ever, this badge will find its way to the BMW M3 in 2018. The CS branding is all about making already amazing vehicles faster and more powerful, but it goes beyond that, making the hard-to-improve M3 CS even more of a looker, better in the corners, and easier to control.

The M3 already is one of the sharpest sedans on the market, but the CS version finds a way to improve upon that with slight visual changes. These updates include slightly reworked LED twin headlights, a thinner kidney grille, larger air intakes on the front apron, an exposed carbon-fiber front splitter, a carbon-fiber-reinforced-plastic rear “Gurney Flap,” a CFRP rear diffuser from the M4 GTS, a four-exit sport exhaust system, darkened lighting, and the BMW Individual High gloss Shadow Line trim.

Making the M3 easier to toss around required some weight shifting, as the M3 CS sees its metal roof and hood get swapped out for CFRP hood and roof to shift its center of gravity downward. Other weight-loss tactics went to work to help drop the M3 CS’ total weight by 110 pounds.

Inside, the CS continues the sporty theme with tons of leather and Alcantara, specially designed lightweight M sports seats, Merino leather rear seats, an M sport steering wheel wrapped in Alcantara with a silver 12 o’clock marker, automatic climate control, a Harman Kardon surround sound system, and navigation.

With the added power that the M3 CS brings comes the need for enhanced handling, and this comes by way of the standard Adaptive M Suspension on the M3 CS. This gives buyers the option of choosing comfort, sport, or sport+ mode, depending on the conditions and the driver’s intentions. Also helping in the handling department is the standard Active M Differential, which takes feedback from the Dynamic Stability Control system to adjust rear-wheel torque.

While all these chassis bits may seem identical to the M3 Competition Package, there are a few exclusive components. These include a lightweight double-joint spring strut axle at the front and a five-link axle at the rear, and forged-aluminum links and wheel carriers.

There is no pricing info yet for the 2018 BMW M3 CS, but we know it will arrive in May 2018, and BMW will only produce 1,200 worldwide. Of those 1,200, 550 units will come to the U.S.