Quote:
Originally Posted by jm1234
I've driven the car and I'm interested in it because I want a luxury sedan with world class performance. It could be lighter but that would sacrifice some of the characteristics I paid 70K for. If I tried to make it a little lighter with after market parts it would sacrifice a lot more of the characteristics I paid for with very little weight gain (150 lbs, seriously). After market fit and finish is never close to factory for obvious reasons. If I was looking for a lightweight car I wouldn't buy an M3 (it's too big!) I'd look for a Lotus or an Ariel or I'd buy a frame from Factory Five and build my own. You will wind up with a car that looks like an M3 but will have the fit and finish and interior quality of a Subaru WRX STI but weigh a couple hundred pounds more. This car is brand new, are you really going to trust the very limited opinions you get on fit, finish and quality of after market body parts? I hope you loose the weight and retain the quality. The car is heavy because of it's size (you aren't addressing that) and it's quality. Carbon fiber body panels are lightweight but after market ones will not fit as good.
|
You have a point about fit&finish, but it is overemphasized. If you are selective, you won't have trouble finding quality parts. You can definitely get aftermarket wheels that are on par, if not better, with stock wheels in quality. Check out the CF bootlid VS has out. Looks and fits great. I most likely will leave the seats alone, so the interior will be untouched. The seats are the only mod on that list that would change the characteristic of the car really.
Some stock parts weigh what they weigh because of cost considerations. BMW is trying to keep the MSRP low. For instance, the GrouppeM titanium exhaust system looks great, and I am sure it would work well as well. Couldn't BMW ship the car out with titanium exhaust? Of course, but would most people want to pay for it? No.
Obviously, the car is heavy because it is big. That is the main cause. Fine, but so what? The option is not to buy a Lotus because I don't want to be driving in a Lotus around on the streets. I want this car to weigh as much as a E46 M3, and there is no such car out there with an engine comparable to the E92 M3 engine. Dropping this engine into a E46 M3 would be great, but that ain't gonna happen. Not worth it. So, exploring the bolt on/off weight reduction approach makes sense to me personally, but it all depends on cost in the end, which is I posted this thread and asked the questions I asked...