all modern cars are fat and heavy, which is why they need 500-700 ponies to do anything.
To think the original E30 M3 was a natrually aspirated 4-popper with incredible flow through a brilliantly engineered cylinder head. Perfect balance.
The real "spiritual" car to the M3 is really the Miata (I know, I know, it's a roadster), but it follows the same formula.
But yeah, the Miata is a "girls" car in the US, so people spend tens of thousands more on fat-overwieght Z4s trying to get the same driving experience......
People are weird. (And yeah, I'd take a Z4 over the Miata too..)