Quote:
Originally Posted by jts1981
Possibly the increase of the front over hang might have to do with new pedestrian safety standards, and additional cooling for turbocharged/ performance engines.
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No. I'll bet the increase in overhang has to do with increasing the size of the passenger compartment. Look at the 5 series picture. Imagine it growing in dimension INSIDE, having to push the windshield further and further forward. Thus the firewall has to sit further forward. In order to accommodate a long, inline 6 engine, the entire engine compartment needs to move forward, but since elongating the wheelbase is impractical, the front wheels stayed where it's at. Thus increase in overhang, engine sits further forward on top of the front axle instead.
The increase in overhang has everything to do with the ever increasing demands of more size and space than pedestrian protection, IMO.
Here's another illustration of the overhang issue.
2 series (RWD):
Small overhang like the E46/E9x/E85/6/9. Smaller chassis in relation. The E9x is about the same size as the E39 (also small-is overhang).
1 series (FWD) sedan:
While the overhang is "small", proportionally it's a much larger percent of the front end engine compartment than normal RWD BMWs. Because it has to accommodate FWD architecture, not for pedestrian crash standards (China has zero pedestrian crash protection standards to speak of).
I suspect, as more and more BMWs move to FWD and AWD architecture, you'll see that overhang grow longer and longer. Soon all BMWs will have a huge front overhang to anticipate the possibility of going FWD/AWD.
Mark. My. Words.