BMW M3 as a daily vs i4 M50

Should be eM3 bruv
Not another variant of M3 its bad enough tesla owners calling it that (I refuse to despite being one). I'd have thought some of the stuff won't transfer over easily, not sure you need a diff in an electric car as I'd have thought it would do that on its own, or at least be a fully electric diff. I'm sure I read that they work in something like 10ms, so much quicker than a mechanical one.
 
Yeah hate seeing model 3 being called an M3. For most electric cars you still need a diff. The wheels on an axle are typically driven off one motor into a transmission still. It’s very much still a mechanical system just the motor runs on electrons rather than liquid fuel.

e-diffs are just marketing on most road cars. The top end hydraulic controlled stuff isn’t going to be on electric cars. Motor per wheel is when you get the real benefit
 
Not sure it’s like a M140. It’s more powerful than any M3/M4 at the moment

So is an X5 M50i (Or a BMW M550i), but we know that isn't an M car because the X5M (And an M5) exists....

The 'M50' badge is a strange choice if it really is a full M car - given all other cars badged M50 are not.
 
You guys could argue over what time of the day it is.... its clearly a different narrative decribed by BMW.

https://www.bmw.co.uk/en/all-models/m-models/i4-m50/2021/bmw-i4-m50-highlights.html

For the first time, the BMW i4 M50 combines the innovative power of BMW M with that of BMW i. As a result, the BMW i4 M50 with its fully electric drive fed by two BMW M eDrive motors develops a tremendous 544hp in Sport Boost mode and offers the typical BMW M dynamics in a hitherto unprecedented form. At the same time, it offers an exceptional range of up to 318* miles (WLTP). As the first purely electric Gran Coupé from BMW M, this exceptional vehicle creates a class of its very own.


Not another variant of M3 its bad enough tesla owners calling it that (I refuse to despite being one). I'd have thought some of the stuff won't transfer over easily, not sure you need a diff in an electric car as I'd have thought it would do that on its own, or at least be a fully electric diff. I'm sure I read that they work in something like 10ms, so much quicker than a mechanical one.

The motor compared to an engine, tractive effort split across the axle for torque vectoring... no difference at all.

The Audi e-Tron S is pretty cool in that regard - motor per rear wheel.
 
The BMW i4 M50 is an M Performance model, not a full fat M car.
Same as the iX M50 and M60

Agreed but it is listed under the M model section on their website along with the iX M60, so subjectiveness aside as to whether in the consumers eyes it constitutes an M car in the traditional sense, BMW believe so.

M140 / M440 etc aren't there as you'd expect.
 
Agreed but it is listed under the M model section on their website along with the iX M60, so subjectiveness aside as to whether in the consumers eyes it constitutes an M car in the traditional sense, BMW believe so.

M140 / M440 etc aren't there as you'd expect.
The M240i X-drive is listed in that M section. Yet there is a new M2 due soon.
Seems to be that it’s just the top models at the current time.

51989092131_26365f043f_c.jpg
 
Last edited:
I'd go with the i4M50 personally out of the two, if an EV is a realistic option. However, it's more of an M performance pack car than an ///M car. But M is also good ///Marketing. It's nothing new, there was even an M325i back in the 1980's when the first 'proper' M3 was available. M2's,3's and 4's are all very trackable - who'd realistically track an i4M50, or any current EV for that matter? Weight kills brakes and tyres for a start, you just wouldn't want to do it :D, and the i4 M50 is like 2400kg.

If unsure about EV's, technology advanced making older models obsolete, whether the range will work for you given the questionable charging infrastructure still then go with the M3.

While only 8% of Uk oil used to come from Russia, personally it's another reason I'd rule out any ICE car now, to reduce our need for it in future
 
Last edited:
please stop pretending
there you go a video on torque vectoring differentials which seems pretty much what is on 440i (look at their engineering vids) and would benefit the M50, make it a true M, brake based strategy, on most ev's is less efficient/effective.

hmmh ... and what does bleeding edge Formula E do ?

Formula E mandates that power is fed from the motor to the wheels through a single differential, perhaps not the best way to operate electric motor final drive, but this has capped complex technology. This restricts torque vectoring, where power can be directed to each wheel, not simply to replicate a differential but to actively power/steer the car through the rear wheels
but Fe manufacturers seem to have issues
Although Bird would not give precise details of Jaguar’s issues, it is believed that several Formula E teams have at least in part seen a relative drop-off in one-lap pace due to how the mechanical differential is working with its powertrain control systems...
...
Active differentials are not allowed in Formula E, but the mechanical differentials are an intrinsic part of setting up the Gen2 cars.
 
Without another video, explain how that is different to a limited slip differential? You commas have made your first sentence incomprehensible. Are you saying true M, brake based strategy?

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.” Einstein
 
Without another video, explain how that is different to a limited slip differential?
earlier linked video below that shows bmw presentation of (ICE) M active lsd, not brake based,
which, more advanced than apparently allowed ForumalE lsd, you can control the torque split electrically, via clutches, (https://www.matfoundrygroup.com/blog/types-of-differential-and-how-they-work too)

ok - so that's not the uk -I had been reading an australian thread - which has some intereseting technical information on g20 M-sport suspension/drive I'd not seen before.
taster

 
I don’t even know what point you are trying to make. What’s with the constant posting of YouTube videos?

formula E has rules yes. Otherwise they would have individual wheel motors. We are a little off topic here now though
 
I don’t even know what point you are trying to make. What’s with the constant posting of YouTube videos?
point is that johnny seems to think mehanical lsd/active diffs would not be of benefit(and necessary) to a true bev M car,
when we find they are being used on formula E, and, even, the M lsd diff itself is pretty advanced, from video
 
Back
Top Bottom