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      01-11-2012, 07:16 AM   #18
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Drives: 2018 F80 ZCP
Join Date: Nov 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Uli_HH View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by swamp2 View Post
^Wow, sounds too good to be true. Sounds VERY expensive as well. There is probably little to be gained with CF body panels over the existing SMC (sheet molding compound - which is a composite, just not CF) body parts on the current car. If that weight is true and the car also has 450 hp it would really FAST compared to the current car.
Okay ... you are right! But these numbers are the target weight for the new F80 M3, but it seems like they have make great advantages in weight reduction issues and could really reach this target!

These numbers couldn´t be reached by putting CF body panals over an regualar steel car body ... but if you look at the i3, you see that BMW and SGL could make an complete body from carbon composite and this at an tolerable price tag ... so it seems really possible, that BMW combined those possibilities with high straight steel parts to make an really light car body ... this is also the reason for the new intern lable F80 instead of F30!

The bad thing is that BMW has decided, that because of the great weight reduction effort the new M3/M4 doesn´t need an special and innovative new engine to reach the targeted performence numbers well above all other cars in its class.

Greets Uli_HH
Assuming that there will be such massive differences in structural materials in the F8x vs. The F3x, and given that there surely will be a cost associated with that, perhaps the only way BMW could keep the M3 in the same price range it has always been in (adjusting for inflation) perhaps they had no choice but to o with the much cheaper development costs of a highly-tuned N54/55 vs. a brand-new engine...

Also - and again I hate to be pessimistic because I truly hope your information is correct, but could it be that the 3100 lb. target weight is for the post F8x generation M3 (that would actually be much more believable - especially in terms of developmental costs (which in turn would be spread out over a greater number of years, and therefore, less cost to pass on to the consumer)...
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