Yahoo Autos 2021 BMW M3 Competition versus the Indiana Nürburgring
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — I stand on the gas pedal for what must be the hundredth time of the day, pressing my toe in just a little bit harder to get past the full-throttle detent built into the travel. My slight annoyance at this tiny inhibitor to flat-foot applications bubbles up again. This is a BMW M3 Competition, dammit. If I put my foot down, that means I want it all.
I gently lift my foot before the road turns skyward, then crests and falls back down into a tight left-hander. A quick brush of the stiff brake pedal is all that’s necessary to scrub some speed and get the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires through the corner without protest. The road climbs higher, and I’m constantly moving the steering wheel left and right at the endless twists and turns. Only in these especially narrow and tight sections do I wish for a smaller, lighter car, perhaps even one with less power. Uncorking this engine and using all 7,200 rpm in especially technical parts of this road is like smacking the extra-boost button at an inopportune time in a video game. You simply can’t use it all.
However, I’m at a place where there are plenty of opportunities to use all 503 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque in this 2021 BMW M3 Competition: the Indiana Nürburgring. Don’t laugh. It’s legit. The locals even named it the Schweinefiletring due to the number of pork tenderloin restaurants in the area. OK, you can laugh at that bit.
Buried in southern Indiana is this long, patched-together lap of squiggly, fun roads. Drawn together on a map, the resulting shape resembles the Nürburgring — seriously, check it out. The green forest crowds either side of the winding pavement, like the Nürburgring. Elevation changes are constant and oftentimes abrupt, like the Nürburgring. Most of it is in the middle of nowhere with nobody around, also like the Nürburgring. This set of roads is the best you’ll find in the Midwest, bar none. Hocking Hills in Ohio is good, but I promise you the pork tenderloin ‘ring is better.
If it weren’t for travel restrictions and caution over Covid-19, there’s a good chance someone at Autoblog would've driven the new M3 on the actual Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany. Packing up and heading out on a four-hour road trip to Indiana sounds much less romantic, but consider this: The Schweinefiletring is 175 miles long with plenty of detours along the way. Germany’s Nürburgring is only 12.9 miles long, and the brochure says nothing about track-side pork restaurants.
Upon leaving Bloomington, Ind. (the most logical starting point along the route), things get a little dicey. Morning temperatures hovering around 50 degrees means less stiction for those meaty summer tires, making grip hard to come by. Add a little dampness to the pavement from an overnight rain, and slashing through the road at speed is more scary than fun. BMW’s traction-control system helps matters by keeping big slides in check, but the wide rear end dances around no matter how gentle I am on the throttle.
After a quick stop for some breakfast at the aptly named OoeyGooey Cinnamon Rolls and So Much More in Nashville, Ind., the sun is fully up, and the M3 is a happy fella.
For the first 45 minutes of switchbacks, it would’ve been nice to have the M3 Competition’s optional xDrive all-wheel-drive, but for the rest of the day, I’m thankful to be in a proper rear-drive version. And on the topic of purity, it’s time to address the eight-speed automatic transmission that is exclusively paired with the more powerful and significantly more torquey Competition model of the M3 and M4. It’s clear from the first paddle pull that this traditional torque-converter ZF-supplied transmission is not as snappy or engaging as the dual-clutch seven-speed it replaces. Even if shifts are seamless and without interruption in auto mode, smacking the paddles simply isn’t as crisp an experience as before. That said, I’d also argue this is the best version of the astoundingly good ZF eight-speed in any performance luxury car today. The difference is in shift feel, not necessarily shift speed and overall performance.
