This special M4 CS honors a legendary MotoGP racer turned BMW M Works and World Endurance Championship driver.
After retiring from a legendary motorcycle racing career, BMW is launching a limited-edition version of its M4 CS models to honor Valentino Rossi, who is now a BMW Motorsport works driver and competitor in the GT World Challenge Wurope and FIA World Endurance Championship, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Actually, there are two versions called the Edition VR46, and BMW will limit production of these models to just 46 units each (or 92 total).
The BMW M4 CS VR46 Sport and Style, as each version is called, sport the same sort of mechanical changes from your typical M4 CS. That includes bespoke wheel camber configurations, tweaks to the shocks, springs and anti-roll bars and updates to the adaptive M suspension system’s logic. The Edition VR46 still gets a 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged straight-six engine kicking out 543 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque to all four wheels. According to BMW’s figures, that sort of power in this application is good for a 0-62 mph time of 3.4 seconds.
Where the two variants of the VR46 differ, as you may have guessed, is the look. The VR46 Sport (the one on the left in the above photo) rocks Marina Bay Blue metallic paint, with huge ’46’ decals on the sides finished in Tanzanite Blue. As for the VR46 Style, you get a Matte Frozen Tanzanite Blue Metallic finish, with the brighter ’46’ emblem in Frozen Marina Bay Blue Metallic instead.
Both cars get bright yellow wraps around the edges of their kidney grilles, as well as equally loud painted brake calipers with a touch of yellow paint on each of the wheels and the trunk lid. Inside, you get M Carbon bucket seats in black and Night Blue, with Sao Paulo Yellow accents around the center inserts, the shoulder areas and the headrests, as well as the VR46 badging and the center stripe on the Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel.
Naturally, being a special edition model, there’s a serialized badge on the center console. Rossi’s trademark number and signature are also prominent on the carbon fiber-reinforced plastic roof.
For the price tag (more on that in a moment), BMW will fly VR46 buyers out to Italy for a special two-day experience at Misano World Circuit. Now, you will have to pay a premium for the exclusive model: $155,000 plus BMW’s $1,175 destination fee, for a total of $156,175. That’s about double what you’d pay for a base M4 coupe, or about $30,000 above and beyond what you’d pay for a normal M4 CS. That said, that’s not really the point here, is it? You’d have the opportunity to buy a ‘one of 46’ car, and one owned by one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time.
