BMW has outdone itself again with their new M3. Whenever you see an M badge, you think Speed and Handling. This new M3 takes those two to another level. BMW felt they had reached a brick wall from an engineering standpoint with their inline-six engines, and felt they needed to step up to a bigger engine in order to keep the cars development moving forward. This one boasts a 4 liter V8 with 414 horsepower and 295 ft-lbs of torque. This is not your average V8 though, it has been praised as one of the most advanced road car engines ever made. With the computer making 200,000,000 computations every second, it is the most complicated road car engine in the world. With a 8500 rpm redline, this beast has plenty of race inspired parts under its skin. This combined with a chassis weight of around 3700 lbs give it a 4.6 second 0-60mph time.
A very user friendly computer system was employed in the car that allows the driver to change the cars setting in a few seconds. In M dynamic mode, the computer allows the perfect amount of power to launch you from a stop in the fastest possible way. In addition, the throttle movements are adjustable.
From the original M3 with a sporty 4 cylinder, to generations after it with inline 6 cylinder engines, BMW has always seemed to make things a little bigger. A good example is the size of their cars, not just the engines. The new 3 series is comparable in size to the older 5 series. I am sure BMW is smart enough to realize the increase in weight and size will only hinder performance, and maybe that is the basis for all the increased power. Not only do they have to build safer cars that appeal to the masses, they also have to keep their slogan of the Ultimate Driving Machine alive and well. The E92 platform seems to be at the tip top of technology available today, and we can only imagine what BMW plans on doing to improve it for future generations.
