Thread: 300$ 318is View Single Post Old 04-08-2008, 04:07 PM  
#42 1st Gear Newbie Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Minneapolis,
MN Posts: 2 [quote=Eurostyle;1135256] i dont understand why they
had to use it on the road version, OTHER then the limited #
needed for homologation! Is that clear...QUOTE]  Because the
original M3 wasn't conceived as the tarted up 3 series for men
with big wallets and short boners that the later ones were.
Early M cars were essentially road cars with racing engines. All
were very low production. The M3 was built as a homogolation
special and that's all.  The E30 M3 has basically an M10 block
with a head design adapted from the 6cyl in the M5/M6 (and
before that M1).  ...and they didn't have a better 6 at the
time. The 2.5l six had 168hp vs the s14's 210hp in euro tune.
The 3.5l six had only 10hp more but was heavy and unbalanced the
car. The M5/M6 motor had more hp but was a shoehorn fit and
again too heavy. The M50 motor was 5 years away and the S50/S52
nearly a decade. (And the M50