Official M3 M4 specifications

[butters]

Nando commented in the FWD BMW thread that there hasn't been a thread on the M3/M4 yet. I only saw discussion on the concept. Well here it is, discuss!

Bimmerpost Release Thread

• 3.0L inline 6 cylinder engine (S55) with two mono-scroll turbochargers
• 3,027 cc (compare to 2,979 cc of N55)89.6mm bore / 80mm stroke over-square (compare to 84mm bore / 89.6mm stroke under-square of N55)
• Derived from N55 engine
• Direct Injection
• VALVETRONIC
• Double-VANOS
• closed-decked crankcase (4.4 lbs / 2kg lighter)
• twin-wire arc-spray coating (instead of liners) in cylinder bores reduce engine weight
• 20 lbs lighter than V8 S65 engine (from E90/E92 M3)
• 430 HP (approximately) from around 5000-7300 RPM
• "far beyond" 369+ LB-FT (500 Nm) from under 2000 RPM to over 5000 RPM
• Slightly above 7500 RPM redline
  
• Turbos pre-tensioned in Sport and Sport+ modes (keep spinning at a high rate of speed even after throttle lift-off, for ultra quick response)

I'm honestly very, very impressed by the weight, the use of CFRP (driveshaft?!), many of the technical details (e.g. no subframe bushings - bolted directly to the chassis), the redline, and so on. Quite a badass car. I'd go for the M3 myself, I think the 4-door looks a little more husky vs. the "elegance" of the coupe. Plus, f that "M4" nonsense.

7500+ rpm, but barely.

Active sound good & bad news. That is a little disappointing but I don't see it as the end of the world.

[einhander]

Cool.

[nando]

it's a technological showcase. it makes the current M3 not only a fat pig, but completely obsolete. what competition is there now? everyone else with similar cars weighs 500lbs more. glad to see a reverse of the trend of +150lbs for every generation.

however, it's very complicated - more stuff to go wrong, etc. great to drive the hell out of while under warranty though. :D

one really interesting thing I saw was the CO2 emissions - the newest M3 is back down to almost where the E30 M3 was 25 years ago. huh? you mean cars from the 80's had lower C02 emissions than cars designed in the "green" era?

the thing about it is what are you going to mod? the car comes stock with all the go-fast parts you could want. I could see a tune for more boost/power, but then what?

[Northern]

I could really only see suspension bits, your typical carbon stick on aero bits, a tune, and some random bolt ons for the typical m car tuning crowd

I like the torque of the new motor, but somewhat disappointed with the small difference in weight. I know the FI setup is probably where all the weight comes back, but the 6 is also going to be longer/ further from the centre of the car, and it can't sound anything close to the s65


I also agree with op's m4 comment. Bmw needs to stop going all gm with having multiple models in the same niche.

[Sea Aych]

I also agree with op's m4 comment. Bmw needs to stop going all gm with having multiple models in the same niche.

Agreed. I like the torque though!

[MasukBMW]

Nando when can we expect the flash for E30 swap? haha

Technological for sure. Very impressive

[butters]

I was also impressed at the CO2 emissions - of the e30!

Yes it is exceedingly complex. It likely won't age gracefully, I can't imagine this car with 150k miles on it in 10 years.

the thing about it is what are you going to mod? the car comes stock with all the go-fast parts you could want. I could see a tune for more boost/power, but then what?

The thing about M cars, to me, is that they are supposed to be out-of-the-box perfect (or nearly so). Modifying cars is fun, but can be tiresome and problematic. I have started to look at M cars as the ultimate goal in that they need not be messed with, because M Gmbh have already done the highly-engineered tweaking, and this is in itself a luxury.

[10Toes]

Lame that's not an M Engine.

[nando]

Lame that's not an M Engine.

how so?

[InuFaye]

meh.

[butters]

Lame that's not an M Engine.

True that it is derived from a standard BMW engine, but remember the S54 was "a version" of the M50/M54.

The reason for the S85 and S65 being born at M was simply that BMW had not built a V10, so they started from scratch.

Shoot, even the S14 was derived from the old M10. I would not expect M to reinvent the 3.0L straight-6 when BMW has mastered this engine over the past 45 years (I had to look that up - M30 production began in 1968 ).

Unless you're saying this because it's turbocharged... in which case I partly agree, and throttle response might be the only redemption for the E9x. We'll see about this electronically spooled "pre-tensioning" contraption.

[nando]

that's just BMW marketing for anti-lag.

[Wh33lhop]

True that it is derived from a standard BMW engine, but remember the S54 was a version of the M50/M54.

I'd love to hear how similar they are, lol

I really think people should reserve judgment until they drive one. Factory anti-lag is pretty cool and hasn't been done before to my knowledge; wonder how they are doing it and expecting the turbos to last.

[89AlpineM3]

This motor is nothing like the N54/N55 true they started with that but if you go to bimmerpost and look at the full breakdown of the motor it is a completely new unit with ALOT of tech in it. Yes I hate the M4 name and that would be my first mod before it left the lot delete that and put on an M3 badge lol

[butters]

I had not even considered that they would use anti-lag, I assumed it was somehow mechanically driven. Should be interesting.