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685-HP BMW 1 Series Coupe Hides Supercharged V8 Engine, Struggles to Go Straight

A lot of people consider the BMW 1 Series M Coupé (the one they couldn't call "M1", so they went for this mouthful) to be the last true M model to come from Bavaria, but those people are called "nostalgics."
685 BMW 1 Series with V8 swap and supercharger 9 photos
Photo: YouTube screenshot
685 BMW 1 Series with V8 swap and supercharger685 BMW 1 Series with V8 swap and supercharger685 BMW 1 Series with V8 swap and supercharger685 BMW 1 Series with V8 swap and supercharger685 BMW 1 Series with V8 swap and supercharger685 BMW 1 Series with V8 swap and supercharger685 BMW 1 Series with V8 swap and supercharger685 BMW 1 Series with V8 swap and supercharger
The truth is that, like everything else around them, M models had to evolve and adapt, and that meant that naturally aspirated engines with manual transmissions and rear-wheel-drive-only just couldn't cut it anymore. While not packing a free-breathing engine, the 1 Series M Coupé was a swan song, one last great model to mark the end of an era.

As great as that model was, it did lack one thing: a V8 engine. It couldn't really have gotten one because it would have trespassed into M3 territory, so it had to settle for a straight-six instead. However, with 335 horsepower (thanks to turbocharging), there weren't too many complaints about it, especially since that output meant the baby M model only trailed the bigger M3 and its V8 by 80-odd hp.

Well, we say "bigger," and the 1 Series M Coupé was indeed more compact, but just as Specky (S93cky), the owner of this modded 1 Series reveals, if you strip away its body you're essentially left with the underpinnings of an E92 M3. The only thing missing? The 4.0-liter naturally aspirated V8.

Well, Specky decided to take care of that, and since the 420 hp the unit made in stock form didn't sound appealing enough, he also added a supercharger. He wasn't happy with his initial choice, so he dropped the G-Power for a Harrop unit in the end, an option that promised to get up to 640 hp out of the E92 powerplant.

Somehow, Specky's built BMW 1 Series managed to bump that up to a whopping 685 hp, which, if the way the stock 1 Series M Coupé with its 335 hp handled is anything to go by, is at least 350 hp more than those rear wheels can handle. And while that may not be the best recipe for performance, it sure is for having fun. Check out the clip below for confirmation.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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