Quote:
Originally Posted by Equilibrandt
This has always been an intriguing take, to me. At what point would the car classify as a deserved upgrade to new badging?
Going from a B48 single-turbo i4 to a B50 single-turbo i6, going from 302/332 to 382/369 hp/tq, bigger oil cooler and bigger brake rotors with the ZTK M340i that isn't given by the ZMP M-Sport on the 330i, the 2T4 "M Sport Diff" that isn't offered on the 330i, and any other software changes that I'm almost certain are reserved the the M340i.
Sure the 704 M Sport Suspension or 2VF Adaptive are offered on both. But the whole idea that the M Sport package makes a 330i anything even remotely close to an M340i is asinine, imo.
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It isn't that intriguing if you look into the builds and spec sheets.
Take my 540: with the M kit it has the same suspension as the M550, with the exception of adaptive dampers (which are not the enthusiast choice anyways). It also has the same brake setup (Brembo, same diameter).
There are no differences between the cars other than the engine, and the V8 is nose heavy.
Prior to the M-Performance line, BMW was simply offering the Power and Sound kit to compete with the AMG lites of the world (see the previous 340i).
I have no issue with the badges, as previously stated. But the idea that a 330i is worlds apart from an M340 is silly. The only real difference is speed. Put them both on a twisty Alpine road over here and the 330 would be stuck to the 340's rear end.
If we really want to nitpick, we could even point out that US and UK cars get softer suspensions than their Euro counterparts. I guess that makes the Anglo world's BMWs much less sporting.
