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Tire Trailblazer
BREAKING AWAY
Despite starting out with a 4-cylinder engine, BMW's M3 has long been associated with inline-6 power. Now, the Barvarians have shaken up the status quo with the debut of a V8-engined M3.
By Dan Carney
Photography by Ian Kuah
It is always disconcerting to fans when the objects of their affection stray from the strengths upon which their celebrity is based. Remember Michael Jordan’s short-lived foray into baseball? How about Arnold Schwartzenegger’s foray into politics?”
So it was when BMW revealed that the new M3 would use V8 power. Heading to the global press introduction on Spain’s Costa del Sol, we were concerned about the erosion of the model’s individuality through the replacement of its signature, and deservedly beloved, 330-hp inline-6 powerplant with yet another—yawn—V8. Though the M3 hadn’t been wed to its inline-6 engine as long as the Porsche 911 has been to a flat-6—the original M3 had a 4-cylinder motor—after 13 years together, it seemed like the marriage would last.
But when you consider that the performance of the current 300-hp twin-turbocharged 335i coupe nearly matches that of the old M3, BMW clearly had to do something to seriously up the model’s performance ante—and it has. The new high-revving 4.0-liter V8 puts out an impressive 414 horsepower. Fortunately, M engineers have also created an engine that is full of character.
Just as the original E30 M3 powerplant was essentially an M5/M6 inline-6 with two cylinder lopped off, the new M3 engine is derived from the 5.0-liter V10 found in the current M5 and M6. It also continues the tradition of having 4 valves per cylinder, dual overhead cams and individual throttle bodies for each cylinder. To that BMW added the latest in variable-valve technology to ensure a broad powerband.
M engineers also worked hard to give the new M3 a distinctly racy aural signature. This was accomplished despite the use of a traditional street-type bent (90-degree) crankshaft rather than a competition-style flat crankshaft used by Ferrari in the F430. Firing order is part of the equation, but it is mostly the other racing-derived parts that contribute to the V8’s inspiring sound, reports Helmut Himmel, project manager for the engine.
Because the M3’s motor spins to a redline (8,400 rpm) that might seem better suited to one of the company’s motorcycles, it necessarily flows a virtual typhoon through its intake and exhaust systems. The exhaust in particular is designed to flow large volumes of gas while carefully shaping its sound into a pleasing waveform.
In addition to blaring out the open tips, exhaust noise also radiates through the plumbing along the way. The M3 features thin-wall 0.7-mm hydroformed stainless-steel exhaust headers that not only save weight compared to traditional exhaust manifolds, they also hum in accompaniment to the V8’s theme song.
The intake side joins in with an octet of short trumpets inside the voluminous intake plenum, contributing to the chorus of sound that in total evokes N9Frburgring rather than Nextel Cup. The black plastic plenum obstructs more of the view of the engine than either Himmel or enthusiastic customers would prefer, but it is necessary for moving so much air. In fact, the airbox is so large—it resembles an airline pet-carrier box—that a “power dome” in the M3’s hood was needed to clear it. The box takes in air from three different locations: behind the grille, beneath the bumper and through the driver’s side hood vent. The other vent is a dummy, in place for visual balance.
Incidentally, the gill slots on the front fenders are fakes, too, there to help distinguish this 3 Series as an M model. It’s a cue that has become strongly associated with the division’s cars in recent years, but unfortunately also with slammed Civics and other tuner cars whose owners aspire to owning a Bimmer some day. Why not make them functional? BMW says exhausting heat from the engine bay would only create streaks of grime along the sides of the car. Fair enough.
A low-inertia twin-disc clutch contributes to the V8’s quick-revving nature by reducing flywheel mass, but it has the unfortunate effect of rendering the clutch engagement abrupt, with little feel. This makes smooth launches somewhat challenging, which would be less of a disappointment if previous BMWs hadn’t set such high standards for buttery clutch engagement. The only available transmission is a 6-speed H-pattern manual; the clutch pedal-free SMG II setup is no longer offered.
The 6-speed shifter itself continues BMW’s evolution from its traditionally pleasant-but-long shifter oars toward today’s more popular shifter joysticks. The M3’s doesn’t reach the dimensions of the shortest shifters on the market, but it is comfortably compact, with quick throws and light effort. The gates are a little narrow, but that is the nature of the 6-speed.
Bulking Up
As the result of a view that premium brands must include heavy, costly features as standard equipment—in addition to iDrive, the M3 is fitted with seemingly every other automotive gadget and doodad known to man—along with the toll taken by required safety and emissions gear, the M3 has porked up to within shouting distance of two tons. Despite its carbon-fiber roof, aluminum hood, plastic front fenders and aluminum V8 that is 33 pounds lighter than the old iron-block inline-6, this car weighs in at a hefty 3,650 pounds—roughly 200 more than its predecessor. By comparison, the Mustang GT, which Europhiles deride as fat and clumsy, weighs 3,450 pounds. BMW needs to arrest and reverse this trend.
With its engine and steering settings in their default modes, the M3 feels its weight. Thusly configured, the new V8 responds to the whip with the vigor of a plow mule, while the steering feels light and overboosted and provides less information than a wily Al-Qaeda captive.
Thankfully, these shortcomings are all banished with the wave of a hand, like Harry Potter casting an enlightenment spell. In this case, all the driver needs to do is depress the steering wheel-mounted “M” button. The V8 engine becomes crisply responsive, as if the flywheel had just shed half its mass, shrieking to redline with just a brush of the gas pedal. The power-steering assist drops to the bare minimum, offering no assist at small steering angles so that course adjustments on the track yield the feel of non-assisted steering.
The M3 engineers thankfully said “no thanks” to the company’s Active Front Steer technology, so the car doesn’t decide on its own how much you really meant to turn the wheel. But the rack does have a variable ratio, so the steering is slower at small angles of input, as when ripping along an autobahn, or in the case of our Spanish test, autovia. However, when you need a lot of lock to squeeze into that snug urban street parking spot, the teeth on the steering rack are spread further apart, so such turns require fewer cranks of the wheel. Unfortunately, this also means that in tight turns the ratio can change between turn-in and the final wheel angle, but with the M mode selected, it isn’t a problem to keep the car on the intended path.
Handling
The M3 responds beautifully when hustled on a mountain road. Here, the car shows a level of balance and grip that belies its mass. The suspension feels tauter and more precise than the previous M3’s, allowing less body roll than its predecessor, yet there’s also a newfound willingness to absorb bumps without deflecting from the charted course. Combined, these attributes give the driver the confidence to plunge harder through corners. This BMW is a truly rewarding and fun car to drive fast.
Part of the M3’s handling prowess is the result of new spring and anti-roll bar rates, but much of it is attributable to the Delphi-sourced magnetic damper technology. Yes, these are the same type of shocks available on the Chevrolet Corvette, but don’t forget, they are also standard issue on Ferrari’s 599 GTB Fiorano.
With the exhaust note inciting more misbehavior than the little devil on Sylvester the cartoon cat’s shoulder, it is easy to press the M3 ever harder. The enthusiastic driver won’t regret succumbing to this temptation, especially on track; the car felt impressively capable around Spain’s Ascari club circuit.
Pressed hard, we discovered the M3 is set up with a bias toward understeer—the front and rear Michelin Pilot Sports have different compounds that promote this, for example—an understandable setting considering the vagaries of real-life driving. This produced some frustration on the tight, twisting road course, but with the M3’s newfound V8 muscle, relief is just a touch of the gas pedal away. And at least BMW, like a handful of other performance-car purveyors, has learned to tune its stability-control system so that, even when fully engaged, it intrudes minimally. That means it indulges a good bit of power or lift-throttle oversteer.
The M3’s front brakes are larger than before, with 14.2-inch rotors instead of 12.9, though they’re still clamped by single-piston calipers. While BMW was willing to let us use street tires on the track, the idea of using street brake pads on such a fast car—BMW claims a 4.8-second 0-60 mph—struck company officials as unwise. So the test cars were fitted with track pads, which will be available from dealers. With them in place, we detected no hints of fade.
Verdict
Instead of causing us to furrow our brows with worry about smacking a guardrail, the new M3 put a smile on our faces. There is a reason that jaded journalists were lined up for hours to get additional laps around the Ascari circuit. Forget any explanations of “needing” to see how the car handles, that only takes a couple of orbits. They wanted to because the M3 made them feel so comfortable exploring its performance limits.
On both track and road, however, there is one caveat: The M3 needs to be in its M mode to really shine. We can understand BMW’s desire to offer a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hide-From-the-Competition best-of-both-worlds solution with the adjustable settings, but one would think that M buyers are a self-selecting group who have already declared in favor of a balance skewed to the performance side of the equation. Same goes for the new M3’s weight- and cost-adding gadgets. Less is more in our book, so we can only hope that the inevitable stripped-down, lightweight CSL version comes to the States this time around.
Final U.S. pricing won’t be set until shortly before the M3 arrival in the U.S. next spring, but an expected base price in the low-$60,000 range will make it a relative bargain among fast prestige sport coupes, such as the Porsche 911 Carrera or Aston Martin V8 Vantage. With its powerful and soulful new V8, agile handling and pumped-up styling, the new M3 proves that sometimes reinventions can work.
From: SCI Magazine
