2015 BMW F82 M4

Coupe

VIN#: K333209

ENGINE 3.0-liter S55B30 twin-turbo inline six-cylinder

OUTPUT 425 hp @ 7300 rpm, 406 lb-ft @ 1850 rpm

TRANSMISSION 7-speed Getrag twin-clutch automatic

CURB WEIGHT 3615 lbs

TOP SPEED 155 mph

BUILD DATE  December 2014

COLOR  Black Sapphire Metallic

OWNER  Jackie Bechek

OWNED SINCE  2015

LOCATION  Greer, South Carolina

The 2015 M4 was a car of firsts. Before this, no 3 Series-based factory M car had ever worn a turbocharger, much less two. Nor had an M3 ever been sold with electric power steering, a carbon-fiber driveshaft, available carbon-ceramic brakes, or an available twin-clutch automatic.

Finally, there’s the matter of moniker: The 2015 M4 was the first two-door M3 to not actually be called…an M3. Although the M3 line began life in 1986 with a two-door model, that hallowed badge is currently available only with four doors. If you want the two-door version, you are buying a machine that BMW calls M4. Which is basically the same car.

Make sense? Beyond that, all you really need to know is that none of this stuff stopped people like Jackie Bechek from waltzing into a dealer and falling in love with cars like her 2015 M4.

Bechek lives in South Carolina, but 20 years ago, she was raising her kids in Boston. When those kids left the house, she wanted to downsize her car. She hit the local Lexus store and got treated like a second-class citizen; when the salesman asked to speak with her husband, she walked. Shortly after, a friend suggested she visit a BMW dealer, said they wouldn’t give her a hard time.

Three weeks later, Bechek had her first BMW, a new X5. A fuse was lit.

“I’m a soccer mom. I got to go down to the BMW Performance Center—I barely knew where South Carolina was. I went by myself, did the Car Control program, had a blast.”

Quick summary of the next decade and a half: Bechek got divorced; she packed up her senior dog and drove to Greenville to work for the CCA full-time; she became a trustee (now trustee emerita) for the BMW CCA Foundation. And a little over 10 years ago, she bought herself the M4 as a present.

“This is my garage king. He only has 11,000 miles on him, but I really love this car. And it’s just gotten better over the years—every plumber or electrician who comes to my house, they’re like, that’s your car, lady, in the garage, you drive that thing?”

“Yeah,” she says. More laughter. “Exactly.”