Second: BMW M3 Sedan DCT

A benchmark in so many respects, M3 Sedan brings practicality by the bucket load

There was a point during the last day of this contest where I was convinced that there simply was no way that anything else could win this thing.

Heading north out of Jo?burg, the traffic gradually eased until I was all alone out there. Just me, the big, cloudy blue sky and this white BMW M3 Sedan.

That impeccable 8300rpm M-V8 hollering through the spring breeze as the double clutch trannie dispatched the gears and the world blurred ever increasingly, ever more pleasingly. Its completely reworked underpinnings made the M3 feel superior even to its most pointed supercar rivals and I thought back to those hot laps this car had reeled off at Kyalami.

Even better from a personal point of view, it?s a four-door that pays attention to my family needs, even if it has its little limitations, but one of the most important factors is that BMW M saw to it that its four-door Three benefited the change to the Coupe face?

M3 is also superbly equipped and it is even better than the average Beemer in satisfying the driver?s every whim ? once you?re in there, the car becomes an extension of your persona ? better so perhaps than any other car I?ve driven this year.

There are a few downsides for sure ? like the fact that this edition of the 3-Series is already half done, and there are lots of really clever M3 rivals this time around. Although where those that are here placed this year, pretty well nips that one in the bud.

The typical BMW 3 rear cabin and boot constraints of course also apply here, but really, the other advantages this M brings kind of eliminate any concern of that. For the kids, the back is fine ? and any adults who find themselves in there on a short run won?t even notice as the rest of their experience will render them noticing the lack of room null and void.

As the day wore on, I got my chance behind the wheel of the other four cars in our top five ? lucky for BMW, Subaru have cocked up the pricing of the STi because from the driver?s seat, that thing is also incredible.

But that car and the other two can only wish for the completeness that this car offers, but the shock awaiting you overleaf ? well, shocked us in so many ways, too. BMW came awfully close to scooping a second Cars in Action Performance car of the year.

But we let a wildcard in here and to our dismay, it cleaned up. Read on to find out what it is.

And how this contest was quite literally turned on its head?

> On page 3: the winner!