E30 rallying; why no iX?

[ELVA164]

So I've been reading about the few M3's that competed in tarmac rally stages in the late '80s and did decently well (Belgian rally championship '88, won Corsica rally '87, a few other things). I totally understand why BMW stuck to tarmac with the M3 and avoided Group B, but why not try to implement the viscous AWD system in Group A or something? Maybe the inline-six crank vibration issue at high rpm or a durability issue? Wondering if anybody has any guesses/insight here, it's an interesting thought.

[dannyyisntt]

I enjoy running my ix off roads, two tracking and exploring the plethora of terrains that my homeland has to offer.

That's not helpful to your question, but I do enjoy it.

[Kvasi]

I enjoy running my ix off roads, two tracking and exploring the plethora of terrains that my homeland has to offer.

That's not helpful to your question, but I do enjoy it.

And i enjoy mine, but theres no way its seeing offroads :)

[ELVA164]

^ Awesome touring! That must be a blast to own.

[Herr Faust Schinken]

i think BMWs was focusing more on Dtm at that point and when four wheel drive gained prominence they probably just decided to focus there efforts on touring car

[canadiankid]

Because all the tires have to be the same size, driveshaft splines frequently greased, make sure no water gets on said splines, shim said splines or extend driveshaft, tcase and differential fluid levels frequently checked, VC jack tested, cv joint boots replaced, always towed on a flatbed, etc. I miss anything?

Of course that is from someone who wishes he bought a i/is/e instead of an ix for his first e30. For a "bombproof" awd drivetrain you gotta do alot of preventative maintenance.

I would guess the real reason is a 2.0 litre displacement limit. Wonder what an s14 would be like in an ix.

Seriously anyone want to buy an ix? I seriously want to cube it and leave it in the corner of the garage as a reminder.

[ELVA164]

Because all the tires have to be the same size, driveshaft splines frequently greased, make sure no water gets on said splines, shim said splines or extend driveshaft, tcase and differential fluid levels frequently checked, VC jack tested, cv joint boots replaced, always towed on a flatbed, etc. I miss anything?

That definitely is stuff to watch; I wonder if the Quattros were much more bulletproof. I know that especially early on in their career, the Audis were extremely unreliable and suffered from both build quality issues and unexpected sources of weakness. Maybe that was why BMW decided not to go down that path with the iX.

I would guess the real reason is a 2.0 litre displacement limit. Wonder what an s14 would be like in an ix.

I bet that's the big reason. I don't think the s14 had the torque you would want for that type of driving, although it would be really interesting...

[nando]

There are actually several rally ix's. A team of them do the alcan5000, im sure there are more.

[JasonBates]

[gtdragon980]

This guy is pretty nice with it!

[nando]

great video! haha. it's like they're on a sunday drive. the ix is actually pretty easy to drive like that, especially if you're a practiced rally driver.. :)

[dannyyisntt]

And i enjoy mine, but theres no way its seeing offroads :)

You know you want to ;)

[nando]

Yeah, no. so many ix's get trashed by kids turning them into RWD drifters, rusted to oblivion, or parted out, you'd be mad to take a nice ix offroad.

[AndrewBird]

They built at least one all wheel drive M3 for this kind of stuff:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=170100&highlight=AWD+M3

[325ix]

That video was posted like three posts above yours.