How can anyone turn down a V8, especially one fitted with four cams that howls like a demon from hell and delivers a ground-shattering knockout punch? Meet the BMW M3.
The BMW M3 had always been a balanced, well-behaved machine, but it wasn’t exactly a fire-breathing monster– until the E92-chassis …
No real issues except rod bearings....
Not just rod bearings, throttle actuators and rear subframe cracking.
Yes, please expand a little more on the rear suspension tear-out syndrome.... specific to the whole E92 build period or just a limited series of chassis ?
And what a V8 it was, as its 4.0 liters of displacement produced 414 horsepower in U.S. trim. In other words, it surpassed the coveted 100-horsepower-per-liter benchmark, all without the help of forced induction.
No big deal - the S54 engine had done that years earlier with a 3.2 l engine putting out 343 bhp, a slightly higher specific output. The E46 M3 had used that straight 6 back in 2000 - 2006.
The rather neat S65 V8 shared the proclivity of the S52 of needing periodic rod shell renewal if you were going to use it to red line all the time (7900 rpm vs. the M3 at 500 rpm higher).
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