Today, there’s an all-new generation of M3. New chassis. New body. New tech. New everything. Two-door versions of it are called the M4, and I recently woke one from its comfortable nap in a heated garage at BMW’s offices for an interesting test drive: Sudbury, in December.

Not exactly BMW M4 Convertible weather – with the –20, heavy snow and roads salted more heavily than a greasy box of fast-food fries. Mind you, many Canadian shoppers are demanding performance coupes and convertibles that don’t need to be stored in winter, and this is one of them. It’s even got a hardtop roof made of composite panels, so inside, it sounds and feels well protected from the elements. Or, remove it for some roof-off backroads driving with your toque on, but only if the computer says its warm enough to open the roof, above about –10.

Driving an M4 Convertible in the snow reveals a multitude of things. First is that you can drive it in the snow, on winter tires, with little issue. The stability and traction control systems are tuned expertly, adjust their sensitivity to slips and slides based on your speed, and allow plenty of controlled, low-speed wheelspin to get you moving in deep powder. At highway speeds, all controls on, they react with nanosecond-precision to losses of traction which see the traction control light blinking for slips and skids you can’t even feel yet.

The ABS is similarly slick. Even in a simulated emergency stop, diagonally, across alternating stripes of hard-packed snow and cold bare pavement, the M4 not only stayed pointing straight ahead, but barely even squirmed beneath me as it managed constant and unique traction levels under each individual wheel. And, with a trick rear differential that constantly works to optimize traction, getting up and going was rarely an issue. Traction controls can be disabled in stages depending on how much backroads sideways stuff you care for, and your comfort level with avoiding nearby culverts.

In all, there’s a refined grace to the way that the M4’s traction-management systems deal with winter driving maneuvers that see other cars slip and squirm and scrape their tires and lurch as traction comes and goes beneath each wheel at varying rates.

Other winter-driving stuff showed itself too. One morning at –22, the M4 fired up with no more effort or time required than on warmer days, the heater is plenty powerful enough, and the electric neck-warmer vents and heated steering wheel begin to heat drivers, and the cabin, slightly, before the engine is warmed up.

A variable redline tells you when that’s occurred, with red and orange segments disappearing from the tachometer ring as the engine warms, taking a few minutes when it’s cold before the full 7,500 rpm redline is achieved.

Yup, 7,500. That’s not far from the 8,300 rpm the old engine spun up. Not even a thousand rpm. But it’s different now, since the new engine is a twin-turbo torque monster. In some ways, it’s more true to the M4’s historical roots, since it’s a straight-six. But in more ways, it’s not. Now, you get 425 horsepower, and boatloads more torque than the old V8. It’s easier on fuel. It’s faster. Torquier. More responsive, more of the time, and emits less nasty things from the tailpipes.

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