Love it or hate it: why the M3 and M4 got that grille, and does it matter when you buy one?

Why BMW made it so big

The tall kidney grille first appeared on the Concept 4 in September 2019, a year before BMW revealed the G80 M3 and G82 M4 in September 2020. Domagoj Dukec, then head of BMW Design, told BMWBlog it was not a strategic decision to "make the kidneys bigger."

For the M cars, BMW meant to go further than the base car. "The M version is always about exaggeration," Dukec told BMWBlog, and BMW M's then boss Markus Flasch said the M cars would "differentiate very much from the base models."

Asked in 2025 whether BMW had gone too far, BMW design chief Adrian van Hooydonk told CarExpert it depends on the market: in some, "like China, it is good; people are still asking for big grilles."

The case against, and the case for

Both sides have a point, and both are about taste. The quotes below are opinions, attributed to the people who hold them.

The case against

BMWBlog's Nico DeMattia wrote in 2020 that "countless commenters" suggested many M3 owners would not stay with BMW when their lease or loan ended. That is his reading of comments, not a poll. His line: "If design wasn't important, every car would be an aerodynamic egg."

Goodwood's Dan Trent called the front "absolutely minging compared with the regular 3 Series saloon." And within weeks of the reveal, a German tuner had shown a horizontal grille for the cars, as Bimmerlife reported. Some buyers wanted the car but not the face.

The case for

Dukec, as reported by Autobuzz from Top Gear: "It is not BMW's goal to please everyone." He pointed to Chris Bangle's E60 5 Series, hated at first and better regarded later.

Motoring Research's Tim Pitt: "Sure, it's no beauty, but neither was the E30." His comparison verdict on the BMW: "It's the best to drive." Van Hooydonk, in 2023: "you can't just keep repeating what has been in the past."

In our reading, most reviews land in the same place: hard to love from the front, excellent to drive. That summary is our opinion.

In BMW's own words

BMW expected the split. In 2020 Dukec told Autocar that with a design like this, "50 per cent of people might love it and 50 per cent will hate it." He said that about the 4 Series grille, which the M3 and M4 share in spirit, and it was a designer's expectation, not a measured split. He called the grille a future "brand-shaper" and said designers "can't listen to social media reactions."

BMW's then chairman, Oliver Zipse, told CarSales in 2022 (as BMWBlog reported) that "any step into the future that is perceived as new will be controversial automatically."

Looking back in 2025, van Hooydonk told CarExpert: "There was no backlash from customers." BMW noted the negative comments, he said, "but we never saw it in the sales figures."

Did it hurt sales?

Not that the numbers show. BMW M, the division that sells both the M cars and the M Performance models, set a delivery record every year from 2021 to 2025.

Year	BMW M deliveries, worldwide	Change
2021	163,542	Up 13 percent
2022	177,257	Up 8.4 percent
2023	202,530	Up 14.3 percent
2024	206,582	A record, BMW says its 13th in a row
2025	213,457	Up 3.3 percent, BMW says its 14th record

BMW named the M3 and M4 directly. In 2021 it said the new M3 and M4 were "the biggest drivers of growth" among its high-performance M cars. For 2023 it said the M3 sedan was the world's best-selling high-performance sports car, followed by the M4 coupe, and that the US was BMW M's largest market. In 2024 it put M cars alone, not counting M Performance models, at 66,805, up 8 percent.

What the numbers cannot show

The totals include M Performance cars such as the M340i and i4 M50, and BMW does not publish US M3 and M4 sales on their own. In 2021 and 2022 many cars were short and waits were long. So the records show the grille did not stop buyers, not that buyers liked it. That reading is our opinion.

Does it make the car cheaper used?

We cannot tell, and we have not found anyone who can. Used prices move with price when new, supply, powertrain, warranty, interest rates and the market as a whole. No study we found separates styling from those, and our own listings cannot either.

What the value sites show so far points the other way, if anything. Jalopnik found the 2021 G82 M4 lost about nine percentage points less of its value over five years than a 2020 F82 M4. Kelley Blue Book, as read in October 2026, puts the 2021 M3 in the top 10 percent of 2021 sedans for value retention.

That is correlation, not proof. A big-grille car that holds value well may do so despite its face, because of its engine, or because the market moved. We do not claim the grille makes these cars cheaper or dearer.

What the Guide Score says

The Guide Score has no line for looks. It scores three things: desirability (what the market and enthusiasts think of a car), the drive, and reliability. A face people argue about counts only as far as it shows up in demand and in what owners and reviewers say, never through our own taste.

Of the 69 cars in our guide, the M3 G80 ranks tied 3rd by Guide Score and the M4 G82 2nd, which puts both big-grille cars among our highest scored. Each one also outscores the car it replaced.

M3, old face against new	M3 F80	M3 G80
Guide Score, best years 2018 and 2026	83	91
Desirability	80	81
Enthusiast	93	94
Reliability	71	89

M4, old face against new	M4 F82	M4 G82
Guide Score, best years 2020 and 2026	84	95
Desirability	82	87
Enthusiast	92	95
Reliability	72	89

If the grille is the only thing stopping you, the scores say the rest of the car is worth a look in person. The full guides: M3 G80 and M4 G82, and side by side, F80 M3 vs G80 M3 and M3 vs M4.

The 2025 update kept the grille

The updated M4, revealed in January 2024, got new headlights with arrow-shaped daytime lights and laser taillights in the style of the M4 CSL. BMWBlog noted that "many critics seemed to expect changes to the grille," and none came.

The updated M3 followed in May 2024 with "lightly redesigned headlights", and BMWBlog wrote that "the grille remains, remarkably, completely untouched."

Our reading, as opinion: keeping it is the clearest sign BMW thought the design was working, which fits van Hooydonk's comment on sales. Critics read the same fact as BMW not listening. For a buyer, it means a 2025 or later car has the same face as a 2021.

Can you change it?

Yes. Within weeks of the reveal, the German tuner Prior Design showed renders of a horizontal-style grille, as Bimmerlife reported in October 2020, though its CEO said they were not yet a reality. By 2022 Vorsteiner was showing, at the SEMA show, a grille insert that splits the kidneys with a horizontal bar, as BMWBlog reported.

We have not found sourced figures for what a swap costs or what it does to resale or insurance, so we do not quote any. Our advice, as opinion: if you change it, keep the original grille so the car can go back to stock when you sell, and tell your insurer about the change.

Where BMW design is going

BMW reorganized its design team from October 1, 2024. Dukec moved to head Rolls-Royce design. Oliver Heilmer, formerly head of MINI design, took the compact and mid-size BMWs and BMW M, and BMW now titles him head of design for the compact class, the Neue Klasse and BMW M. Van Hooydonk stayed as head of BMW Group Design.

The Drive's Nico DeMattia, giving his opinion at the time: "It might mean the end of massive, absurd kidney grilles on BMWs."

The new cars point that way. On the iX3, the first Neue Klasse car, BMW says "the sculpted BMW kidneys are vertically arranged", a nod to the 1600 and 2002, and set into the front. The M Concept Neue Klasse, shown in June 2026, joins the headlights and kidney into one unit with a forward-facing shark nose. Heilmer calls the new M look "the expressive spearhead of the Neue Klasse."

The 2027 7 Series facelift makes its kidneys "taller, narrower, and shaped more like old BMWs' grilles," in the words of Jalopnik's Daniel Golson, though he notes the car still has "huge kidney grilles." BMW has not shown the next gas M3's face. For what is coming and when, read should you buy a G80 now.

Go deeper

Questions and answers

Why did BMW make the M3 and M4 grille so big?

BMW's designers say the size was not the goal. Domagoj Dukec, then head of BMW Design, said it was not a strategic decision to make the kidneys bigger, and that the M versions are meant to exaggerate the base cars. BMW design chief Adrian van Hooydonk later said buyers in markets such as China still ask for big grilles.

Did the grille hurt M3 and M4 sales?

Not that the numbers show. BMW M set a delivery record every year from 2021 to 2025, BMW credited the new M3 and M4 for much of the 2021 growth, and it says the M3 sedan was the world's best-selling high-performance sports car in 2023. Those totals include M Performance cars, and 2021 to 2022 had supply shortages, so they show the grille did not stop buyers, not that buyers liked it.

Does the grille make a used G80 M3 or G82 M4 cheaper?

We cannot tell, and we have not seen anyone who can. Used prices move with supply, price when new, powertrain and the wider market, and no data we have separates looks from those. What we can say is that early G82 M4s have held value better than F82s over the same five years, by Jalopnik's reading, and Kelley Blue Book puts the 2021 M3 in the top 10 percent of 2021 sedans for value retention.

Did the 2025 update change the grille?

No. The 2025 M4 got new headlights and laser taillights, and the 2025 M3 got lightly redesigned headlights, but BMWBlog found the grille untouched on both.

Is BMW moving away from big grilles?

The signs point that way. BMW's first Neue Klasse car, the iX3, has vertical kidneys set into the front, and the M Concept Neue Klasse joins the headlights and kidney into one unit. BMW also reorganized its design team in 2024. It has not shown what the next gas M3's grille will look like.

Does the Guide Score mark down the M3 and M4 for their looks?

No. The Guide Score has no line for looks. It scores desirability, the drive and reliability. Of the 69 cars in our guide, the M3 G80 ranks tied 3rd by Guide Score and the M4 G82 2nd.

Sources

Quotes are from the outlets named, kept short and attributed. Reviewers' and designers' views are opinion. Delivery figures are BMW's own and cover all BMW M models worldwide. Value figures change as the sites update. Sources checked October 13, 2026. Scores are our own, read live.