Quote:
Originally Posted by Three Pedal Steve
The M4 has a higher hood line than the e92 M3 it replaced. The straight six is a longer motor than the V-8. So M4 gets a taller hood with a lower engine bulge.
Maybe it's just me, but going from 8 cylinders to six cylinders is a down-grade.
I drove the M4's at the BMW performance center (in the rain no less) and could never tame the things. Between the DCT and the turbo lag the power was slightly behind me all day. And then when the power and gear arrived it was difficult to deal with all that torque. A few weeks later I drove my e92 M3 (6 speed) on the same track for comparison. I love the linear power delivery of my M3.
BMW says all this was necessary for fuel economy. In reality the new car gains its economy advantage in its gearing. Maybe they should have gone with a seven speed manual with a really tall top gear so it would run at 1650 rpm at 70mph.
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All of this being said, I'm sure you would have eventually found your stride with the M4. My S2000 is much worse in power delivery. There's really only a HUGE surge from about 6000 RPM up when the VTEC kicks in. It's sort of an "all or nothing" type of delivery. Even with that, if you want to drive it hard you get used to keeping it in the power band.
I've never understood all of the complaints about the M3 having "no torque", however. With the nice linear power delivery it is merely a matter of selecting the correct gear. Unlike an S2000 where you REALLY have to not only select the correct gear, but also somehow deal with the almost complete lack of power on the starting grid, if you slightly miscalculate which gear you need and bog it down, you really lose time.
I have no complaints with the e9x series, aside from the fact that it does need a little bit of a diet. I'm not entirely certain where that weight would have come from, however, without running the price tag up significantly.