IF iT WaS A rEAL ToYOTa, thE SuPRa wOULD'vE BeEn BeTTeR..

[Yli]

78,685 views May 31, 2020

They've made numerous changes to the suspension. 2021 got an improvement and 2023 did as well.

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[bk5]

2023 got a bunch of suspension revisions that improved the rear end stability dramatically (theirs was a 2020 IIRC). It still has a garbage alignment from the factory, but a look at the Lightning Lap times for the car over time shows how much things have improved.

I also feel like, at some point, Misha was overly critical just to complain. A lot of the issues with the TPMS and traction control, etc are BMW issues more broadly. They just wouldn't run an M3 without TPMS for this exact reason.

The place he was working with was designing an entire rear subframe for the car, but let him drive the car with such a basic, easily solvable problem. It makes me question their competence, tbh. I've met too many engineers in my career who take the redo everything approach to problem solving for the simple reason that it's more fun than taking the time to really understand a design an make tweaks to it.

Plus, they wanted a justification to sell their $10k rear end replacement suite. So they have a financial interest to complain.

 

[Funkjaw]

2023 got a bunch of suspension revisions that improved the rear end stability dramatically (theirs was a 2020 IIRC). It still has a garbage alignment from the factory, but a look at the Lightning Lap times for the car over time shows how much things have improved.

I also feel like, at some point, Misha was overly critical just to complain. A lot of the issues with the TPMS and traction control, etc are BMW issues more broadly. They just wouldn't run an M3 without TPMS for this exact reason.

The place he was working with was designing an entire rear subframe for the car, but let him drive the car with such a basic, easily solvable problem. It makes me question their competence, tbh. I've met too many engineers in my career who take the redo everything approach to problem solving for the simple reason that it's more fun than taking the time to really understand a design an make tweaks to it.

Plus, they wanted a justification to sell their $10k rear end replacement suite. So they have a financial interest to complain.

You make some good points, especially about slapping their entire rear end replacement suite in to fix a problem that most people say is solved with a few bushings and a couple of arms.

I can say confidently however that my 2023 MT behaves exactly how they described their 2020 before throwing 10k in parts at it - so the issues are definitely still there. Fortunately I will have these parts on da whey to help resolve things:

 

[nashcarr]

No car is perfect from the factory. Driver mod probably helps some as well.

 

[FuzzyRev]

No car is perfect from the factory. Driver mod probably helps some as well.

Somewhere in Florida, Mark is warming up his keyboard...

 

[lucky phil]

I'm always interested in extreme opinions on an issue or perceived problem especially when articulated by people that claim to have all the answers to solve them. For money of course.
Phil

 

[FuzzyRev]

I'm always interested in extreme opinions on an issue or perceived problem especially when articulated by people that claim to have all the answers to solve them. For money of course.
Phil

 

[lucky phil]

Ah, so that's where I've been going wrong

 

[razorlab]

Largely centered around rear end stability, wheel hop, rear bump steer, things of that nature. Not that this can't be corrected with aftermarket parts and a solid alignment - but yes it's wild the car is this unstable from factory. I also suspect the manuals have these issues worse than the autos but I don't know this for certain.

A lot of this can be solved with just a good alignment. Then Toe arms. Then struts/springs.

My 2020 is insanely stable on track how I have it currently setup. I can even do some really stupid crap in it and it won't bite. When it was stock, it tried to kill me every chance it had, but that was mainly down to the alignment.

Here is a great example of said stupid stuff at 3-4 secs into this video. I put my right rear wheel into a puddle (you can see the yellow lotus in front of me kick up water doing the same thing) in the curbing and other than a little correction, the car takes it no problem. This is also at around 550wtq.



For such a short wheel base car, if you set it up correctly you can make it VERY stable.

 

[Habu]

A lot of this can be solved with just a good alignment. Then Toe arms. Then struts/springs.

My 2020 is insanely stable on track how I have it currently setup. I can even do some really stupid crap in it and it won't bite. When it was stock, it tried to kill me every chance it had, but that was mainly down to the alignment.

Here is a great example of said stupid stuff at 3-4 secs into this video. I put my right rear wheel into a puddle (you can see the yellow lotus in front of me kick up water doing the same thing) in the curbing and other than a little correction, the car takes it no problem. This is also at around 550wtq.



For such a short wheel base car, if you set it up correctly you can make it VERY stable.

BMW was somewhat impudent in building this car in my opinion. From the clown horn to the crappy audio system (no Harmon Kardon) in a $60K+ car, thin paint (in my opinion), to the ridiculous alignment from the factory. The M340i has better options if spec’d out right. Although fully spec’d out would run you $70K+ easily. However, I have to say the build quality is very good on our cars. They prolly figured whoever buy these cars will have their own custom alignment and not care so much about audio.

 

[razorlab]

BMW was somewhat impudent in building this car in my opinion. From the clown horn to the crappy audio system (no Harmon Kardon) in a $60K+ car, thin paint (in my opinion), to the ridiculous alignment from the factory. The M340i has better options if spec’d out right. Although fully spec’d out would run you $70K+ easily. However, I have to say the build quality is very good on our cars. They prolly figured whoever buy these cars will have their own custom alignment and not care so much about audio.

It’s a f’in sports car, not a Lexus golf caddy. If someone is complaining about the sound system and horn, they 100% bought the wrong car.

 

[Habu]

Touché. But I also like jamming while hauling butt. I also feel like this is the only sports car with a horn like this haha. Actually the ONLY BMW with this horn prolly. Wait..s2k has a clown horn too.

 

[razorlab]

Touché. But I also like jamming while hauling butt.

I have the HK system in my G20 Msport 330i, same interior as M340i. I don’t really notice a difference between it and my Supra. If anything, the HK system sounds more processed.

 

[Habu]

I have the HK system in my G20 Msport 330i, same interior as M340i. I don’t really notice a difference between it and my Supra. If anything, the HK system sounds more processed.

Interesting

 

[Funkjaw]

A lot of this can be solved with just a good alignment. Then Toe arms. Then struts/springs.

My 2020 is insanely stable on track how I have it currently setup. I can even do some really stupid crap in it and it won't bite. When it was stock, it tried to kill me every chance it had, but that was mainly down to the alignment.

Here is a great example of said stupid stuff at 3-4 secs into this video. I put my right rear wheel into a puddle (you can see the yellow lotus in front of me kick up water doing the same thing) in the curbing and other than a little correction, the car takes it no problem. This is also at around 550wtq.



For such a short wheel base car, if you set it up correctly you can make it VERY stable.

Thanks for posting that, was fun to watch and makes me excited about the future mods I'll be doing to the car.

On this subject - for the first time since owning the car I took an aggressive drive with the traction control enabled. And honestly it does a fantastic job at masking the instability issues of the stock suspension/alignment. So kudos to BMW for a well designed stability control system I suppose.

BMW was somewhat impudent in building this car in my opinion. From the clown horn to the crappy audio system (no Harmon Kardon) in a $60K+ car, thin paint (in my opinion), to the ridiculous alignment from the factory. The M340i has better options if spec’d out right. Although fully spec’d out would run you $70K+ easily. However, I have to say the build quality is very good on our cars. They prolly figured whoever buy these cars will have their own custom alignment and not care so much about audio.

I 100% agree with you! I used the horn for the first time last night when a car randomly stopped in the middle of the road to make a left across a double yellow line and OMG it was the gayest horn I have ever heard. My wife made fun of it the entire drive home. Never thought in my life I would want to modify the horn on a car yet here we are.

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