BMW’s new supersaloon, the M3 CS, is so dazzlingly good that a regular head-to-head seemed inadequate. Instead we pit it against two icons, Alfa Romeo’s sublime Giulia GTA and Jaguar’s awesome Project 8
by JETHRO BOVINGDON PHOTOGRAPHY b y ASTON PARROTT
SOMETIMES IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN PURE dynamics. Sometimes star power overwhelms everything. I guess we hadn’t thought of that when we lined up the ultimate test for the new M3 CS. It seemed reasonable enough. Those two letters – CS – have come to take on real significance. The E46-generation M3 CS set the template: small, considered tweaks to deliver a huge upswing in entertainment, control and excitement. When the title was revived for the F82 M4 CS and F80 M3 CS, the M division dramatically smoothed away the spikiness of the standard cars whilst simultaneously improving precision. Then came the M2 CS, a thoroughly deserving eCoty winner. Followed by the M5 CS, another eCoty champ, an instant classic and a car that radiates a magnetic, menacing personality.
So, when we heard about the new M3 CS, expectations were zinging off the rev-limiter. One of those old M rev-limiters starting with an 8. A simple head-to-head with, say, the new C63 AMG didn’t seem sufficient. Instead, we went big and rarefied. We looked for saloon cars transformed with proper hardware upgrades and a single-minded focus. It was a great plan in an office building, but in the cold light of a chilly morning in Kielder Forest, the potent M3 CS looks strangely out of its depth.
Our great friend Harry Metcalfe has arrived in his ‘Engorged Penis Purple’ Jaguar Project 8 and it looks, well, very intimidating. What a fantastically overblown saloon car shape! Even before the supercharged 5-litre V8 begins to bellow, the P8’s gaping intakes, razor-edged carbonfibre sills, radically extended but then cut away rear arches and steeply raked rear spoiler could hardly shout any louder. I love the unequivocal aesthetic, and beneath the skin Jaguar’s skunkworks supersaloon is just as mission-obsessed. This is so much more than an exercise in cramming the biggest engine available into the littlest body in the range. By comparison the sabre-toothed BMW just seems lumpy and a bit goofy.
The Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA is positively demur as it sits in the shadow of the P8. And yet it seems to have its own spotlight shining down from on high. Talk about star power. Although this four-seater version of Alfa’s highly specialised saloon car loses the dramatic hooped rear wing of the GTAm, the detailing is exquisite,
