Too Much of a Good Thing

Highs: Crushing top-end acceleration, awesome on the track, grip for days. Lows: Intolerable seats, tiresome on-road ride, steering has mind of its own.

- DAN EDMUNDS

One tour around the BMW M4 CSL is all you need to size it up. With its Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires, prominent ducktail spoiler, and deep front splitter, the CSL is clearly a track-focused thoroughbred. That impression continues inside, with an empty space where the rear seat used to be and standard carbon-fiber front buckets that scoot fore and aft but require an allen wrench for any angular or height adjustments. Lift the hood and you'll realize it's an immaculately built hunk of carbon fiber (as is the trunk), with stripes on top that are merely unpainted swaths that show through. A plastic engine cover blocks your view of the 543-hp twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six, but the exquisite birdcage brace that connects the radiator core support, strut towers, and firewall is worth its own Instagram post.