BMW to replace carbon fibre driveshafts of its M3 and M4 with steel
Looks like, BMW has decided to replace the low weight carbon fibre driveshafts in its current BMW M3 and M4 performance cars and replace them with more mundane steel makes. BMW has informed that the change will be applied on all M3 and M4 models produced from November 2017.
The reason why BMW is replacing the carbon fibre ones with that of steel is to comply better with emission regulations. Technically, the carbon fibre drive shaft is larger in diameter, and therefore occupies more space under the car. The replacement ‘M-specific high-performance steel shaft’, as the company claims – is a space saver. The space saved will be used to seat a particulate filter to the exhaust system at some point in the future to stay compliant with the tightening emission norms.
While the replacement of the light-weight carbon fibre driveshafts with heavier steel shafts will increase the overall weight of the car and might compromise the performance which the BMW M cars are known for, BMW is of the opinion that the resultant addition in weight will not be much to affect the cars’ overall performance. As per BMW, the superlative performance and handling qualities of the two cars won’t be affected by this change. Whether the company will make any other tweaks to better go with the new drive shaft is not clear yet.
BMW further added that “for production-related reasons, this pre-enabling (of the new driveshaft for future emissions equipment) needs to be carried out universally.”
All other technical specifications seems to be unchanged. Both the BMW M3 and M4 are powered by the same 3.0 litre, 6 cylinder, twin turbo petrol engine which can boast of producing 425 HP of power and a massive 550 Nm of torque. THe engine is mated to a 7-speed dual clutch gearbox which transmits power to the rear wheels.
BMW India imports both the BMW M3 and M4 via the CBU route and hence we assume it wont take long for the updated cars to reach here. Currently, BMW M3 and M4 retail at INR 1.21 crore and INR 1.23 crore respectively, both ex-showroom.
[Source: AutoBlog]
