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There is nothing like the sound and smoothness of an inline 6 cylinder, one reason BMW has stuck to the layout for years. The I6 will live on in magnesium cased, 3.0L form in standard production cars while the upcoming M coupe and roadster will use with the iron blocked 3.2L M variant for a few more years.

But the M3, which has utilized an I6 for the past ten years, will be moving to a V8 with the redesign (the new engine is essentially the V10 from the M5 with two cylinders lopped off).

Like their adoption of turbocharging, it’s a sign of market pressure that BMW’s going to a V8 - there was simply no other way to keep up with the power and torque figures of the V8s from Audi and MB (even if the lower weight and its superior distribution kept acceleration and lap times competitive).

And yet AutoWeek recently polled its readers, and out of 551 voters, 46% responded ‘the more horsepower the better’ and 27% said ‘they had to do it’.

Apparently it’s not MB and Audi that’s the root of the problem – it’s those who believe a horsepower number means as much as sound, smoothness, agility, or heritage.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 27th, 2006 at 2:57 pm and is filed under BMW.