Top Gear and The Grand Tour legend Richard Hammond is still out and about, driving and reviewing cars, even though he, Jeremy Clarkson, and James May have all left The Grand Tour. His attention is now focused on the Drivetribe YouTube channel, alongside daughter Izzy, where the two have produced some excellent content, and a recent video saw Hammond get behind the wheel of the new BMW M3.
The M3 is a car that he has loved for ages, as have many of us, as it is one of the best sports saloons ever produced. But certain things BMW has done over recent years, most notably within the styling, haven’t appealed to everyone. So Hammond was keen to see what the newest M3 was actually like.
He opened the video saying he was having a moment, but he wasn’t sure if it was a good moment, about the M3 as a whole. Hence, his desire to drive the newest M3, the current model with its 3.0-liter turbocharged straight six under the hood.
It is a car that Hammond absolutely adores and holds in very high regard. However, as we find out in the video, the Top Gear legend is slightly concerned about where the saloon is going.
Why Is Hammond Concerned About the BMW M3?
Hammond talked about how the German manufacturer recently took the covers off its Neue Klasse range, with the i3 replacing the 3 Series, meaning a fully-electric BMW M3 is on the way. There will still be a petrol version of the M3, but Hammond still has worries about where the model is going.
“You’ve got to consider the breed,” he said, referencing reinventions with the likes of the Land Rover Defender and Porsche 911. “I’ll confess here and now, slightly embarrassed that I’ve never owned an M3, and I am worried I’m going to run out of time to own one as I know them,” added the presenter.
Hammond praises the power and lightness of the M3, as well as how it’s still quite practical as a family car, and how you can take the kids to school in it, etc. Even though it is quite heavy, it still feels nimble. Hammond was actually full of praise for the design, believing they’ve leapt ahead in terms of the aesthetics, and now we’ve caught up over time, many of us actually like the new M3. The current generation certainly has the looks worthy of a powerful sports saloon.
Hammond Acknowledges That the M3 Has Gotten Bigger
Hammond does acknowledge that the BMW has gotten bigger as time has gone on, with this generation continuing that trend. “Like everything else, in the motoring world and everything else in the world, the M3 has got bigger and heavier,” he said. As of right now, the car weighs around 1,800 kilos, or just under 4,000lbs. So it isn’t a light car by any means.
Yet it still feels great, according to the TV legend. He was very glad to have driven the car for the Drivetribe video, but he said there were still alarm bells ringing. Hammond feared this was the end of the line for the M3, and that we needed to somehow preserve what the car is all about. “What we want is a small-ish, light-ish saloon that the M3 used to do,”
In the video, Hammond revealed an E93 series that has been hidden away, which admittedly does need a lot of work. But, while talking about his ambassadorship for Carly, he believes that this is the way the M3 could go. Lighten it, bring it more back to basics, perhaps to keep the car alive for as long as possible.
The BMW M3 Is a Status Symbol, and Not Just Another Car
Hammond said that the M3 always had a cheekiness about it, even if it was meant to be a serious sports saloon. “It was also a bit of a statement symbol,” said Hammond. “If you’d got an M3, you’d done alright,” he added, while confirming the base model now costs over $110,000. Despite the price, Hammond loved driving the current M3, but he was still concerned that perhaps, one day, the M3 would disappear for good.