BMW M has spent decades blending racetrack engineering with daily drivability. In 2025, the lineup ranges from V8 SUVs to four-door sports sedans — but which M car is the most practical, comfortable, and fun to live with every day?
The Motorsport division started in the 1970s as a racetrack-only operation, but it quickly became responsible for injecting performance into BMW’s everyday models. Lessons from competition — from suspension tuning and weight management to braking systems and entire engines — made their way into road cars. The result was a lineup equally at home on a morning commute as on a day of hard lapping at the local Rennstrecke.
That’s always been the point: a BMW M3 or M5 was meant to be driven daily, not just saved for weekends. In many ways, they remain some of the best “one-car solutions” you can buy. But with today’s range of M models — and more electric options on the horizon — which one truly makes the best daily driver?
What Makes a Good Daily Driver?
While individual use cases for cars are as varied as the people driving them, there are a few criteria we think any good daily needs to be judged on. First is comfort, in which we’ll include technology and creature comforts. What this can be boiled down to is, essentially, no track-focused M cars. Think special editions that intentionally eschew amenities (like an armrest, for example) in pursuit of performance. So, most CS and CSL/GTS offerings are off the table. All good daily drivers should have four seats and a usable trunk, too — which doesn’t eliminate anything in the current BMW M lineup. Finally, good dailies should be fast and fun, two more criteria that every M car on sale today achieve.
Good daily drivers are, ideally, also fairly light on gas consumption. While few current M Series vehicles are what we’d call fuel sippers, we do think this unfortunately removes the more ludicrous V8-powered models. For example, the X5 M and X6 M, while prodigiously powerful, achieve just 13 mpg in the city. Even the M8 does better than that, all while offering better dynamics to boot. So, we’ll drop them from the running. That’s not to say they won’t work as a great daily — particularly if you happen to own a private oil field or lots of XON — but for “overall best daily,” we think the answer lies elsewhere. While there’s an asterisk, since they’re hybrids, this also eliminates the M5 Touring and M5 Sedan. Both return similarly pathetic fuel economy —12 mpg city/14 combined. And the XM — although we doubt that was topping anyone’s list in the first place.
What’s the Best M Car to Daily Drive?
So, we’ve narrowed things down a bit, but we’re still nowhere close. With little other separating much of the remaining lineup, the best M daily driver is largely up to what you need. We think the best daily driver should have four doors, just in case you need to bring a few extra people with you (or pets). So, that further pares down the lineup to…the M3 and the M8. Since the M3 is half around half the price, we think it’s clearly the best M car to drive every day. Being less expensive has all sorts of fringe benefits, including optics, lower repair costs, and ease of replacement. If you can get it, the BMW M3 Touring is even more admirable as a daily driver, thanks to its added cargo space.
The Once and Future King?
While the M3 being the best M daily driver is a bit of a foregone conclusion, things could’ve been different. If the BMW X3 M was still in production, it would’ve forced our hand. Its higher ground clearance and significantly greater cargo space would’ve made it a clear choice over the M3, at least for shoppers willing to sacrifice a pound of performance for an ounce of utility. The X3 M is now rumored to return as an EV, and — assuming an EV works for your lifestyle — we could imagine writing a very different article next time around. We’ll have to wait and see. Until then, the M3 continues to reign supreme as M car daily driver royalty.