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The Perfect Sleeper: BMW 150i Shows Off Its 5-liter V10 M5 Engine

We’ve seen our fair share of cars using swapped engines before and, as exotic as it is, the BMW S85 plant has been used on a variety of body types already. The legendary 5-liter V10 engine that used F1 technology has been used on anything from a 1 Series Coupe to a 3 Series and today we’re looking at yet another one of these monsters.
BMW 150i 1 photo
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
This time around, we’re dealing with an almost perfect sleeper. Hidden in plain sight, at a first glance this hatchback BMW E87 1 Series looks like any other 118d or 120i model. If one were to ignore the writing on the side sills, it would be rather easy to mistake it for one, but then again, you’ll be hearing it approach and depart as it overtakes you on the highway and the sound the V10 engine under the hood makes would be unmistakable.

Yes, this is a hatch with a 5-liter V10 on board along with an SMG gearbox as well, to make sure you don’t miss a gear. While some rushed to criticize the automatic transmission first introduced in the E46 M3 and later carried over on the E60 M5, it was still a pretty fast choice compared to the manual alternative.

And yes, it’s still making 507 HP and 520 Nm (384 lb-ft) of torque both those figures being more than plenty for the small hatchback to tear some serious asphalt. Fortunately, the video below provides some great scenes with exactly that, showing the Bimmer going up against some rather remarkable adversaries.

Amongst them, we were able to spot a heavily tuned BMW 1M Coupe, an M4, more than one C63 AMG, and an Audi RS3. Unfortunately, due to the position of the cameraman we couldn’t tell exactly how many of these races the 150i won, but it doesn’t really matter, we’re sold anyway.

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