Why is the Euro spec version of the 95 BMW M3 seriously more powerful than...

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curious

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...the US version? In addition, how on earth can a Naturally aspirated 3.0L, 6 cylinder engine from back in 1995 put down 317 hp? World renowned 6 cylinder engines such as Nissan's 3.5L VQ only put down 280...and that was in 2003, almost 8 years later.

I'm guessing that BMW is cheating here....it's not really engine technology that's making the HP but something to do with increasing exhaust flow -- which means it can't meet emissions standards in the US. Or wasting a lot of fuel. Or Something!!
 
because M power engines are High revving engines... e46 m3 goes up to 8250 rpms in the redline... it also produces 333hp, naturally aspired.
the older one ..e36 in europe it puts down 282 hp... and US version is 240 if i remember correctly... from what i heard... You should also know that in europe M cars are very rare because of the high gas consuption and price... i heard a statistic that like 50% of M cars are just for the US market, don't know if its true.. in the 90's bmw didn't want to put so much HP in cars for the us because of the strict insurance laws in the US. When the e39 m5 came into the US with 400HP, actually its 394 for US version because of the cats... it was a big deal, but not many insurance companies wanted to insure it. its a machine capable of reaching 190 mph delimited. what police car can follow you at that speed??? it was also the fastest sedan ever made in the world in 2000. but as more and more carmakers put more HP... it became normal and the HP race just increases every year....
your right ... US spec e36 is slower than Euro version... its about 1 sec slower or so... at 0-60... still its a fast car. I personally like the old 1991 bmw m5 it had a 3.6L produced 320 HP... then in 1994 they upped it to 3.8 L, produced 340 hp... but u know High revving engines, tropically don't last so long... especially if you drive it like there is no tomorrow...
Germany and all EU countries have strict polution laws... every car is categorized by Euro 1,2,3,4,5, and now its 6... in many countries in europe you can't even register an older Euro 2-3 car which most 1990's bmws are euro 3... or u could but gotta pay thousands. California has the most strict laws in the US and its a huge market so they gotta make it Cali acceptable
and you can't compare BMW M Power to Nissan its completely different... BMW M is a different company in the BMW division...
 
Brilliant German engineering. Certainly the Euro M3s were not miserly with fuel so you're correct there.
 
Brilliant German engineering. Certainly the Euro M3s were not miserly with fuel so you're correct there.
 
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