M3 V8 now confirmed with 414 HP, next up the Z4 M C+R

[Daveop]

BMW has the record of taking the M3 engine and dropping it into the M Coupe + Roadster and i'm thinking they will follow suit with the Z4 and give us a 414hp V8 Roadster. Thats pretty insane!! Does anyone think the residuals of the I-6 coupe are going to plummet after the changeover? Im thinking its worth making the tradeup to that brand new v8

[Dammmittt]

from everything i've seen, it looks like the V8 will go in a different Z model, not the Z4. Not sure what it'll do to the value of the Z4M models, but mine is still worth more now than what I payed for it!

[Goober M]

Originally Posted by DaveO

BMW has the record of taking the M3 engine and dropping it into the M Coupe + Roadster and i'm thinking they will follow suit with the Z4 and give us a 414hp V8 Roadster. Thats pretty insane!! Does anyone think the residuals of the I-6 coupe are going to plummet after the changeover? Im thinking its worth making the tradeup to that brand new v8

It would be nice, but it's not going to happen. There's been a lot of discussion on this here, at bimmer.org and at z4um.com. The consensus is no. Possibly for a new Z - i.e., the z9, but not the z4 M.

The circumstances are not like when BMW stepped up the old M Coupe from the old M3 I-6 to the new one. Inserting the new V8 into the Z4 would take some serious re-engineering and cost, and there's no way BMW is going to do that for such a low volume car.

[Daveop]

Originally Posted by Goober M

It would be nice, but it's not going to happen. There's been a lot of discussion on this here, at bimmer.org and at z4um.com. The consensus is no. Possibly for a new Z - i.e., the z9, but not the z4 M.

The circumstances are not like when BMW stepped up the old M Coupe from the old M3 I-6 to the new one. Inserting the new V8 into the Z4 would take some serious re-engineering and cost, and there's no way BMW is going to do that for such a low volume car.

What kind of technical work would really need to be done? the engine bay is sure enough large enough for such an engine, most modern BMW engine/transmission combos are literally designed to be plug-n-play into other bmw models.

I could see the Z4 which is E46 based have alot of problems with the rear-subframe and diff design however.. The 400hp and highoutput torque would be a significant problem for the e46 rear end, and the E46m3 had to be significantly upgraded from the standard car in the rear end department just to use the 3.2l I6.

But since there already is a 330hp Z4 M roadster out, I assumed the technical upgrades neccesary were alreardy in place.

Were there other thoughts on what would be the engineering barriers to putting the V8 in the Z4? I was thinking it could actually help bmw save money by increasing the production volume of the V8 engine and increase sales by having a monster 400hp v8 roadster on the market...

[CraigLS1]

The z3 m coupe is something of an underground drag monster and so why not up the stakes with the V-8!

[Dammmittt]

it's just a shame that the Z3 isn't as hot as the z4...if only z3 owners knew what was coming!