Quote:
Originally Posted by BMW M3 CRT
Nice write up ... no one says that the M engines were handbuild as in some other special car branches, but they were so unique, that they could only be produced in the special engine plant ... also ín times where they were based on BMW AG engine blocks!
That´s the real reason, why it was an realy bad move in terms of M spirit ... none could says, that the S55 was an bad engine because it is build on the regular Steyr plant, but one great and important thing, that make the M cars so special, has gone ... the uniqueness of their engines.
Until now the M cars especially the M3 were build in the M spirit as "Rennsporttechnik für die Straße" and have only 20% of common part with the AG models they are based on. Also this has dropped to 50% which meens that the new M cars are much less unique and therefor much cheaper to produce ... without an drop in the consumer price.
SO you now are simple getting less for the same price compared with the old M cars. The performance doesn´t counts, because all M cars were better than their precessors ... every new M3 was the "best M3 ever", but with with the older M cars we get this performance increase together with the uniqueness of an car build in the spirit of the M-GmbH - race cars (from the technical point of view) in the outfit of regular coupes or sedans.
Greets BMW M3 CRT
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Seems like the S65 has some tolerance issues, which I'd rather not have, even though it was made at the Munich plant. But, yes I understand what you are saying about the specialized engines needing a separate assembly line. That part is gone it seems. But the S55 is still a unique engine isn't it? It doesn't become more unique just because it's assembled on the same assembly line as the V12 IMHO. It is unique because it's a different engine from any other BMW engine
But I'm not sure that I agree on your view on similarity between the M and regular models. The way I see it, the F8x will be the M model that probably is the most different from the production models ever.
Why?
The engine, transmission, suspension, driveline are just as different from the base models as allways (even previous models have had a Block based on a Production Version). In fact, the CFRP driveshaft is a New Development from previous M's.
The bodyshell has never been so different from the base models, with more extensive use of CFRP.
The base models of a E36 or E46 (especially the E36) can easily be modified to a M3. The E36 only needs the driveline and suspension plus some easily attached reinforcement plates. The E46 needs new fenders front and rear in addition to what it takes to convert a E36, but very simple and easy modifications. The F3x will probably not be able to get legally converted to a M3/M4 as it's based on a separate bodyshell with a different part #
In which areas does the F8x differ less from the base models than a E30, E36, E46 and E9x?