IF you think the E46 M3 was one bad mofo, the heir to it has just been launched at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show. Specs are still sketchy but what is know is that it has an at least 400hp 4.0 v8 which I presume is in response to Audi's RS4 http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=15&article_id=4930
When I saw the E90 Coupe, I knew the new M3 is going to be hawt. But hmm...V8 for a smallish car, isn't that going to upset the weight distribution?
It would be just nice since 3 series have always been known to mount their engines well back past the axle line. Pop the hood of an E46 320i and you can see why. And BM would most likely go the same route Audi did with their RS4. Pure lightweight high revving rockets.
320i has a much smaller 4 cylinder engine which allows to mount the engine much further back. Just look at any V8 BMWs, they are far from small. I've seen E60 545i. The V8 is huge.
It looks huge because of the ancillaries and the fact it is designed for provisions to be bored out from 4.5 upto 5.0 litres. Hence the thick cylinder walls. You can ask empire23 about 735iL's engine block. BMW designs are actually quite compact. But remember, the M3 is coming from the M department which makes their own bespoke engines (As we've seen by the M5's V10). At 4.0 litres, the block would have the same length as the 2.0 petrol that the 320i has and will be wider that's all. How much wider is dependant on the Vee angle that M has decided to adopt, but it's safe to assume that they will adopt a perfectly square (in terms of bore x stroke) dimension and they'd take a leaf out of the RS4's amazing 8200 rpm red lining 4.2 v8 design which is very compact. Not only that, I maybe speculating on this but I'm suspecting that M will adopt the magnesium block fabrication method BM has been using for their 6 cylinder series to minimise the weight. EDIT: On a second thought, M might just use the v8 they had devloped for the M3 GTR which is very light. According to some quotes, it weighs lighter then the E46 M3's straight 6 block. M3 CSL - 1385kg dry M3 GTR Street - 1350kg dry Actually weight balance maybe important but for rear wheel drive cars, the greater emphasis is to minimise the centroid weight bearing upon the front axle to minimise understeering tendencies which one can see Audi is trying to fix with their MLP platform already being emplyed on the A5/S5 cars.
Don't like the mirrors. Like the front. Don't like the rims. Style 199 rims still the best looking set. But then again, seeing it for real would be the best way to judge it. I wonder when we'll get those here..
While the front end of the M3 concept looks mean, I'm still not feeling the rear end. I still prefer the old E36 version though.
Yeah the mirrors are a bit old fashioned already. And the rims, don't know bout you but there are still some who like it because it's race style. I'm sure NAZA would have one of these in the showrooms soon after it's official launch. Question is "Ada berani ka?" Didn't like the E46? And to think 99% of those beemer lovers liked the E46 the diffuser part eh? Me neither, looks very unresolved. In fact the M6's was not that well designed either. LEt's just hope from concept to production, they'd restyle a bit those questionable aspects
I also like the E46, but my favorite 3er is still the E36 M3. Actually, it's the rear taillights. While the ones on the E90 sedan looked really nice, I just find the ones on the E92/ E93 a little odd. I don't like how the outer(Tail/ Brake/Indicator) portion of it goes a little more downwards. It would've been okay if the bottom had a slight angle towards the edge of the rear fog light area (Looks cleaner.).
Same here. Always thought the rear tail lights of the E90 was a bit too clumsy if we look back at the E30 till E46
E92 looks more like the old E46, that's why I thought the E92 M3 should look hawt when I saw the E92 on the road just the other day.
E90 will grow on you. Especially if you drive it. Rims feel like they're trying to jump from the CSL directly onto this new model. It doesn't look very "concept" like, IMHO, that's why I feel it doesn't belong yet. I guess this is the reason for releasing the photos of the concept to get reactions from the public?
I actually like that wheel design. btw, I think this car will enter production 100% unchanged or with some slight (Unnoticeable.) changes. BMW did a similar thing to tease potential customers/ future owners/ fans with the (E46) M3 Concept & the (E60) M5 Concept. Oh, and I hope that M3 builds a six cylinder M3 (Maybe as a base model.), if they decide to drop in a V8 (It's a tradition thing. An M3 without the straight six will just feel weird.).
It's just Teutonic evolution. Now you may say an M3 not having an inline six maybe strange, but back when the E36 M3 was launched many lamented the loss of the 4 pot screamer the E30 had. And now look at how the order of things are. Heck, even the M5 went through a lot of evolutions 1st gen M5: 3.5 straight 6 2n gen M5: 3.5 straight 6 (Final versions had the 3.8 though) 3rd gen M4: 4.0 v8 5th gen: 5.0 v10
I think it's pretty much finalised that the M3 is going to come with 4L V8 with 420ps. That's like former M5 engine...
Anyway wanna see how it does at the Old Ring and hear it roar? Go to paultan's post linked here http://paultan.org/archives/2007/03/16/bmw-m3-testing-at-the-nurburgring-track/
