BMW M Models vs BMW M440I

What's the difference?

To say the BMW M4 CS is a hot ticket in Australia is something of an understatement.

Consider this. There is an even more expensive one, the M4 CS Edition VR46 – at a cool $346,900 – and it sold out in less than an hour. Now, granted, Australia only got four examples, but still, demand was running hot.

That car makes this one, the regular M4 CS, seem like an absolute steal. It's only $254,900 (yes, the word 'only' is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence), and it shares the same upgrades, and makes the same monstrous power, as the VR46 – for Valentino Rossi’s 46th birthday – only it does it for around $100K less.

See? A bargain. At least, that's how I'd be justifying it to myself if I had a quarter of a million burning a hole in my pocket.

So, this or a Porsche 911? Read on.

Without a whole lot of fanfare BMW has slipped yet another model into its Australian line-up.

Sitting alongside existing coupe and convertible variants, the new 4 Series Gran Coupe follows the template established by the previous gen version. 

A sports luxury four-door with a sleek, fastback twist, it provides a more adventurous alternative to its close 3 Series cousin. 

Offered in three grades, this is the M440i xDrive, the 3.0-litre, six-cylinder, all-wheel drive 4 Series Gran Coupe flagship. 

It competes with premium all-wheel drive four-doors like Audi’s S5 Sportback, the Jaguar XF P300 R-Dynamic HSE, and the Mercedes-AMG C 43.