Top Gear: The Perfect Road Trip 2 Page #6

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when you've specced it up

to anything acceptable.

Not so long ago, that was

super car money. It's too much.

It should be altogether cheaper.

So why then have I chosen this car

for my day at Mugello?

Simple.

Because it's more powerful than the BMW

and it can do this.

Some cars can be made to over-steer,

to drift and slide.

This wants to. It's all it wants to do.

(LAUGHING)

Even I can drift this and I'm an idiot!

It's just a hooligan machine.

It might be a Jaguar,

but

it ain't no stuffed shirt.

There are all of two things

I don't like about the BMW

and not just the colour

which, of course, is hideous.

See, the thing is, in essence,

this is a two-door M3,

what used to be called the M3 Coup.

But they've now called it an M4

and they've thought, "Right,

"we must make it different."

And look how much styling there is

in that bit of car.

And then look at the bonnet.

It goes up there,

then up again, then up again

and the door mirror...

Why is it so fussy?

You get the impression that

if the man who'd styled this

were given the job of styling

Angelina Jolie,

"She's got lovely eyes

so I'll give her six of those,

and 14 noses and 23 lips."

And it wouldn't have worked.

And there's more.

Richard's Jag, that has a V8.

The old M3 had a V8.

This has a 3-litre turbo-charge 6,

and I'm sorry, but

turbo charging is for the weak.

I know it's very good for emissions

and polar bears and so on,

but there has to be lag.

There has to be a gap

between when you put your foot down

and the car moving forward.

There has to be.

You can't feel it but it must be there.

It... It must.

Loser!

Very good.

There's another eco issue as well.

They fitted electric power steering.

Whatever you do,

if you have one of these,

never, ever, ever put the steering

in sport plus,

'cause then it's like a switch.

Over-steer on, off. On, off.

Right. I've now got it set up.

Gearbox in maximum attack mode.

Suspension, maximum attack.

Steering, maximum comfort.

'Cause then it'll work. See?

Easy now. Much easier.

(LAUGHS)

And loser!

Yes, very good, Hammond. Very good.

But behind all the little niggles,

there is one inescapable truth.

The old M3 did

the standing kilometre in 24 seconds.

This does it in 22.

But it's not the speed

that impresses most of all with the M4.

It's the precision of the handling.

(ENGINE REVVING)

The obvious thing about this is that

it's all held together with

a latticework of aluminium

and carbon fibre. It's incredibly stiff.

And you can feel that.

(TYRES SQUEALING)

Just a wonderful sense

of just the back starting to go

and it's all communicated beautifully.

If you set it up right.

Hey! Loser!

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