It’s not the latest BMW M3, but this G-Power E92 M3 may be the greatest M3—at least in the top speed category.
The last of the normally aspirated, V8-powered M3s were built between 2007 and 2013, but the four-door E90 version ceased production in 2011. It was a hot ticket in its day. The four-liter S65 V8 cranked out 414 horsepower and could push the M3 from zero to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds with the six-speed manual—still a respectable time almost ten years later. The double clutch transmission (DCT) introduced in 2008 could drop that time by two tenths of a second. By comparison, the current F80 M3 is supposed to do 4.1 with the six-speed and 3.9 with the DCT. Both the E90 and F80 were electronically limited to a top speed of 155 mph, although adding the optional M Driver’s package to the F80 would boost its top speed to 174 mph.
Which sounds like a lot until you look at G-Power’s E90 M3.
G-Power is a German tuner that specializes in making BMW M and Mercedes-Benz AMG vehicles go faster and look very different from stock models. It uses turbocharging and supercharging to increase the horsepower, custom exhausts for the sound and the fury, performance suspensions to keep them on the road, and brake systems that are up to the task of slowing the vehicle from speeds higher than they were intended to go.
Our friends at BMWBLOG brought G-Power’s E90 M3 to our attention. Supercharging raised the engine’s output from 414 horsepower to 630. The M3’s normal 295 pound-feet of torque is now 435 pound-feet. The car’s seven-speed DCT remains in place.
As the video below reveals, the G-Power E90 BMW M3’s indicated speed on this Autobahn run reached 340 kilometers per hour, or a tad bit over 211 miles per hour.
As exciting as this would be—to be driving a car and watching the speedometer blow past 200 mph—the car might not have actually hit the 200 mph mark due to the laws by which BMW and other German carmakers must abide.
European law requires that speedometers never display a speed less than the vehicle’s actual speed, and also must never show a speed more than 110 percent of the actual speed plus 4 kph. The reason for this requirement has been attributed to ensuring that the speedometer never reads low, even if the car owner installs a wheel/tire combination that could make the speedometer read lower.
Therefore, even though the speedometer of the G-Power E90 M3 in this high-speed run reads 340 kph, it is probably not really traveling at 340 kph. However, according to the 110-percent plus 4 kph rule, it would still be creeping up on 190 mph, and that’s plenty fast for us.
If we wanted to be absolutely certain we were driving a BMW over 200 mph on the Autobahn, we’d probably pick the G-Power M5 Hurricane RR, which was tested to a top indicated speed of 231 mph on the Autobahn.
An Internet search revealed no G-Power dealers that we could find in the U.S. Perhaps it’s just as well. Outside of Bonneville or Black Rock, where could we drive them?—Scott Blazey
[Photo and video courtesy of GTBOARD.com.]
