The 1M to be Powered by a Modified N54

No surprises there really. The N54 is already a great engine, so why rule it out purely because of dogma that says an M engine should be bespoke. The 135i was never considered slow, and in fact, was considered by many as a match for the M3 in such a small car – so this should be more than fine. Perhaps M will do some extra work around reducing turbo lag and increase throttle response?

Also, does anyone else get the feeling that M is currently in very capable hands? The BMW community should breath a sign of relief – the M team clearly “get it”

I really love the new direction, I must admit I do still love bespoke engines but for this product I really look forward to seeing the mix of power and performance.

Any chance you got a video of the car idling out of the trailer Gabe. If so would love to see it, if not can you tell us if they have addressed the mild sound we have been seeing out of the cars so far? Don’t get me wrong its not horrible but is lacking sounding quite right the last time I heard it.

Very good Drill.

For me personally there are three things that makes a ///M car.

1. Handling/performance – something that I hope the 1M will set a new standard for the ///M

2. Complete package – all items on the car handled to make it a fully tuned package.

3. Power – I expect the car to offer a level of acceleration, braking, turning that separates it from the not ///M cars.

What makes me a little concerned (still have hopes this will not be the case) is if the car is delivered with a engine that is very similar to cars such as the 135is that it will not really separate itself well from its non-M brethren. Last thing I would want is to feel compelled to take a brand new ///M car to a tuner as soon as I buy it to have them add the separation that was not provided.

Still have tons of hope to see the 1M’s final stats.

Some “assumptions” based on what Scott26/27 said:

“There was a Prototype with M-DCT built for evaluation alongside the manuals , unfortunately because this is a (for M) a very cost effective project the costs threatened to spiral out of control in terms for the inclusion of an M DCT. There is also the time factor running against. Had we done this earlier then we would have had the time to accomodate.”

Here is the link where some of things BF said originated at:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=424637&page=15

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=424637&page=25

“Valvetronic was the main cause of the time delay but BMW have spent some time on this and are using the N55 as a basis for the next M3.”

The M1 is a reserved name for an iconic car BMW mad in 1978-81. New car is 1M, like X6M, Z4M, X5M

An interesting point was mentioned above. Is it clear that this is a 1M or will it be labelled as a 135is? or could it be called the 135tt, which was a concept a few years ago. Regardless, this will be a solid ride. Not sure if they will make it faster accelerating than the legendary M3 from the factory.

As long as it pulls strongly to a redline of over 7K rpm without falling off a powerband cliff, I’ll be satisfied.

For me, outright power is not so important, it’s overall feel of the steering, handling, shifting, braking., & engine…similar to what Gabe and Dr. Segler were discussing in their interview.

Speaking of brakes, Gabe do you have any more details about caliper, rotor, and cooling spec? From the photos the front rotors look to fill the wheels fairly well, which combined with adequate cooling is a good sign for my intended road & track use of the 1M.

Brake ducts are one of my biggest hopes though

Don’t you think you are already looking at the brake ducts in the exposed corner of the car?

The exposed duct that is seen by the reveal looks to be a oil cooler. Saw some other images on 1addicts that you could see up there. I say I hope because they did manage to leave brake ducts off the M3.

Check the narrow more vertical opening on the edge of the front clip next to the larger duct. That could likley function as a brake duct.

Hoping that is the case. Would be good to see a port of this nature (coming from somebody who has had to pull birds from brake ducts before).

If they do end up offering DCT not going to hurt me. I know other people need all sorts of other driving crutches .

Still betting that BF is right on the manual only since adding DCT would add a chunk to the development costs.

I also think people will be a bit surprised when they realize that cost is important and that some proposed features were not carried over to the final product due to cost restraints- How much more is a CF trunk lid?

Michael – please tell me you’re not hinting at a steel roof instead of a carbon roof like the M3. I could live without a carbon trunk/duckbill, but would be really bummed if they dropped the roof.

any idea on pricing ?