2019 BMW Z4 M40i leaked

doublespaces

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Oct 18, 2016
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The new Z4 doesn't get revealed officially until the 23rd, but it looks like Carscoops has gotten ahold of it:

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Romer

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Being an Offroad guy with a Land Cruiser I like locking rear differentials, just don't understand the value on a sports car with low clearance that will never go offroad. On pavement every time you turn you will hear chirping from the rear tires as one tire travels farther than the one on the interior of the turn
 

Jeffman

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Start button touchpad next to the AT shifter looks nice. Do we know yet whether a manual will be available?
 

NoQuarter

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Being an Offroad guy with a Land Cruiser I like locking rear differentials, just don't understand the value on a sports car with low clearance that will never go offroad. On pavement every time you turn you will hear chirping from the rear tires as one tire travels farther than the one on the interior of the turn

These are not 100% lockup like an off-road vehicle.
 

fmorelli

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I'm betting no manual. Unlike the Z3/E85 Z4, E89 Z4 sales were lackluster - a combination of arriving smack in the 2008 downturn, along with a significant cost for what amounts to many as a second car. I want to say that 10,000 E89 Z4s were sold in the USA between 2009-2016. That's nothing. I can't see the G29 being more affordable, and given the likely small percentage of manuals sold (of the 10,000 sales) no reason for them to follow ridiculous US safety laws and go through full manual trans crash testing.

I like how they continue to put a big heat retainer on top of the motor. It doesn't look very BMW to me, but I get that my brain is pretty BMW form centric. 8HF derivative trans is a bright spot, if going slushbox.

Filippo
 

Romer

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These are not 100% lockup like an off-road vehicle.

so it s a limited slip rather than locking. Limited slip would allow movement between the two wheels, locking does not. If thats what it is, why not say limited slip?

I am liking the look more now that I see it, even with a soft top
 

doublespaces

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so it s a limited slip rather than locking. Limited slip would allow movement between the two wheels, locking does not. If thats what it is, why not say limited slip?

I am liking the look more now that I see it, even with a soft top

They use the word locking, because it supposedly is a locking differential... Its just an electronic and variable locking capability perhaps?

So it sounds to me, they have some sort of control over the locking or slipping capability between the rear wheels. If they have done what I think they might, this could be the best of both worlds in terms of traction control and handling. Think about the intelligence they apply to the rear brake pad eLSD, but in the form of actual locking or slipping control. The term locking is probably used loosely, because these features aren't official for a couple more days. I bet this thing handles really well in low traction scenarios.

With a traditional LSD, both wheels will spin equally, nothing intelligent. In this scenario, they would be able to reduce torque to any wheel which is spinning and apply it to the wheel with most grip, and it would be perfectly balanced so that both tires are accepting the maximum torque before traction is lost.

This is really promising for people who want to disable DSC but still have traction intelligence enabled to some degree, or even a form of stability control but via torque vectoring instead of electronic brake interventions.

I think the quattro does individual wheel torque vectoring, and of course Mitsubishi paved the way many years ago with AYC.

BMW has Dynamic Performance Control, but it has been limited to xDrive only as far as I can tell.

The DPC differential features clutch packs on both output sides that are actuated by an electric motor. The clutch pack activates a planetary gearset which causes one wheel to be overdriven.
 
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Romer

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That is just like the ATRAC system on my Toyota Land Cruiser which will intelligently brake a spinning wheel independent of the other wheel. That still is different than a locking rear differential.

I am not arguing with you, just giving my opinion