Ford Endura vs BMW M Models

What's the difference?

As much as I loved the Territory I have to say Ford’s Endura is a worthy replacement. This is an easy and enjoyable to drive, spacious, fuel efficient, safe SUV that’s great value with its big features list, long warranty and low servicing costs.

The sweet spot is the entry grade Trend as it get most of the equipment you'll find on the others, without paying more for bigger wheels or a sunroof.

Brutal, bruising and utterly brilliant, the M4 CS will be an acquired taste due to its no-compromise approach, but those willing to take the leap will find a performance car like few others at their disposal.

Is seems there’s not a single photo out there of the Endura that actually shows this SUV as it truly looks when seeing it with your own eyes.

Profile images make it look like an SUV version of a Ford Mondeo, while front-on shots make it look big and tall like a Ford Escape on steroids. Watching the video that goes with this story will probably give you the most truthful view short of seeing one on the road for yourself.

It’s a good-looking SUV with tough styling at the front with a giant version of the grille worn by the whole Ford car family, to the more delicately designed tailgate.

There are three grades in the Endura range – the entry level Trend, the sporty mid-spec ST-Line and the Titanium at the top.

The ST-Line is the most recognisable thanks to its body kit, blacked out mesh grille and black roof rails. You can spot a Titanium by its sunroof and its bright-finish 20-inch alloy wheels.

So, what are the Endura’s dimensions? Well, at just over 4.8m long, almost 2.2m wide (including the wing mirrors) and a bit more than 1.7m tall the Endura is almost the same size as the beloved Territory, even the wheelbases are within 6.0mm of each other with the new SUV’s being 2.8m long.

Talking of the Territory, if you’re familiar with that Aussie SUV’s insides then you’ll feel at home in the cabin of the Endura because of the way the display is integrated into the dash.

Have a look at the interior images – how much does that look like the screen in the Territory? I’m not a big fan of the air vents either side of the screen, but the dash and the centre console are otherwise beautifully symmetrical in their placement of buttons and dials.

There are high-quality feeling materials in most places. Yes, there are some hard plastics such as on the glove box lid, but there are soft-touch plastics on the dash and also on the rear window sills where many carmakers seem to use what feels like recycled takeaway containers thinking you might not notice.

Oh, and then there’s the gear shifter, or as Ford calls it the ‘E-Shifter’. It’s a rotary dial for the automatic transmission, rather than a lever. It looks a bit alien but it feels like a premium piece of equipment.

The interior of the three grades are almost identical with all of them coming with the chrome effect trim lining the centre console and the glossy black plastic around the cupholders up front. The ST-Line has aluminium-face pedals and a perforated leather-wrapped steering wheel, while the Titanium gets illuminated metal front door scuff plates.

Really, the main difference to the interiors are the seats – the Trend has cloth upholstery, the ST-Line has a suede-like material with leather accents and the Titanium has part leather perforated seats. All upholstery is black.

As for paint colours, there are 10 to choose from including 'Agate Black', 'Blue Metallic', 'Baltic Sea Green', 'Burgundy Velvet', 'Ingot Silver', 'Oxford White', 'Ruby Red' and 'Stone Grey'.

The M4 CS is familiar in all the right ways, but definitely looks significantly jacked up compared to its lesser siblings.

Part of that is the extensive use of carbon everywhere, from its bonnet panels to its roof, front lip, side skirting and boot spoiler. But also because of its super-muscular angles and creases, including the huge dome in its bonnet.

Also exclusive to this M4 CS is the light treatment, with the front LEDs lighting up with yellow highlights the brand says are supposed to be reminiscent of GT racing cars.

At the back, the rear lights are flush with fibre optic lighting, lending a flowing and unique light signature that looks epic at night.

Inside, it's a sea of carbon, with the lightweight racing seats, the dash inserts and the centre console all lined in it. It is a perfectly finished space, though, and one that's also flecked with red, including a 12 o'clock band on the thick-rimmed steering wheel, the seat backs, the contrast stitching and the paddle shifts.

Be warned, though, it takes some acrobatics to climb into or out of the CS. The seat bottoms have these super high edges that double as grab handles, but require some awkward contortions to navigate.

In short, it looks angry, this M4 CS, inside and out.

The Endura is longer than a Hyundai Santa Fe and shorter than a Mazda CX-8. The thing is both of those SUVs have seven seats, while the Endura has five. The only seven-seater SUV in Ford’s range is the Everest, which is a big off-roader.

If you don’t need the extra row, then you may see it as a bonus because not having folding seats back there means you’ve got decent boot space – 602 litres up to the cargo cover.

Legroom is also good in the back. I’m 191cm tall and have about 40mm of space between my knees and the seat back, while headroom even in the Titanium with its panoramic sun roof is ample.

As for storage in the cabin, there are four cupholders - two in the front and two in the back. A bottle holder in each door (which are on the small side), there’s a big centre console bin under the armrest, a storage tray under the dash, another one in front of the shifter and a covered dash-top area.

All Enduras come standard with two USB ports, three 12-volt outlets and a 230-volt outlet.

It all boils down to how you classify practicality in a car like this. I mean, the basic stuff is all there – it's got two doors, four seats and a boot capacity of 440 litres.

It measures 4801mm in length, 1918mm in width and 1399mm in height, and room for front seat riders is good, but less so for anyone you squeeze into the back. There are even ISOFIX points for a child seat.

But if you consider practicality the practical pursuit of performance, then the M4 CS has plenty of perks.

We're talking a $254,900 entry price for the M4 CS, which – despite my attempts at justification – is a lot. Remember, the regular M4 is $168,700, and the M4 Competition is $186,500, so we're talking a sizeable premium here.

BMW justifies that price increase in two ways. The first is scarcity, with the M4 CS limited to just 50 examples in Australia. And the second is by dialling up every aspect of the M4's performance to terrifying levels.

The engine outputs are up, the weight is 20kg down, there are better brakes, better seats, a louder exhaust, a stiffer chassis – it goes on and on.

We'll get to some of the performance stuff in a moment, but here's what else your money buys you with the M4 CS.

It starts outside with staggered alloys, 19-inch up front and 20-inch at the rear, wrapped in track-ready rubber. There's also hi-po 'M Compound' brakes with red calipers, lightweight carbon racing seats that are heated up front, an Alcantara-trimmed steering wheel, the 'M Carbon' exterior package with carbon bonnet and roof, adaptive 'M Suspension' and a titanium exhaust that howls like the winds of hell.

The less performance-focused stuff is similar enough to the other M4 models including a 12.3-inch centre screen with digital radio, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a second 14.9-inch screen that handles your driving data and a head-up display. There's also twin-zone climate control, Merino leather upholstery and ambient interior lighting.

But all of that is secondary, really. This is about performance, specifically of the brutal kind.

The Endura has a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine making 140kW of power and 400Nm of torque. That torque peak comes in low at 2000rpm which is where it’s most useful for towing and accelerating off the line.

Braked towing capacity for the Endura is 2000kg.

All Enduras have an eight-speed automatic and you can choose between front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive.

BMW has found yet more grunt lurking in its trusty 3.0-litre 'M TwinPower' six-cylinder petrol engine, with the M4 CS now pumping out 405kW and 650Nm.

That's a decent jump from the 390kW and 620Nm served up by the M4 Competition, and a giant leap from the outputs of the 'base' M4 – 353kW and 550Nm.

Predictably, then, the CS is the fastest of the lot, knocking off the run from 0-100km/h in 3.4 seconds, compared to 3.5 and 4.2 in the Competition and M4, respectively. The top speed is also dialled up to 302km/h.

All that power is channeled through an eight-speed automatic and sent to all four wheels on demand, with the help of an 'Active M Differential'.

The diesel engine and the eight-speed auto transmission make an efficient team with claimed fuel economy for the front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive being the same at 6.7L/100km over a combination of open and urban roads.

The launch saw me drive the Endura in Trend FWD, ST-Line AWD and Titanium AWD and the trip computers were reporting a couple of litres more than this, but this would certainly be because of the winding, hilly country roads, and the driver.

The Endura has a 64-litre fuel tank.

The M4 CS is fitted with a 59-litre fuel tank, which – given the BMW's official fuel claim of 10.2 litres per hundred kilometres – should deliver a driving range on a full tank of 541 kilometres.

But... BMW also says the regular M4 – you know, the one that makes 52 fewer kilowatts and 55Nm less torque – uses 10.1L/100km, so do with that information what you will.

There’s lots of good news here. The diesel engine is quiet. The cabin is well insulated. Both of those combined saw me on one occasion press the start button not realising the engine was already running. That was in the FWD Trend grade, too. The ST-Line and Titanium have even better levels of insulation.

Steering is excellent – it’s weighted well, accurate, and it’s easy to turn the steering wheel in car parks or in three-point turns.

The ride is comfortable in all grades, but most of all in the Trend and Titanium, while the ST-Line has firmer sports suspension. But that makes it the most fun to drive in the corners where it handles impressively well for a 4.8m long SUV.

Visibility all-round is also outstanding. The side windows are large, the windscreen feels expansive with pillars that don’t get in the way, the dash is low and you sit quite high. While you are high up, the Endura doesn’t feel like a truck to drive. And that goes for the engine too, I’ve already mentioned how quite it is, but it’s smooth as well.

The engine could do with more grunt, though. There were times climbing hills in the overtaking lane that a bit more oomph would have made me feel a little less concerned that we weren’t going to make it past that semi-trailer before his lane ran out.

That was with two people on board and a couple of bags. The Trend FWD is the lightest at 1976kg while the Titanium AWD is 100kg heavier. That’s pretty heavy. The heaviest Mazda CX-9 (a bigger SUV with seven seats) for example weighs 1924kg. I wonder how the Endura would go fully loaded up with family and holiday gear, plus a boat on the back?

AWD or FWD? Well, they both use the same amount of fuel, so it just comes down to, can you afford it?

The FWD Trend I drove struggled for traction under harder acceleration from a standstill. The AWD ST-Line and Titanium I tested had no issues with traction at all. An AWD Trend is where I’d put my money.

Keep in mind the Endura isn’t an off-roader. The AWD system helps in the wet and on gravel, but its lowish ground clearance will prevent it from climbing anything more adventurous than a gutter. Unladen the AWD Endura’s belly hangs 193mm off the ground, while the FWD’s ground clearance is 186mm.

The hardest and angriest M4 of all time is, perhaps unsurprisingly, hard and angry. This is a race track specialist, but because I don't happen to own one of those, my first experience with the barking (and barking mad) M4 CS was navigating my way back from BMW's inner-city dealership.

Like it or lump it, you're going to read some Porsche comparisons here, because you're talking not too far off base 911 Carrera money, and suddenly I find the two Germans doing battle for a spot in my dream garage.

First things first, the BMW won't be much chop for daily driving for most people. Happily, I have a sickness for uncomfortable sports cars. It tells me that no compromises have been made in the pursuit of punishing performance.

A good thing, too, because the BMW, at city speeds, can be punishing. Everything feels heavy, the seats aren't overly comfortable – especially the hard bits that tend to dig in when cornering – and it stiff-arms its way over road imperfections, that exhaust booming and barking as it does.

Again, I loved it, and you probably will, too. But it's still not the kind of car I'd relish sitting in the morning peak hour rush in.

But escape the confines of the city and the BMW M4 CS suddenly makes a whole heap of sense. The acceleration is genuinely brutal, and wonderfully theatrical, with that quad-tipped titanium exhaust barking and snarling as you rocket towards 100km/h.

The steering is brilliant, with feedback fed to your wrists via that thick-rimmed wheel, and the entire experience feels sharp, super engaging and edgy.

You can push the M4 hard and fast, and I'm certain my limited talents would run out far before the BMW's would, but there's this thrilling sense of peril sparked by the aggression of the experience, that I love.

It's like the magic of a roller-coaster, I guess. Even if you know nothing is going to happen, you never really know, right? And in that lies the magic.

But back to original question, this or a Porsche 911? There's no doubt a Carrera is a better all-rounder, in terms of comfy commuting and race track fun, but this angry M4 is all shouty theatrics, all of the time.

I bloody love it.

Expect no ANCAP rating here, I'm afraid. But the BMW 4 Series does wear a five-star rating from 2019.

The M4 CS gets six airbags (driver and passenger, side airbags, head airbags), along with what BMW calls its 'Driving Assistant Professional', which bundles active cruise control (with stop and go function), front and rear cross-traffic warning, 'Steering & Lane Control' and 'Lane Keeping with Side Collision Warning'.

The Endura is covered by Ford’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended every 12 months or 15,000km and is capped at $299 for the first four services.

The M4 CS is covered by BMW's five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, with condition-based servicing available in packs, which will cost you $3530 over five years/80,000km, or $2900 over four years/60,000km.