Sorry, The BMW M4 Will Still Have Giant Nostrils

G22 M4 from r/BMW

If you were clinging on to hope that the next BMW M4 won’t have kidney grilles quite as giant as those found on the new 4-series, we’re going to have to disappoint you. Recent spy shots already seemed to suggest the M4 was in for a pair of huge nostrils/teeth (depending on your description preference), and now, a leaked image on Reddit has shown the car without any camouflage.

With a beefier splitter and a frameless design for the kidneys, we’d argue the M4 carries off the controversial kidney thing more successfully than the standard 4-series, as an M4 render seen earlier this week suggested it might. But it’s still not what you’d call pretty, and guaranteed to prompt the furious mashing of keyboards from petrolheads worldwide.

Expected to officially debut later this year, the M4 should share the same two-tier engine arrangement to the X3 M, with a single-turbo, 471bhp ‘S58’ inline-six in the base car, and a twin-turbo version giving the M4 Competition 503bhp to play with.

Although the closely related M3 will be much easier on the eye, the M4 should be the handier of the two. The 4-series is a sharper starting point, with a stiffened bodyshell, a lower centre-of-gravity, wider tracks and increased negative camber at the front.

Like the M440i 4-series range-topper, the M4 is set to be all-wheel drive, although rumour has it, the system will be derived from the M5’s. This means it’ll have a rear-wheel drive mode, and be hooked up to an eight-speed automatic gearbox as opposed to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission as was the case with the last M4.

It’ll be the same deal with the M3, although both cars are set to get RWD ‘Pure’ derivatives fitted with manual gearboxes. Just keeping thinking about that, instead of scrolling back to the top of this page for another look at those kidneys.