[Jason]

Of all the things that have hampered performance over the last two decades, vehicle weight is at the top of the list. Automakers have responded by putting more power under the hood to make up for the extra pounds, and BMW is as guilty as the rest – particularly with its M cars. The first (E30) M3 came packing a 2.3-liter four-pot and was able to put out an astonishing (at the time) 212 197 hp. When the E36 came along a few years later, the cylinder count increased by two and stayed that way through the E46 generation until today, where the new E92 M3 is motivated by a 4.0-liter V8 outputting more than double of the original, but also weighing considerably more.

So what's the next step? BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer is at least aware of this fact and mentioned to Auto Motor und Sport that he'd like to see the next batch of M cars lose a few cylinders, while simultaneously dropping the pounds. He points to the twin-turbocharged inline-six in the 135i, 335i and 535i as a good indication of what the future might hold, particularly in the case of the M-badged variants that would make more use of forced induction rather than upgraded displacement and higher cylinder counts (not that they could get much higher). We can only dream, but with emissions standards increasing across the globe, it's the next logical evolution of the performance breed.

Auto Motor Und Sport via Autoblog

[dmboone25]

Not surprising, right? In the current climate with re: to gas prices and whatnot, we are probably going to see this kind of effect on all car makers. Sad, but it is the reality......

[pbdm4k]

I can see turbocharged diesels becoming the norm.

A la Audi R8 V10 TDI

[DM1]

+1 ^

[Carfreak9922]

not surprised but very sad.... and yes i agree the turbo-charged diesels will become the norm

[JEllis]

Not surprising..... Looks like the E92 will be the first and last big engined M3....Its the 80's all over again

[BMW F22]

I knew it- I called this a while back. It's only a matter of time before M cars get forced induction engines.

[FotiosF90M5]

well....atleast they will always be very fast.

[Year's_End]

I mentioned proof of this when I quoted an interview of Gerhard Richter, ex-VP of M GmbH.

Listen guys, this is good. On one hand, weight should go down. That's good. That's really good. Two, while we might lose out on the ultra-responsive NA goodness that has been the M engines of past, we'll simultaneously recieve a highly tunable FI engine as a result.

I'm not too disturbed by this news. As much as I prefer NA engines, this is really okay for me.

[Dammmittt]

As long as the car is faster...who cares...

[nusevad]

Better get your NA V8s while you still can!

Originally Posted by JEllis

Not surprising..... Looks like the E92 will be the first and last big engined M3....Its the 80's all over again

And perhaps become a classic? Lol i am wishing, too bad they are making so many...otherwise it be a nice rare lil car.

[xquisit]

Woah..

[E82tt6]

Originally Posted by Railgunner

If BMW comes out with an iron block 6 cyl dual turbo'd M3 putting out 500hp I'll buy it and keep it forever

QFT

[epbrown]

Originally Posted by Dammmittt

As long as the car is faster...who cares...

I do. I bought the Z4M to get the last great n/a BMW inline-6.

[Year's_End]

You have an amazing car.^

I've developed a newfound respect for the M Coupe. It's got such a raw feel to it. The engine just sounds amazing once you go past 3k too.

[Davin]

I find it interesting

[justice]

I'm a fan of forced induction and the 335i is awesome, the down side to it is everytime you add something under the hood makes it that more expensive to fix if something goes wrong. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[cycler]

yep the NA v8 will go out like the dino's did in the past. It might evern be a collectors model.

[x5love]

Can you guys be more specific towards your complaints against turbos? Just out of curiosity, I'm not as well versed in engine technology as a bunch of you on the thread, and am wondering exactly why turbos are bad?

Only BimmerLoyalist mentioned a downside: responsiveness. But isn't BMW proving that this can be worked around? The 35 engine has essentially no lag, right?

[Seltho]

I thought that the new V8 engine was lighter than the old one??

[dmboone25]

Originally Posted by Bimmer Loyalist

You have an amazing car.^

I've developed a newfound respect for the M Coupe. It's got such a raw feel to it. The engine just sounds amazing once you go past 3k too.

+1 When my dad started looking, I was like "What's the big deal?" Then we started driving them, and it was like HOLY SHIT!!! The M Coupe is such a beast.....

[PresaMat]

The ///M engineers are pretty smart fellows. Anyone here ever driven a turboed e46 m3? VERY NICE (as Borat says). Change the internal designs a bit to hold up better to boost and you can still have nice high revving turboed cars. The major difference would be... you would actually have some low end torque!

What car is currently blowing up the charts with great reviews and better lap times? hmmm a V6 TT (GTR) - I bet if the M team wanted to they could blow that engine out of the water.