BMW's Secret Sauce
Photo by Dallas Mills
I was in early high-school when my dad brought home our first BMW. Compared to the fleet of Subarus, Fords, and Jeeps, the blue 528i was a car we never thought would land in the driveway. Personally, I never paid much attention to it. I had my existing car obsessions, and BMW just wasn’t one of them.
Despite this, my first drive in the E39 told me there was something unique about this little sedan. Cruising through Franconia Notch on a hot summer day, the car felt direct in a way that I had never experienced and couldn’t describe through words. This was my first sip of the Ultimate Driving Machine and one I will always remember.
So, what makes a BMW “The Ultimate Driving Machine”? Thinking through this, a few possible answers come to mind. The silky smooth engines, the beautifully crafted and luxurious interiors, the distinct styling cues? All these answers are wrong, and in all these categories there is a competitor that does it better. What sets BMW apart from other companies is their ability to make a good chassis.
A well-designed chassis is the most important part of any car. It is the only part that cannot be changed. It is the bones around which everything rests, and has a say in every driving characteristic. The chassis determines where the drivetrain will sit, what motor can fit in the engine bay, how stiff the car will feel mid corner, or how plush it will feel over a bumpy road. It determines how much trunk space or rear leg room your passengers will have, as well as your view and aspect of the road. Parts are interchangeable, shocks, sway bars, and camshafts can all be upgraded, but the chassis lives with the driver forever. Early on, BMW recognized this, and have since been using it as the first step in a blueprint for the ultimate driving machine. Their silky motors, supple interiors, and sharp styling are all frosting on the cake.
Let’s flash back to the 1960’s. Sports car design was completely unregulated, and magazines such as Road and Track were praising the new Lotus Elan for near perfect 50/50 weight distribution. As a company, BMW was struggling. Profits were falling, and customers could not find reasons to buy a BMW over a big American sedan, or Le-Mans winning Jaguar or Mercedes. The Neue Klasse line came in to save the day, and the secret was all in the chassis. Out of the Neue Klasse came the 1602, 1802, and eventually 2002. This was unofficially the birth of the 3 series, leading to the E30, E46, E90 and all of the other greats not mentioned along with their 5 series brothers. With each model came a new brand of enthusiast ready to swap out parts, and build their dream car around the BMW skeleton. It is only fitting that true enthusiasts refer to BMWs through their chassis codes, as this is the lynchpin to keeping drivers engaged.
But what about their chassis has made BMW such a success? As mentioned before, this is hard to place, because the chassis controls so many things. Looking at the similarities of the early 3 series and 5 series, one thing sticks out. Near perfect 50/50 weight distribution. To be clear, BMW was not the first or only company to do this. Lotus started with the Elan, and afterwards a slew of cars like the Porsche 944, Mazda Miata, and Toyota MR2 followed suit. However, BMW was one of the first to successfully bring that recipe to a family car. The 2002 was one of the first “Family Sports Sedans”, and before long, people all over the world were using 50/50 weight distribution disguised in four doors to bring their kids to school, pick up groceries, and take that family road trip. Couple that with genuine reliability, and hundreds of thousands of drivers have since been unknowingly introduced to a family car with lotus and Porsche balance. Ever wonder why the battery of a BMW is in the trunk, and cylinders 5 and 6 sit deep in the firewall? Now you know, and chassis set the recipe.
Designing a good car is like solving a rubics cube, every decision affects another. Despite this, BMW was able to bring their approach to weight distribution to almost all of their flagship models and variants. This is incredibly impressive. Take the E39 for example. It is no surprise that the e39 M5 has perfect weight distribution. It was their flagship performance car. But the 528 touring? Just as thought out despite using a different motor, gearbox, and body style, and as a result, very engaging to drive. The story is the same for most of these old models. No matter what engine, gearbox, or body style, the chassis can make the drive engaging.
I am convinced that this is why BMW has such a following, and why you see so many older 4 door sedans running with Porsches, Alfa Romeos, and being pushed through rally classes. The recipe is too easy to follow, take a stock BMW (3 series is what I prefer), lower about an inch, add Bilsteins or Konis, tires, and stiffen the swaybars to taste. Now you have a car with beautiful balance, direct feedback, and loads of grip that pretty much anyone can afford.
As a company, I never loved or obsessed over BMW. I can’t tell you when they were founded, their most popular car, how many F1 titles they have won. But even as a non-enthusiast, half of my collection is BMW. The reason? They are the Ultimate Driving Machine.
