The 2019 BMW M4 doesn’t surpass our driving abilities, it runs laps around them.

And we’re just talking about the regular version.

High-test M4 Competition and M4 CS versions add more power and more performance.

It gets a 9 on our performance scale because perfection costs magnitudes more. (Read more about how we rate cars.)

All M4s start with an twin-turbocharged inline-6 that makes 425 hp and 406 pound-feet of torque that drives the rear wheels only.

Base coupes and convertibles can be equipped with a sharp 6-speed manual or rapid-fire 7-speed dual-clutch automatic that rifles through gears to propel the two-door to 60 mph in 4.0 seconds. We like the 7-speed because it’s faster than we are; the M4 is all about speed.

Most of our time has been spent in base M4 cars and the speed and power is profound. Critics take issue with the sound created by the turbo-6; it’s hardly as mellifluous as the V-8s that graced former M3 two-door coupes but the speed is just as disarming and more abrupt. A wall of torque surges just past idle and pins driver and passenger back in their seats. The M4’s speed requires some mental adjustment, road imperfections arrive exponentially quicker. The standard adaptive dampers toggle between normal and sport settings, the latter too firm for anything other than well-kept interstates or glassy major arterial roads.

The Competition package bumps horsepower up to 444 hp and adds a revised exhaust, revised program for the standard adaptive dampers, and 20-inch wheels that are far stiffer than the standard 18s on the M4.

The M4 Competition rides firmer than the M4, but doesn’t crash over bumps. It’s just the right side of comfortable to drive to the track, on the track, and home, but we’d stop short of calling it a cushy cruiser.

The new M4 CS adds more power (454) and skips the 6-speed manual in favor of a 7-speed automatic only. It runs up to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and tops out at 174 mpg, and has lapped the famous Nürburgring-Nordschleife in 7 minutes, 38 seconds. We haven’t yet driven the M4 CS, and considering the limited-production run of 500 cars that are headed to the U.S., it’s not likely we’ll see these collector items at all. A handful are available, and cost more than $100,000, and likely won’t go far from there.

Steering in all of the M4 models is light, but laser precise. We don’t take umbrage with the lack of steering feel when the M4 points in to a corner predictably every time; driving the M4 is sensory overload with its speed, sound, and rapidly approaching everything. The chassis is remarkably balanced and the M4 changes direction without drama, our hands wouldn’t have much to detect anyway.

The base stoppers on the M4 are solid, but optional carbon-ceramics scrub speed with alacrity. They cost more than $8,000, and services aren’t cheap either, but track rats will appreciate the consistent confidence of high-performance brakes.

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