One particular thing in Bavaria has stood the test of time for nearly half a century — BMW M cars are rear-wheel drive. But that’s about to change. The company has announced that it will adopt all-wheel drive technology in its M cars in favour of the leery rear-wheel driven hilarity currently offered.
Frank van Meel, head of BMW’s M division, spoke to Autocar (via Jalopnik) at the Detroit Motor Show and noted that the M5 and the M6 sedans may be the first cars to adopt the system.
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It may sound like blasphemy, but turning the M3 into a four-door sedan back in 2013 showed the world that the M series isn’t exempt from breaking tradition.
Adding four-wheel drive to these power mad cars also makes mechanical sense, as they will benefit from better road-holding, more predictable behaviour in the corners and better traction with all four tyres biting into the surface, instead of two.
A few downsides are also inherent, of course, like a greater curb weight and less back-end fun. We’re not sure how exciting an all-wheel drive M3 would be either. Would it take the fun away from its high-revving, tail-happy nature?
Audi has used its Quattro all-wheel system to great effect in the past in its RS versions, notably the RS4, a car that has grown extremely quickly in the past twenty years. Whether BMW will adopt an adjustable all-wheel drive system or use a permanent 40:60 system remains to be seen. It is likely, (at least according to van Meel’s comments) that the cars will remain rear-biased.
Additionally, we could be in for some electrically turbocharged examples, including the X3 M and X4 M.
Could we see an electric-turbo, hybrid-drive BMW M3 in the company’s future? There’s a question I’d like answered.
