KjellA

Looks like things are heating up good down in Bavaria these days! Take a look at the link below.

M7 now has green light, and what a competitor to the S8! We are talking beefed-up 760i engine, target is no less than 536 Hp!

New 6-series looks mighty serious too, 5.0 V10 and 500 HP at 8000 rpm!

This really fires up speculations on the next S8 powerplant, what could they do? I find it increasingly less likely that it will have the 4,2 biturbo. It simply won't match either the new 6 or the top 7 series beemers.

Which leads us to the baby-lambo V10 engine. This car is supposed to compete with entry-level 911 and Jag XK8 when it comes to price. Sounds strange, but that is what Autoweek claims. Well, if that is true, I doubt it will have 500 Hp, more like 400+. Why give away the horses?

Audi could of course beef up the V10 and place it in the S8, it should be able to put out some 500 horses. But the M7 mill will still have a litre larger displacement, two more cylinders and a bunch more horses throughout the rev range. With Audi now focusing more on the sporty image, this is starting to sound strange. I would rather say the new S6 got the V10, to spank the M5. So what could the S8 get, besides a V12? Beats me, but I tend to say "nothing". What about the 6.0 W12, could they make that one into a sporty engine?

BTW. Spoke with an insider the other day that actually has seen the new A8, in a very hidden room far back at the factory. The more sporty image is said to be very well taken care of, so I think we can look forward to a pleasant surprise in the near future. According to this (not very objective) source, it looks a heck of a lot better than the 7-series anyway!
:-)<ul><li><a href="http://www.bmw2002.co.uk/news.htm">Future Beemers</a></li></ul>

silverA8L

Allegedly, all M cars are suppose to have a manual tranny instead of an automatic tranny, which is why BMW didn't label the X5 4.6iS as a M X5 (according to Car and Driver magazine and several sources), so, unless M division develop a manual tranny for the 7-series (which is not available with a manual to begin with) will probably never exist (except those who decided to add the M badge to a stock 7)

chris8l

Maybe they can get away with paddle shifters -- the "must be a manual" doesn't necessarially mean straight cut gears and no synchros. In spirit it means control over where and when the transmission is changed, and no excessive losses due to a torque converter. Heel and toe and matching revs -- a good computer does a lot of that very well. They might stick with the M badge being a technicality of parts, though, even if it is much more.

EuroA8

That sounds very intruiging! What did he tell you about it (if I may be so free as to ask you)? Does it look like any of the "spy pics" we've seen so far? Will it be released in September? And, ofcourse it will look better then the Beemer 7

KjellA

It was a brief view only, at the factory. I didn't have any spy shots available when I talked to the guy, so I wasn't able to ask much about similarities. There has been so many "spy shots".

The description was that it looks very good, more sporty lines than current model and competitors. Not a coupe, but in that direction designwise. Much better looking than the Beemer 7, but then agian, this source is hardly very objective, works in the VAG system. :-)

What was interessting is that they are supposed to release more information quite soon, end of this month was mentioned. Official release is after summer, but the car is ready. The only reason it wasn't released in Geneva was that VAG wanted to release the VW Phaeton there.

KjellA

The thought didn't cross my mind, but you might very well be right, the whole story could be the result of somebody's creative mind.
:-)

GusS

One other reason why they can't call it M X5 is because Mazda owns the MX5 monicker (Miata)

garyna

Most, not all M cars are manual. The E36 M3 convertible was available with an auto.

EuroA8

... and I must say I'm very much looking forward to the new information at the end of the month. I was sort of getting used to thinking that it would be several months before anything official was going to come out. Now I'm very pleased to hear we'll learn about it shortly! Thanks again.

silverA8L

"With demand so strong for its just released 7 Series, and reeling from dealer and customer criticism of its ineffective supply policies, BMW plans to implement a new "lottery-type" allocation system. It will donate the first batch of 50 M7's...to the idiots at supercars.net who think I'm serious. C'mon, only fooling, guys."

Regarding the avilability of the auto tranny, it seems that they are were available in North America (specifically US, and remember the NA bound E36 M3s are detuned!), I guess the SMG doesn't really count as a true automatic tranny...