[swamp2]

Long term Ferrari are also going to go FI (most likely turbo) for some production sports cars. However, they are waiting until they have the engineering and technology to do something very novel and to be much less (if at all) affected by the typical turbo disadvantages of lower redlines and turbo lag. If the next M3 has an electric compressor they may beat Ferrari to the punch on that regard. That being said Ferrari have been able to substantially increase power, redline and fuel efficiency while maintaining their V8s and V12s. The major improvements are from direct injection. That would have been the only way to go if BMW M were to keep the V8 for the M3. It would have been a great solution but it simply did not offer them enough profit. I guess we should not be surprised the Ferrari place emotion and character of their engine above cost but BMW do the opposite. BMW is a changin'...

All of this inane discussion of the cylinder count or configuration (I vs. V) is entirely irrelevant. The I6 has its BMW and BMW M heritage but every generation of M engines have also enjoyed a higher redline and more specific output (power per liter) as well as improved shapes of the power and torque curves.

Again the things of consequence that actually matter are these same things, redline, turbo lag, power delivery characteristics.