The current (and outgoing) BMW M3 upset quite a few purists when it switched to turbocharging to boost power from a long line of naturally aspirated engines. It looks like the upcoming G80 M3 based on the new G20 3-series is looking to buck the tradition again by being the first ever M3 to offer AWD/4WD. That's right, it looks like the next M3 will send power to all four wheels according to a report by Auto Express. Of course, it won't be the first ever M-car to offer AWD. That honour goes to the current M5 which was the first M sedan/saloon car, so perhaps that should have been a sign of things to come. It makes a lot of sense, given the competition. Fast Audi have been AWD for several generations and recently, AMG announced that the future of AMG is four-wheel drive. Tough Competition Audi is nearly synonymous with AWD and with AMG now switching to AWD, a RWD M3 would (unfortunately) be quite handicapped in terms of traction and objective performance. Competition
BMW M2 equipped with an eLSD - BMW © A few weeks ago, I posted about traditional clutch-type limited slip diffs (LSD's) and how they work. You can read about those in the previous post: How Limited Slip Diffs Make You Faster on Track . But as you might know or have learned from reading the article, they aren't without their faults, which means engineers are always working to get around those limitations. You may not be surprised to learn that something like the Ferrari 488 GTB doesn't use a traditional limited slip diff, but it's not limited to super cars, far from it. Cars like the Golf GTI, the Civic Type R, various Mustangs, Corvettes, and BMW M cars, and even the Lexus RC F and GS F, all avoid a traditional limited slip diff in favour of one of these technologies. To keep things simple, I'll focus on two wheel drive vehicles. The vast (vast) majority of principles apply to all and 4 wheel drive vehicles, but there are some subtle differences that I'll