A little more info on the BMW 1-Series

[WRXtranceformed]

Why would BMW make cars in lesser series that would keep up with their top of the line M series cars? I think the author was being a little optimistic as to how truly fast it's going to be. Potential to be fast? Yeah, but I bet they detune that engine for that model and leave it up to the aftermarket to make it a real power player.

Well with a chip and exhaust a guy I know who owns a dyno shop was saying the 335i puts out 360 whp and 400 ft-lbs of torque. That'd be more than enough for a 135 to take down an M3. Of course that's getting into that whole silly modified vs stock argument but still. Intriguing.

That's exactly my point. When you get the aftermarket involved, it would be understandable for a twin-turbocharged car to put down more power than its bigger brother. If you drop a couple grand into a WRX, you can make it faster than a stock STi. But, from the factory, it just does not make sense from a marketing standpoint to have your lowest series of car be able to outperform a car that is supposed to be the pinnacle of performance for your brand (during the same MY).

The Mazda example was a good one. It just shows how much of a joke the RX-8 turned out to be power / performance wise for a flagship car. If Mazda had stuck with a boosted platform like the RX-7, the tables would probably be turned on the Mazdaspeed. I bet the Mazdaspeeds are leaving the lots a lot faster than the RX-8 right now.