Popping the hood on the 2014 F80 M3 reveals a cramped engine bay sporting a 450+ horsepower turbocharged inline-6 cylinder

Even M3 falling victim to the electric assisted steering? That would be sad news.

Apparently N54 bottom end + upgraded/ported N55 head+valvetrain...makes perfect sense to me as the two were like a match made in heaven...they've gone back to Mitsu turbos again so N54+ power with N55 flow...i think its closed deck as well

On the list as my next ride definitely..

love that engine but looks overly complicated

What a cluster$#@! of an enginebay, can you imagine trying to install downpipes or an intake?

I wonder how the car will perform in our hot weather....

Here is a peak into the engine bay of the upcoming 2014 F80 M3. And yes, that engine bay definitely looks to be tight so working on it is not going to be a ton of fun. With the cramped bay and turbo (or multiple turbos) heat management will be an issue. That is why you see an aluminum water to air intercooler sitting on top of the motor. As far as power, with the new M5 sporting around 520-530 wheel horsepower stock, the new M3 should be within 100 wheel of that based on precedent.

The E39 M5 put out about 340 wheel horsepower stock. The E46 M3 did about 275 so the E46 M3 had about 80% the horsepower of the E39 M5. The E92 M3 puts out about 350 wheel stock compared to the roughly 420 wheel horsepower of the E60 M5 which means it had 83% of the E60 M5's horsepower. If this is to follow with the new model, which it likely will to maintain the hierarchy, we can expect the new M3 to put out in the ~430 wheel horsepower range on a dynojet.

Time will tell and as soon as more specs are revealed BimmerBoost will bring them to you.

Really interested to find out more about this engine. That chassis stiffening is pretty cool. IC and intake design looks really cool - and not totally clear to me what is going where...

Based on the videos of it floating around, the exhaust note sounds pretty crappy at the moment. Hopefully they can make it sound nice. Also BMW, please please please do not have fake exhaust sounds in the M3.

Am I the only person that notices that there is a airbox per turbo?
If you remove the fat intake pipe in the front and the braces the engine bay does not look so cramped. Hell with the N54 you could never fit such a fat pipe across the front of the motor. BMW has really pushed the engine back, its going to handle great.

I thought the tube across the front was the pressure side of the turbos

Originally Posted by George Smooth

Am I the only person that notices that there is a airbox per turbo?
If you remove the fat intake pipe in the front and the braces the engine bay does not look so cramped. Hell with the N54 you could never fit such a fat pipe across the front of the motor. BMW has really pushed the engine back, its going to handle great.

I noticed it too George, but I didn't think it was a big deal.

When I was doing surface area calculations for the air filter on my 330i, I realized really fast how under-sized most FI kits are. BMW appears to have got it right, using similar airbox sizing to the X5M etc....this car obviously has some serious breathing capability.

Originally Posted by black bnr32

I thought the tube across the front was the pressure side of the turbos

hotpipes are the ones going over the backside of the valve cover into the air/water intercooler and straight into the TB. Nice short piping.

Picture makes me love my e36 m3 turbo that much more.

Originally Posted by GG///M3

Picture makes me love my e36 m3 turbo that much more.

Why?

Looks like a n55 engine to me, however with 2 turbos. You can see the two air boxes, each turbo has one, and you can see the maf sensor on the passenger side box. Have fun with Shiv feeding bull$#@! to m3 guys.

Originally Posted by Laloosh

Have fun with Shiv feeding bull$#@! to m3 guys.

Originally Posted by Sticky

Why?

Looks a lot more simple under the hood then the new m3 is all. I'm sure its going to be a super fast car with the dct trans. Can't wait to see what the tuners do with it.

While the performance of new BMs speaks for itself, I fall more and more in love with the S54 daily.

In the world of BMW engines that is my favorite, with the S65 just behind it. It's def not the 'best' engine, but it is has both character and great performance. If you haven't heard a 450+ hp n/a S54 - you need to - $#@!ing amazing.

With that said, I cant wait to see the final specs on the new M3. It will have much more TQ than the S65 and more HP. If they get it to rev AND sound like a 2JZGTE I'm sure purists will get over it ;-)

Originally Posted by Mike@VAC

While the performance of new BMs speaks for itself, I fall more and more in love with the S54 daily.

In the world of BMW engines that is my favorite, with the S65 just behind it. It's def not the 'best' engine, but it is has both character and great performance. If you haven't heard a 450+ hp n/a S54 - you need to - $#@!ing amazing.

With that said, I cant wait to see the final specs on the new M3. It will have much more TQ than the S65 and more HP. If they get it to rev AND sound like a 2JZGTE I'm sure purists will get over it ;-)

Correct

Originally Posted by bigdnno98

I'm curious to see if it will have the "electric" turbo like the M power diesel's do in EU?

The tri-turbo Mx50D diesels in Europe do not have electric turbo.