Quote:
Originally Posted by swamp2
No real disagreement with this. It is simply that BMW M have literally preached the virtues of a high revving, naturally aspirated, instantaneous throttle response, Motorsport inspired engine over a very long time period. With previous engines and reaching a peak with the current S65 design they have adhered to this philosophy. Neither the S85 from the M5 nor the derived S65 from the M3 were the inexpensive approach. At the volumes involved they were actually very far from the "accountants choice". These decisions were possible at BMW M at that time but are simply not possible today.
Again this discussion/debate began around BMWs motivations. To understand their motivations we simply must look at company strategy, their increasing focus on cost and part commonality. Most M owners want to have a special (i.e. rare) car (even if only slightly more special/rare than the base model). The M3/4 of tomorrow is becoming less special with respect to engines. And, again, these choices are not being made at the heavy hand of green politicians and governments. The volume of M cars is way too low to affect fleet average consumption in any appreciable fashion.
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I am sure that BMW will argue that with the 2014 F1 rule changes regarding moving to smaller displacement forced induction engines, they are still building their engines as per Motorsport's/Racing's lead!