New M3 and M4 introduced

[Jeroen]

Any thoughts, likes, concerns?

[Mobster]

Its sad that you cant buy an M3 coupe anymore after all, that is what made the M cars so famous. All odd numbers have even doors now and even numbers have odd doors. Not sure i agree with it but hey ho.

[nas80]

i preferred the shape before it. Seems to be a new bmw every week these days.

[Eddie.]

Coupe looks far weaker than the saloon in my opinion. The saloons have always looked better though, I really hope they do a touring version, to compete with the now outgoing C63 AMG Wagon.

The styling of both is great too, and it looks very promising for the upcoming M2 and 2 Series Racing, both of which will be seriously impressive if the 1M is anything to go by.

The naming of the range I can understand, but it really does complicate things, we now have an X1, 1 Series, 2 Series, X3, 3 Series, i3, 4 Series, X5, 5 Series, 6 Series, 6 Series Grand Coupe, X6, 7 Series, Z4 coupe, Z4 convertible. With a few of those crossing over onto eachother (6 Series GC and the 5 Series, for example).

With regards to the naming, I preferred the time when the numbers on the bootlid were simple: Model number and engine size.

[polov8]

Have to agree on the naming, I know the number on the back hasn't always tallied exactly with engine size, but it did used to be alot more simple. I can't see why we need a 2 and 4 series all of a sudden, least of all when the 3 series started out solely as a coupe!

As for the M3/4 technically I'm sure it's an awesome car, but it's no looker. Aggressive, but nowhere near as handsome as previous generations. The pedestrian friendly bonnet is particularly horrid. I think the only great looking car BMW make at the moment is the 6 series grand coupe.

[croma_man]

they are running under 1500kg which is nowadays a great achievement.

Dunno if I'm getting older, but the 4 door saloon looks better, very thin C pillar makes the car look really great.

I love the turbocharged engines, but the M3 power was always N/A and high revs which made the car specific to floor.

Now with the wast ammount of torque, and numerous ways to tune the engine,...dunno if the turbocharged version will be quicker on a bendy road than the old N/A.

[nas80]

The pedestrian friendly bonnet is particularly horrid. .

That's what it is, I couldn't put my finger on it - but your right its the bonnet spoils the whole front end.

[nas80]

Now with the wast ammount of torque, and numerous ways to tune the engine,...dunno if the turbocharged version will be quicker on a bendy road than the old N/A.

I personally am so happy about these turbo straight sixers. I would love to put one of them in something older like the e30 or e34. you could just turn that boost up to 11 and that thing will

[nas80]

just looked at the price - 56k - because of the styling id seriously consider a 2011/12 Nissan GTR with 7k on the clock and save 10k and have far more sophisticated car.

[croma_man]

I personally am so happy about these turbo straight sixers. I would love to put one of them in something older like the e30 or e34. you could just turn that boost up to 11 and that thing will

my mate who was putting together the stroker for me, is making for 2014 something very evil, after 9 S50 projects in E30, he is making a big turbo N57 and hopefully a N54 also in a e30...

madness !

[Jeroen]

These turbocharged engines make the cars so much faster providing excess of torque at any given rev count, but as a friend of mine wrote after moving from the E60 M5 (with the naturally aspirated V10) to the F10 turbocharged V8: the ///M thrill we have become so familiar with is gone, no more revving, it is like you moved to a 535d. It has become faster and easier to go fast for idiots, but far less of a thrill. That's the same for new generation of M3 and M4 cars I guess, but still I'm looking forward to test drive them and compose a verdict first hand.

Without test driving the new ones yet, my current feeling is that these cars are no fast and diehard motorsport products. They are fast saloons for a much broader audience. We can only hope for a more back to basics edition like the previous CSL or GTS models.

As for weight: the sedan is 1500 kilos, the coupe 1600. If you don't add too many options. That still feels like a lot a weight, more than the average previous 5 series. The current 911 Carrera S weighs 'only' 1370 kos. I hope to test drive one of these new M cars soon and I hope they don't feel like pushing a 5 series through the turns! But with the current success with ///M cars, especially in the US, they will more and more become fast saloons, not sportscars for demanding drivers. Different audience.

[nas80]

I personally am so happy about these turbo straight sixers. I would love to put one of them in something older like the e30 or e34. you could just turn that boost up to 11 and that thing will

my mate who was putting together the stroker for me, is making for 2014 something very evil, after 9 S50 projects in E30, he is making a big turbo N57 and hopefully a N54 also in a e30...

madness !

you can make 400hp on low boost stock everything from an m52. so I think 5-600hp would be easy on one of these modern engines.