Desert-racing BMW M4 off-roader revealed

The all-new $150,000-plus BMW M4 boasts one of the most controversial front-end designs seen in the past decade, but the oversized and utterly incongruous kidney grille appears less confronting after undergoing significant desert-racer modifications.

Behold the BMW M4 bush buggy!

Gaining plenty of attention on Instagram, this flight of fantasy was created by the talented BradBuilds and not only delivers a jacked-up, wide-body, 4x4 version of the BMW M4 coupe with mud-plugging tyres, but also features a small camper module.

As BradBuilds explains, the unofficial M4 desert-dueller has “a bed, kitchenette and a pair of solar panels” and we’re hoping it has lots of lockable storage because its 375kW/650Nm kick should be enough to see this mean machine fly like an eagle after cresting sand dunes.

The BMW M3 and M4 Competition models with the full 375kW wallop from their 3.0-litre twin-turbo S58 engine can destroy the 0-100km/h sprint in just 3.9 seconds.

And while the camper module would add extra weight to the desert racer, reducing its acceleration (especially if there’s dirty dishes in the kitchen sink), it would still be frighteningly quick.

You could almost see something like this being pressed into service for the remote bush cops in Australia, a go-anywhere divvy van of sorts, given its impressive ground clearance.

And it’s not like we haven’t seen our fair share of whacky high-performance off-road renders in the past, with the Bugatti Chiron, Ford Focus RS-X and even the ‘Rapstang’ Mustang all getting the rally-cross treatment from avid photoshoppers.

The idea of cruising around Australia in something like the BMW M4 bush buggy has merit and it would turn heads like a jacked-up Holden HQ Sandman.

But more importantly, it shows that BMW’s oversized and controversial kidney-shaped grille can be mollified with a little more design razzle-dazzle elsewhere.