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"BMW's iconic compact sport sedan continues to provide daily-driver livability alongside its prodigious performance. It also continues to offer a manual transmission, which will endear it to purists who remember when the manual was a must-have M3 feature. Some may feel that today's M3 suffers from tech overload and lacks the passion of earlier models — and that's fair — but there's no denying the clinical precision of this machine. Nonetheless, we rate the 'lesser' M340i higher still because it's a better value and arguably a more well-rounded car."—Ranked #1 out of 5 Compact High-Performance Sedans
MotorDonkey's proprietary vehicle data identifies every significant version of each model so that you can compare and decide. Ordered by price from low to high, here are the versions of the 2025 BMW M3 that you need to be aware of, along with our expert analysis and recommendations.
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In a nod to old-school driving enthusiasts, BMW has made the entry-level M3 a manual-only affair. That's right — you can't get the automatic even if you want it. For that, you'll have to step up to one of the M3 Competition versions, which add a little more power and come only with the automatic.
Although the M3 Competition ditches the base model's throwback manual transmission, it compensates with more power, a lot more torque, and one of the best automatics in the business.
Want all-wheel drive in your M3? That would have been sacrilegious for much of the M3's recorded history, but these days it kinda makes sense in order to harness all that power. As an added enticement for 2025, BMW has pumped 20 more horsepower to this variant (now matching the 2024 M3 CS at 523 hp) along with a broader torque curve, resulting in a sprint to 60 mph that's four-tenths of a second quicker than last year.
What are the different versions of the 2025 M3, and how much do they cost? Select a version below or just hit the button to see our full 2025 M3 specs and model data.
| Version | Price | Fuel | MPG | Power | Torque |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 BMW M3 Manual Transmission | $76,000 | Gas | 19 | 473 hp | 406 lb-ft |
| 2025 BMW M3 Competition RWD | $80,200 | Gas | 18 | 503 hp | 479 lb-ft |
| 2025 BMW M3 Competition xDrive | $85,300 | Gas | 18 | 523 hp | 479 lb-ft |
Publisher and Donkey-in-Chief
Josh has been reviewing cars professionally since joining Edmunds.com fresh out of grad school in 2008. Prior to founding MotorDonkey, he spent 15 years shaping Edmunds' expert automotive content in various capacities, starting as an associate editor and ultimately serving as a senior editor before wrapping up with a five-year term as the company's first-ever director of content strategy. Josh is a card-carrying member of the Motor Press Guild and a lifelong car nut who has driven, compared and critiqued thousands of cars in his career. Helping people find their perfect car never gets old—seriously!
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