2014 BMW M3/M4, will it be tri turbo or not? Answer is sort of

Those wheels... the orange splitter... the Halfordsesq rear wing... tacky!

:yuck::yuck::yuck:
 
I don't think the wing itself is too bad, function over form and all that, but the struts look awful... a bit of form wouldn't have gone amiss.

The wheels, actually I quite like the design... but I could live without the colour choices used on them, and the whole car in fact.

Proof of the pudding will be in the numbers and the handling. I'd hope they've managed to knock at least 25kg off the weight, taking into account the additional weight of the water injection system.
 
I agree about the wing. In this day and age, they could have spent a little more money at least putting a DTM wing out back.
 
This had a purposeful look yet still was relatively subtle, whatever happened to doing stuff like that?
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Those wheels look cool though. Only works with a white car, imo. It'd be extra cool if the interior was that same saddle/bronze color. That wing looks like trash though. They couldn't make something that didn't look like a bolt-on?
 
Those wheels look cool though. Only works with a white car, imo. It'd be extra cool if the interior was that same saddle/bronze color. That wing looks like trash though. They couldn't make something that didn't look like a bolt-on?

Exactly my point, the CSL is an actual function piece built with the car but this seems like something I could do with my buddies. This is just tacky beyond all.
 
Exactly my point, the CSL is an actual function piece built with the car but this seems like something I could do with my buddies. This is just tacky beyond all.

That's the problem with it these days; it's relatively easy to make a car like the M4 faster, that they don't need to make a specialist product like the E46 CSL where it took a lot of effort for less than 30bhp with trick weight saving/tyres.
 
VXR
That's the problem with it these days; it's relatively easy to make a car like the M4 faster, that they don't need to make a specialist product like the E46 CSL where it took a lot of effort for less than 30bhp with trick weight saving/tyres.

I was talking more of the 3.0 CSL E9, the E46 didn't even cross my mind. Although, if you're going to put as much money as they probably did to see what aero package works for the front splitter and retail rear wing, and let's not forget those expensive looking wheels...why not actually make an effort. Especially when you're selling it as a trumped up version that will probably be as expensive as the E46 CSL and E90 GTS were for the time period they were first brought out.
 
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VXR
That's the problem with it these days; it's relatively easy to make a car like the M4 faster, that they don't need to make a specialist product like the E46 CSL where it took a lot of effort for less than 30bhp with trick weight saving/tyres.
CSL mostly went for weight saving and took out around 125kg from the Base M3, they then upgraded the camshaft from memory to increase the redline and therefore increase peak HP.
 
CSL mostly went for weight saving and took out around 125kg from the Base M3, they then upgraded the camshaft from memory to increase the redline and therefore increase peak HP.

That because it's in the name. Coupe. Sport. Leicht.
 
I get that, but what I'm trying to say is that I don't think they been good at producing engine noises for a long time now.

Have you not hear the E92 M3? One of the best sounding naturally aspirated engines of all time. Not to mention the E46 and E36 M3s. And the E60 M5, E39 M5, even the latest m5/m6 sounds pretty good.

The M3/M4 just sounds awful. Full stop
 
Have you not hear the E92 M3? One of the best sounding naturally aspirated engines of all time. Not to mention the E46 and E36 M3s. And the E60 M5, E39 M5, even the latest m5/m6 sounds pretty good.

The M3/M4 just sounds awful. Full stop
I think you are over exaggerating of how bad they sound. They don't sound to be bad in my opinion especially for a turbocharged straight six.
 
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Have you not hear the E92 M3? One of the best sounding naturally aspirated engines of all time. Not to mention the E46 and E36 M3s. And the E60 M5, E39 M5, even the latest m5/m6 sounds pretty good.

The M3/M4 just sounds awful. Full stop

Why are you listing cars that are some time ago...

You've overly exaggerated my quote, the last Gen BMW had noise filtering through the cockpit as part of the computer set up to make the driver think the car was louder than it really was. And that was with the V8 E92. I've heard them stock and they really aren't earth shattering, but with a simple exhaust change they do have much more depth to them, the lastest gen BMW seem to suffer in noise. And the M4 is sad when you compare it to what has been heard from the new Alfa that is suppose to be its destroyer.
 
I think you are over exaggerating of how bad they sound. They don't sound to be bad in my opinion especially for a turbocharged straight six.

Have a listen to any other turbocharged inline 6 BMW and you will see what I mean (not to mention cars like the Nissan skyline and Toyota supra...).

I'm actually baffled (excuse the pun) as to why the M4 sounds the way it does, but I certainly doesn't sound nice. The 435i sounds much better
 
The M3 in the Rogue Nation movie sounded like a V8 to me lol. I was confused as i don't remember the F80 M3 sounded great as in the movie.

Anyways, the GTS look better if the rims are black imo.
 
Have a listen to any other turbocharged inline 6 BMW and you will see what I mean (not to mention cars like the Nissan skyline and Toyota supra...).

I'm actually baffled (excuse the pun) as to why the M4 sounds the way it does, but I certainly doesn't sound nice. The 435i sounds much better
The M4's S55 sounds similar to a stock RB26, albeit with each "triple" being slightly more separated from each other, and that's unsurprising when you look at the manifolds from each engine.

However, the overall tone of the exhaust is a bit strange, like it's a muted throwback to the CSL, and the E36 / E46 M3 at the same time. The twin-scroll, single-turbo N55 in the 435i has manifolds configured closer to the 2JZ, and sure enough it sounds that way, too. Hack the manifold-back exhaust off a 435i onto an M4 and it'd sound much like the 435i to the untrained ear.

Aftermarket exhaust manufacturers tend to be conservative and not stray too far from the physical set-up of the stock exhaust, simply opening up flow paths etc. However, this implicitly means the original overall tone to the sound is largely preserved, simply at a higher volume, or with more drone or rasp etc.
 
What I don't get is the X55 engine is a very Similar Block from the M135i to the M3/4 yet the sound is vastly different, I understand the N55 in the M135i is a Single Twinscroll and the is a S55s twin turbo but you wouldn't expect the sound to change that much, im thinking RB25DET in comparison to the RB26DETT and sound wise you can tell they are related yet different.

Yet with the N55 and S55 there is no sound similarity what so ever.

either way long story short the S55 should sound like a meaner N55 instead of sounding like a meaner N20.
 
What I don't get is the X55 engine is a very Similar Block from the M135i to the M3/4 yet the sound is vastly different, I understand the N55 in the M135i is a Single Twinscroll and the is a S55s twin turbo but you wouldn't expect the sound to change that much, im thinking RB25DET in comparison to the RB26DETT and sound wise you can tell they are related yet different.

Yet with the N55 and S55 there is no sound similarity what so ever.

either way long story short the S55 should sound like a meaner N55 instead of sounding like a meaner N20.
That's so bizarre, because the twin scroll layout groups the exhaust pulses in the same way the N20 does. So, as a result, this layout yields a dull buzz just the same, but the S55 could never sound like that without swapping the manifolds.

Anyway, it's pretty easy to get very different sounds from the exact same engine, never mind a similar variant, just by changing the exhaust, especially the manifolds. Only a very limited range of the total variety possible ever makes it into a production car, though, and the three main ones for a straight six (ignoring equal length, because that's so rare in a road car) are the RB25 / 2JZ / twin-scroll N55 style (E Type); the RB26 / S55 / twin-turbo N54 and N55 style (250F); then a kind of "log" style which hasn't really been used since the 1940s.

Based on what you say, it seems you are most put off by the difference in the "design target" for the eventual sound between the two engines: that's achieved with the precise frequency shaping produced by the branching, expansions, contractions, merging, parallel chambers etc. in the full exhaust tracts of each car. The same target would have a broadly similar effect for a quiet car almost independent of the manifold configuration, but a different target can and will sound markedly different, especially with the predictive tools available to engineers these days. Throw in the ability to change the manifolds / turbos, and you're miles away from where you started.

The end result is easily changeable, but aftermarket manufacturers prefer to play it safe and ensure "bolt-on" operation by putting all the major features in the same place, creating a largely similar "filter network" despite the extra sound volume.

It's even possible to get a kind of pseudo V8 sound by changing the manifolds, but the packaging is tricky for a straight 6.
 
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