Quote:
Originally Posted by The Wind Breezes
Are you kidding? You can make any car arbitrarily well-performing with enough money but you already know this is a silly question.
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Here's my thinking. The 1 series M is a favorite car for many reviewers and BMW fans. It's basically 135i with suspension bolt ons and LSD from the E90 M3. All those suspension parts can be put on a 128i and many people here have done that or even better with aftermarket coilovers.
The twin turbo N54 in the 1M/135i is a monster but I personally prefer a normally aspirated engine like the S54 of the E46 M3. I figure an N52 can make about 280 crank HP with a 330i intake manifold, bolt ons and tune. That's a good deal less and the 333 HP S54 but that engine is about 200 lbs heavier than an N52. The E46 M3 overall is about 3400 lbs, so ballpark it has 10::1 weight to horsepower. A 128i with a lighter aftermarket exhaust system, coilovers and wheels should be around 3000 lbs so power to weight is a little less but close. With a shorter final drive could it be nearly as quick as the M3? And with the E82 being so much lighter and having a shorter wheelbase I wonder if it's the more fun car?