In the most recent Mission Impossible movie, Rogue Nation, Tom Cruise drive a BMW M3 through Monaco and puts it through its paces. By that I mean he absolutely beats on it.
When all is said and done, the M3 looks like it went through a war zone because, well, it kind of did. BMW actually showed off the very M3 Tom Cruise beat on in the movie at the BMW Welt and it seems to have taken one helluva beating.
Well, that very M3, the same smashed up one with all of the bullet holes, still runs. It doesn’t run well anymore, but it still runs and drives. According to Rogue Nation director, Christopher McQuarrie, Tom Cruise was not kind to the two BMW M3s used in filming and yet he still could not kill them. “The BMW M3 is a fantastic car,” said McQuarrie. “They took an amazing amount of punishment.”
One of the main stunts the M3 was put through was driving down a flight of cement stairs, as shown in the commercials. Admittedly, the production crew modified the steps to be much more ramp-like to make it survivable for the car after many takes, but it still wasn’t exactly easy. “Much to BWMs credit, we couldn’t kill their cars, no matter how man times we did the gag. And we did it a lot,” says McQuarrie. “But, while the cars were still running, they weren’t exactly purring anymore.” So while the M3s weren’t in their best running condition, they still live, which is impressive.
Modern cars, especially cars like the M3, have so much technology and electronically adjustable bits that they don’t seem like they can take much of a physical beating anymore. Cars like the E30 3 Series, those things could take a pounding over and over again and still work brilliantly. But it just doesn’t seem like modern performance cars can do the same. Apparently, though, they can and it’s a true testament to BMW’s engineering capabilities.
It shouldn’t be all that surprising, though, considering a recent Top Gear episode saw an M6 Gran Coupe tackle the Australian Outback and survive. It just goes to show that regardless of how many new technologies go into modern BMWs, regardless of how delicate they may seem, can still take a beating like the BMWs of old.
[Source: USA Today]
