Listen Carefully: This Next-Gen BMW M3 Prototype Has A Manual Gearbox
You really don’t need to worry about the next BMW M3 not coming with a manual. BMW officials have gone on record more than once about the G30 3-series-based super-saloon coming with an optional stick shift, most recently with M Division chief Markus Flasch pledging to Top Gear that the car won’t be auto only.
We wouldn’t blame you for worrying still, though. High-power manuals are in perilously short supply these days, with only a few heroes like the Aston Martin Vantage AMR keeping the flame. But just to put your fears at rest, have a careful listen to the gearchanges of this 2021 BMW M3 prototype.
Yep, that’s the telltale pause of a cog being engaged the old-fashioned way. Praise be.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a manual M3 at the Nurburgring, but hey - we’ll just take this as extra confirmation that the most driver-focused version of the car is definitely happening.
Beyond that, we know that the S58 engine - first used in the X3 M and X4 M - will be used for propulsion. The new turbocharged straight-six is good for 503bhp in the ‘Competition’ variants of the super SUVs, giving us a clue about the kind of firepower the next M3 and M4 will have at their disposal.
We can expect the new M3 to be launched at some point in 2020.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Moans
The Sound of that Manual M3 shifting is eargasmic
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You know it’s a manual when there are no DCT farts haha
Those farts rip my ears off, they are so annoying
i couldnt hear any gear changes
It didn’t sound like they shifted at all throughout the entire video.
Shame it has lungs instead of kidneys for grilles
So Extended lungs is a thing….
I don’t think so. If you look at this prototype, it still has small grilles. The huge ones are probably exclusive for the M4
Only the Coupe M4 will have the horrid grills.
You can see this has the normal size ones.
Manual sports car? Enthusiast dream car
still a great sounding BMW straight 6, lovely.