BMW Reportedly Pondering Four Different Engines for Next M3

There’s a new M5 coming real soon to a tire-smoking event near you, but let’s not forget about the fact that its little brother is also due for a makeover. The current generation, which was the most exiting car to be launched in 2008, used a new and technologically advanced 4-liter V8, but it’s still unknown what will motivate the next incarnation.

According to a report by M3post.com, BMW is considering four different engines as possible power plants for the next-generation M3 which is due in 2013, quoting a source close to the Bavarian brand's M-division.

The first choice would be to slap on the TwinPower bi-turbo technology onto the current engine (S65). This would provide a few extra horses but with a lot more torque over the current configuration while still improving fuel-economy.

Another, altogether different, rout would be to use either the N55 or N54 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine that BMW configures with either a single or twin-turbo layout. This would mean that the M3 would return to the straight-six power plant that once made it famous. It will take quite a lot of effort to pull out the 400 horsepower that most fans expect, but the unit would be cheaper to develop.

M3Post suggest two more ideas, which we don’t really like or agree with, so we’ll just give them a quick look!

One is jamming the 4.4-liter V8 that’s going into the coming M5 and M6, in an AMG-like move that would make the engine lineup a bit more uniform. Do we want a detuned unit in the M3? We think that most of our readers agree the answer is “NO!”

An ever stranger option would be a V6 block based on a chopped-up S63 V8. Sheer blasphemy!

While you ponder your choice, we would like to state our honest opinion: BMW should make a new turbocharged inline-six (displacing more than three liters) with more power than the current V8, but less weight.