Well, i dont really think it's a matter of them softening or toning down their designs because they 'want' to. It's more a design thing (from how I see it).
Althought Artist, I have the exact same view point as you on the latest M cars. The M5 was brilliantly done, with pure aggression written all over it. The M6 was nowhere near as aggressive as I was hoping, ..quite 'pretty' looking actually. So yes, I can how you would be concerned about the up and coming M3.

BUT, ... as I said, I think for M, it's more a of design thing, ..where they make their designs based upon what they are presented with. They tend to use a lot of parallel and similar curved lines and so forth. Here's what I mean:





From what I noticed, there seems to be a lot of similar lines, all in the end create a very cohesive design. The 5er lights were very aggressive, and this shaped the rest of the face for the M5, ..but with the 6er, it has more that 'lazy' look, so in that sense, M did a nice job with what they could work with. So, for the M3, ...well, the 3er lights are probably the most aggressive lights out of the bunch, ..so expect a menacing looking beast...!!

I like the M roadster but as said before, they could have done a LOT more w/ the design, that's for sure. Also, w/ just .7 seconds between the 3.0 and M I'd be hard pressed to spend the extra money, it'd have to a surreal driving expereince for me to cough up the extra cash. In the end I'd much rather have the M coupe. I guess no SMG for this car either?

Trully after looking a the pics, perhaps any more mods would make this thing look to racy, kinda over done. They did the right thing by improving where they did. Its just right, and in person its probably even more of a knock out....

Actually, im beginning to think that your point of view is exactly what M was aiming at.
Afterall, this is a roadster, ... it's meant to be a free-flowing design for a free-flowing driver, with the air flowing around U and so forth (yep, we all know the whole image of cruisin in a roadster on a Sunday drive). So in that sense, there probably was no need for this car to be as 'beefy' as an M3, or as menacing as the M5, ..because a roadster doesn't elicit those sort of images.

For me, the best way to see what image ///M is trying to acheive with their cars is by looking at the wheel designs. Follow me ? No ? alritey, let me explain.

M5 wheels: An aggressive yet sophisticated design to match with the M5's devilish potential but still maintains the 'business-man' image.

M6 wheels: Minimal spokes and the 'metal' look symbolise it's raw GT image of having no compromise. Simple and focused on one thing only: ... performance.

M Z4 wheels: Very simple and care-free design to show the purpose of this car. Not aggressive, nor raw like the M6. Fairly similar to the wheel design used on the Z8, ..again, linking these 2 fabolous roadsters.

Anyone else seeing it how I see it ? ... or should I book myself in for therapy ?

wow. Awsome points there about the M cars. You show some interesting insights into M design. I totally agree about the wheel design defining the M car and what its meant for. The roadster is a little toned down, like you said, In order to make the car seem more "sunday drivish" rather than "track starish". The M4 roadster's ugly cousin, the M4 coupe, will have wheels totally performance oriented(even more so than what they have in the concepts). The reason for this is its greater rigidity than the already super rigid roadster. Plus it will probably be lighter than the Z4 (not having convertable top components). Truly a track car meant to compete with the upcoming Caymen S. Thanks for the line similarites and the design theories Bimmer Boi. We need more posts like that.

I'm positive the Z4 M roadster will blow the socks off the Boxter S. I absolutely love the new bonnet lines.

The only reason why M5 look more aggressive than the others is cause even without M-kit the car look aggressive and dangerous. The same goes for the new 3-series.
The rest of the M-cars miss the aggressiveness already from the start. The others are more stylish and normallooking thats why they wont look aggressive as M5 and future M3.

So without looking aggressiv from the start the car wont look aggressiv with a M-kit. And the M6, even if its not aggressiv like M5, the M6 look very good, more stylish.
Its a new day for me today and I like the Z4 M more than yesterday.

PS
Aggressiv seem the be a popular word in my post

More shots

One thing I dont understand is how they're getting more power out of that M3 engine but not quite as much as what came out of the CSL M3. Its kind of odd to me.

the power is the same as normal M3. 343hp and 365Nm.

I thought the normal M3 had 333hp. Or am I off. wow, im probably wrong.

In europe M3 has 343hp but US has 333hp. Dont ask me why