Re: New A4-based S4

["Linus D. Toy" <linust@interramp.com>]

At 11:53 AM 8/7/96 +0012, Dave Eaton wrote:
>the fact remains that they could not get the engines to work in the usa
because 
>of the fuel.  reference car magazine a few months back; article on the delays 
>bmw was experiencing in the spartenburg (sp?) factory.  article was by georg
>kacher (who is one of the best car correspondents).

the engine they could not get to work was the Aluminum block I6 sold as the
328/528 elsewhere in the world.  this was introduced for the '96 model year.
due to high-sulfur content in the US fuels eroding aluminum cylinder walls,
the block remained cast iron.  the M-engine WAS sold in this country in the
M5/M6 back in the late 80s and '91 or '92.  that engine has an iron block.
decision not to sell it in the US was probably based on cost...

>de-contenting the cars is another issue.  i struggle to see how bmw can justify
>the usa m3 when the 328i is much cheaper and not much slower.  this was touted
>as the main reason for the evolution of the euro-m3 in the first place.

for a small 2 door car that looks just like a 318iS (mid-$20k), why pay
$50k?  i doubt many would sell.  kinda like ur-quattros in the 80s and other
hot Audis  (oblig list reference) available RoW.  but at $36k, they sold,
and fast.  without this, the US wouldn't have seen any kind of hot 3-series
car (as from '92 through '94).  by "not much slower" do you mean terminal
velocity (top speed)?  if so, then that is true for the US spec cars. unlike
europe  (except for Montana--second list ref: a local Porsche/Audi salesman
w/ a '91 200q recently told me about his recent cruise there at 130mph) we
have little ability to use top speed.  what we can/do use here:  torque &
acceleration (cubic inches, oops...centimeters).  

linus.
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* linus toy           email:  linust@interramp.com                   *
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