Quote:
Originally Posted by manuelf
OK - I can't speak about the US customers... but at least here in germany enthusiasts not only buy numbers.
In case BMW would decide for 135/235 with N55 and an M2 with S20 (N20 derivate) you could expect at least an S20 with 2.2 - 2.3l displacement with 160hp/l -> translating to 360-370 hp and of course all the other M goodies: More lightweight, different/wider track, LSD, Carbon roof...
Never would I and many others prefere a boring N55 135i over such an M2!
And regarding tuning potential: BMW does not have to care about it! How many percent of N55 owners will decide to tune? Less than 1 percent. So it simply doesn't matter. Moreover N55 is not that tuning friendly as N54 as we all know. Pushing it beyond 360hp (stable/reliably) needs more than just ECU update, but real hardware... a fool who is preferring this over a perfect package like an M2.
In case BMW decides to go for I6 in he M2 and M3/4, I expect huge differences in hardware. Think about bi-turbo setup in an M2 vs. tri-turbo setup in M3/M4. Additionally M3/M4 could have share the same block but have highend pistons and stuff that allow 700rpm more ...
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Well, in US market for most people, number of cylinders is somewhat equal to status/position. Because for 99.9% production cars, more cylinder engine option costs more money; at the same time they know for the current most expensive production car in the world, it also has the most number of cylinders among all production car in the market.
Therefore at this moment it is extremely hard to persuade consumers in the US that for the same car model, fewer cylinder version can be better and more expensive than more cylinder version. Most people just do not believe this. It's like forcing them to change their religion, nearly impossible.