Beemer

This picture show how much of the car that is made of aluminium.
Click for picture

DesEng

Excellent pic...........thanks.

RichReg

DesEng:

As the photo shows, that entire front structure shaded in blue is made of almost 100% aluminum. Also the actual strut towers themselves, which extend down below the shaded area in the photo and are slightly obstructed from view.

My thanks to das & Beemer for the photo.

R.R.

DesEng

Yeah, I can see from the press kit, that the strut towers are pressure die cast aluminum alloy.
Did they mention the weight or weight saving of the body structure? I know there's a 75kg save on curb wieght to it's predeccessor, but wondered what they'd saved in the body structure alone, with their Lightweight Aluminium Front End (LAFE).

RichReg

Deseng;

Good question. I'm not really sure.

They did not mention weight savings to the body versus actual change in curb weight. I have been trying to figure out exactly how much weight has been saved by comparing BMWNA's technical data on both the E39 & the E60, but for every U.S. model, the most I can come up with is 50 or 60 pounds.

Now that you mention it, maybe that IS where the 75 kilograms weight savings is, in the body structure. At first, I was thinking that the maximum weight savings of 75 kg. came from either the future M5, or a stripped down 520i (most likely the latter). That could explain why the curb weight differences don't add up.

I am anxiously awaiting the first magazine to publish a full road test.

R.R.