Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Bread
As someone who owns a US E36 M3, I find your posting of this opinion a little baffling. Given that the US car didn't have an M Motor or M brakes, and was certainly built to keep cost down. M hasn't been anything special since the last handbuilt E34 M5's.
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I totally agree and it slipped my mind for the moment that the E36 M3 (and Z3M) saw the use of a less than M worth engine. This was somewhat a cost cutting measure at the time but was more due to the inability of the Euro version of the S50 and S52 to pass emissions testing in the US.
Regardless, the US S50 and S52 were still significantly upgraded over the respective N-series engines they were based on. As far as brakes, well to be honest M has never had much in terms of stock brakes. That's not so big of a deal really as aftermarket brake swaps are quite easy compared to aftermarket engine swaps.