O/T New V10 BMW M1

The M1 was never a roadster as far as I know.

Only one other letter and number need to be mentioned - Z8.

Overweight, overpriced and too Peter Stringfellow. But could have been something really special.

Probably worth, mentioning one other name. Bangle. Will he still have stylistic influence. If so, they'll need to get full on drive-by-wire sorted as Stevie Wonders are likely to be the biggest buyers.

All that said, if I needed 4 doors/5 seats, the M5 would be a distinct possibility (pimped windows of course). So if they can sort weight and design of their new sporstcar out, who knows...

 

PS Ferrari have little need to be afraid (despite my wishing they would avoid complacency).

As Honda proved with the NSX, it doesn't really matter that the product is objectively better. Subjective matters are essential in this league.

Can't see the BMW suited accountants getting all exciting somehow.

 

At the end of the day, BMW make very good mass produced cars. £90k is a lot of money for a BMW- that is Aston V8, Porsche Turbo territory.

On what basis should Ferrari be afraid? A Mitsubarishi FQ400 could all but annihilate most Ferraris in a straight fight performance wise, but not competitors for sales.

M1 will be good I don't doubt, but I reckon the new V8 M3 will do most that you could ever need of a BMW, and for about half the price.

 

But then the NSX offered no dynamic or performance improvement over the contemporary FCar equivalent.

Anyone who has driven a CSL or the new M5 V10 will vouch for the fact these are probably the most charismatic engines in the world. They also have quite oustanding handling. What of course is missing is a decent wrapper.

BMW can't hope to ever have the heritage of an FCar but if they can design a beautiful body to give a desirability X factor to the mechanicals, then i would be a buyer. 1200KG and 500bhp is Enzo or Carrera GT performance for a fraction of the cost.

I'm very much of the opinion that a "supercar" is much more than just about performance, but it doesn't mean it isn't an essential ingredient.

 

Eh? The NSX kicked the 348's butt dynamically......

What I did find interesting to read in Autocar is how quickly the 6 series is depreciating - had a look on AutoTrader lastnight and sure enough 645's for £39k. I wouldn't buy one, they are however going to be a serious bargain in 2 - 3 years time.

 

The original NSX released in 1990/91 had 270bhp and 0-60 of 5.9

The updated model in 1997 went to 3.2L and had 290bhp 0-60 5.5

Not a lot of butt-kicking going on there

I almost bought an NSX in 1998 but had my heart broken by the test drive, as it just didn't live up to what i had dreamed of. To my mind the contemporary of the NSX was the 355.

 

Without wanting to aggravate the 348 owners the NSX was dynamically superior to the 348 in most respects - one was developed by Ayrton Senna, one was not! The 348 was vastly improved with the introduction of the GTB / GTS in 1994. The 1990 / 91 348's were not so good....

Besides, Marenello ponies are always on the optimistic side

 

That i can agree with

But my pooint was that the NSX offered "very little" over the 348 and was eclipsed by the 355.

However a V10 BMW 2 seater with nigh on 500 bhp/ton is going to p1ss all over everything but an Enzo. They just have to make sure that Bangle gets no where near the design! Perhaps BMW will bring in Pinanfarina to rustle up a few of it's lines...........i mean look at the Peugeot coupe

 

What Eric said.

Also, the NSX 'nearly' did just what you stated, with Ferrari nearly bankrupt in 94. The entire point of the 355 was to save Ferrari, which it did.

BTW the 3.2L is 5 seconds to 60, and that is for the targa (heavier). The coupes were nearly dead even with 355's.