Photo: Catalin Garmacea
Call us crazy but we actually like the M135i and M235i names to be honest. They remind us of the old models like the M635i or the M535i that used to roam the roads back in the 1980s and early 1990s. Heck, we might even find some today, still going after all these years.
However, that’s all about to change as BMW is looking to take things even further from a performance point of view. According to an insider, close to the board of management in Munich, the Germans are looking to replace the current M135i and M235i with more powerful models in 2017.
The two will also get new names, that would reflect their new outputs and, to be honest, we’re not all that excited about it. The M140i and M240i will have around 15 HP more than what they do today, using an upgraded version of the B58 engine that will ultimately replace the beloved N55 units.
That means we’ll be looking at M Performance cars good for around 340 HP which is an impressive figure and leaves little breathing room compared to the upcoming BMW F87 M2 that is supposed to have around 370 HP at its disposal. Furthermore, the M2 will be relying on an older engine, the swan song of the N55 engines if you will, codenamed N55B30T0.
Even so, as enticing as it all sounds, we would’ve still kept the names intact for the sake of history and DNA. We understand that the marketing people have to do their thing and tell you that the output of these cars is the equivalent of older 4-liter V8s but still, as some exceptions were made in the past, we can’t see why the M135i and M235i can’t be one too.
In the meantime, the decision seems to have been made and we can’t but wait for the new cars to come out and if they are as good as we expect them too, nobody will care about the names anymore.
The two will also get new names, that would reflect their new outputs and, to be honest, we’re not all that excited about it. The M140i and M240i will have around 15 HP more than what they do today, using an upgraded version of the B58 engine that will ultimately replace the beloved N55 units.
That means we’ll be looking at M Performance cars good for around 340 HP which is an impressive figure and leaves little breathing room compared to the upcoming BMW F87 M2 that is supposed to have around 370 HP at its disposal. Furthermore, the M2 will be relying on an older engine, the swan song of the N55 engines if you will, codenamed N55B30T0.
Even so, as enticing as it all sounds, we would’ve still kept the names intact for the sake of history and DNA. We understand that the marketing people have to do their thing and tell you that the output of these cars is the equivalent of older 4-liter V8s but still, as some exceptions were made in the past, we can’t see why the M135i and M235i can’t be one too.
In the meantime, the decision seems to have been made and we can’t but wait for the new cars to come out and if they are as good as we expect them too, nobody will care about the names anymore.
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