It’s not the first six-cylinder mill in the M3’s illustrious history, in fact it’s the third one after the E36 and E46 generations of the series, but it’s the first to breathe through turbochargers, so like many of you, we too are curious about BMW‘s powerplant of choice for the new M3 Sedan and M4 Coupe, which were technically detailed last night.

Not too long after the announcement on the preliminary specifications and a list of highlights for both models, including the use of a carbon-fiber reinforced plastic roof for either body style and an 80kg or 176.4 pounds reduction in weight over the preceding model(s), BMW tossed a video of the M3/M4 towards our way.

It shows camouflaged prototypes of the two related performance cars driven on the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit by BMW works racing pilots Bruno Spengler and Timo Glock, who the company says, “took part in extensive testing and setup runs on the Nürburgring, focusing on assessment of the cars’ suspension, tyres and all elements of the powertrain“.

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the video is that we have the opportunity to hear some of the sounds produced by the inline-six turbo, albeit not as much as we would have liked to.

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