Egyptian Refuses to Pay $150,000 for BMW 1M Coupe, Shoe-horns M3 V8 into a 120d Coupe

If you live in the States and can justify spending a little under $50,000 on a car, the $47,010 BMW 1M Coupe (335hp) is a sound choice for those looking for a fast and fun to drive bimmer as it only costs $7,710 more the $39,300 135i Coupe (300hp) and $13,090 less than the $60,100 M3 Coupe (414hp).

However, in other parts of the world where governments apply ridiculously high taxes on cars, not even the 1M Coupe is a reasonable choice. Take Egypt for example.

According to 1addicts forum member “hatembmw”, the 1M Coupe costs some US$150,000 in Egypt because of the insane taxes! Who can blame him for not wanting to pay that much money for BMW's entry-level M model?

“Hatembmw” settled on a different solution: he took a 120d Coupe, stripped it down and swapped the four-cylinder diesel engine with a 414hp 4.0-liter V8 from the latest M3!

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Hartge's Untamed BMW 1 M Coupe Pushes Out 396-horses

Joining a multitude of tuners that have worked over the BMW 1 M Coupe this past year is Hartge. The German company's program includes both performance upgrades and styling modifications for the M version of the 1-Series Coupe.

The tweaking starts under the hood with a Hartge power kit and a sports exhaust system that improve upon the standard model's 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six lifting output from 335hp (340PS) to 396hp (401PS) at 5,850 rpm and maximum torque from 450Nm to 530Nm (391 lb-ft) at 2,950 rpm.

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