Awesome? It shows us nothing interesting about the car...

The car maybe me awesome.. but this video is .... is.. what was it talking about?...
Bmw should learn with porsche and ferrari how to make promotional videos.....

Why does this site mainly talk about BMW and Mercs?
Can anyone here actually afford one of these?

The reason BMW, Merc, and other lux brands get so many posts on this site, is because they have the most news. I read the Torque Report everyday, and have learned that like most real news, it does not happen often that there is news in the car world. BMW, Mercedes, Honda, Toyota and Co. are the most active developers, so hence they get the most posts. Now GM and the ilk are catching up in terms of new developments, but not so much.

Also, to how many people post about these cars: yes. Some of us can afford them. For other people these are dream cars. For others its just nice to see what new technology is coming out now that will one day make it into lower end products.

All I can say is: I want one. ME ME ME!

All I can say is: I want one. Sort of.

A video that can be found on Youtube when searching for "350z" shows the Japanese variant of the M3 (last gen), a Porsche Boxter, a Skyline GT-R 33 and a Honda S2000 on a roadcourse. The leave the starting positions by power to weight ratios, putting the Porsche first (lowest PTW), and Skyline last (highest PTW).

Of course the Skyline (stock) easily won the race, but the real battle was the 350z versus the S2000. The M3? It at least beat the Porsche, but with so much weight the M3 proved to suck on a road course compared to the cheaper, lighter 350z and S2000.

I am a road-race fan, so my question for BMW would be, have you improved the handling and power-to-weight ratio? Have you reduced the weight? If its still around last gens, I fear for the ability of this car at competition. No matter how good your tires or how good your breaks, to much weight makes a car loose in corners (thanks to the evil blood-sucking whore, Inertia).

Two posts? Since when? I was just joking around for some friends looking over my shoulder on that first post: ignore it.

Did not know it actually went through....

I agree with Lindsay... I got an eyeful of trees and F1 footage but I didn't see enough of the car.

The reason why every serious car website talks a lot about Bmw, Mercedes and porsche is... they are the future of "regular" cars...

One simple example, what was the first street car to use ABS, airbags, traction control (among others gadgets)... i think no one would bet on ford ou GM right?! It was a Mercedes class S...

Do wanna see what your car will have in 10 years.. look to a mercedes class S... Wanna know how your sports sedan should drive.. look to BMW M5... Wonder how a small car should handle, drive a porsche 911...

It has been like that for a while.. and.. this cars are still "buyable" if you make some money.. what isnt true for Pagani Zondas, koenigseggs, Ferraris Enzo.. thats why we dont talk that much about this cars..

Typical anti-American euro-peon bias.

Bash American gas guzzling V8s all day long, then when BMW comes out with a gas guzzling V8 its a miracle and the next best thing since sliced bread.

*rolls eyes*

Chris,

You would be right IF it wasnt for a small diference in tecnology on those V8...

With very few exceptions, american v8 dont even get 2/3 of the BHP of a germany of the same size...

A hemi 5.7 produces 345 bhp... I know a lot of germany engines with less than 5 liter and more than 400 bhp.. (turbos excluded)
Do you know any american?!

I agree with Rafael, European V8s not only get more power out of smaller blocks, but, and this is something Raf did not mention:

They use less gas. Less displacement=less gas in the engine at time of combustion. Just try it one day, pull up the fuel economy numbers on Euro V8s and you will find that with the exception of your ultra high-end cars, like Rolls Royce, Bently, Maybach, S-Class and co, the Euro V8 gets better mileage.

All because they build engines the right way, like Japan does, with DOHC instead of pushrods.

4.6L DOHC?
Like the one in my '03 Cobra making 700 RWHP.
I also get 25 mpg if I keep my foot out of it and cruise down the freeway at 65mph in 6th gear turning 1000 RPM since I don't have to rev to 10,000 just to make any power.

And who cares of its OHV or DOHC or if its large or small displacement? A gas guzzling V8 is a gas guzzling V8.

If an American auto maker came out with another V8 getting 16 mpg everyone would be crying about it. But BMW comes out with a small displacement DOHC V8 that only gets 16 mpg and its awesome? I don't get it.

*rolls eyes*

By the way:

BMW 3.2L 6 cyl 333 HP 16/23mpg
Z06 7.0L 8 cyl 505 HP 16/26mpg

Top of the line high performance Z06 large displacement American V8 getting more power (obviously) but also better mileage than a somewhat entry level BMW M3 I6. If I bring the BMW V8s into the picture it only gets uglier... for BMW.

Time to stop living in the 70's guys.

Thanks Allen,

Smaller block also = lighter car, better handling, better mpg.

In fact, most of the germany companys use V6 for small cars, because they can get so much power out of them that they dont need a V8...

Ok?

The 'dinosaur' LS1 V8 is smaller and lighter than just about every 6 cyl OHC engine, even though it has more displacement and greater power output and mod potential.

Next brainwashed anti-American comment please.

Chris, you're making the same mistake all American enthusiasts make when talking about mpg - you're forgetting that GM (I don't know about Ford) uses variable displacement. If you put variable displacement on a Ferrari or BMW V8 it would get a huge jump to its mpg.

Oh yea, the new M3 can do 23 mpg combined (it's in a BMW press release).

Yeah but can you put variable displacement on a BMW V8 and get 500+ ft-lbs of torque at 3000 RPM when its deactivated? Nope.

And why don't they have variable displacement? Surely if they have mastered such ultra advanced technology 1000 years ahead of everyone else such as DOHC, they should have had variable displacement long before GM. Let me guess, next reply will be "because they don't need it" well GM engines also don't need to rev to 10,000RPM or have DOHC because they "don't need it" either.

I'm not trying to compare or bash different companies, I'm only standing against the hype and unfounded anti-American bias. Being anti-anything-American these days is like a fashion statement.

Dislike for American cars just because they aren't your taste is one thing, and everyone is entitled to their own tastes. But I got tired of coming here and watching the hypocrisy when someone bashes a American made V8 and calls it a 'another American gas guzzler' for getting 400 HP and 17 mpg, then turns around 30 seconds later in the next article and praises a 4000+ lb BMW or Mercedes with a 16 mpg V8 with 300 HP as the ultimate thing since the first automobile. For such superior engineering (btw the concept of overhead cam predates that of push rods) they seem to lose year after year to a car made with push rods and leaf springs. *snicker*

It's nothing more than snobby elitist hypocrisy, and it makes it painfully obvious who knows about cars and who doesn't.

That said, I am not biased. If I was insanely wealthy, I'd have a Z8 parked next to my Cobra, R34 GT-R, and about 1000 other cars from across the world.

"Let me guess, next reply will be "because they don't need it" "

Yes, but not for the reason you're thinking. GM is constantly fighting to not get raped by CAFE standards, where German car companies aren't. BMW has many new (and easier to develop) ways for improving mpg. Once they exhaust all of those, I wouldn't be surprised if they went to variable displacement engines.

Bottom line is that if GM had their sedans getting decent mpg, they wouldn't have ever started using variable displacement engines.