370Z and even the Acura RL has one

 

This is AutoBild's rendering of what it expects the RC-F will look like :

 

Whoa interesting.. did not know enough about those two cars to realize that this CF drive shaft thing isn't that exotic after all. Thanks.

 

Something about the front end just looks "off" in every rendering so far. I am expecting a disconnected LED DRL, but I hope that the overall shape of the high and low beam housing is similar to the IS, where both pieces seem to mimic the shape of a normal headlight. Not sure if that makes sense.

These renderings with a "smooshed" looking high/low beam and projector, and a DRL just strung on for good measure, look pretty ugly. I am all about aggression, as long as it's still nice to look at! The front end on the IS is great IMO.

 

35lbs. of weight savings is better than 0. Theres more to it than just saving weight. Carbon is stronger than steel so it stiffens the car. That equals less body roll and better handling.

 

this rendering looks awful. haha

 

Autobild renderings are always wrong so i wouldnt look too much into them.

 

Ugh that picture is such a turn off, on the other hand that Gs F thou...

 

35 lbs vs steel not vs aluminum. if they compared vs aluminum, the numbers would be way less and probably not significant or impressive enough to talk about in a press release. its pure marketing. and yes weight savings of any amount is better than nothing, but at what cost?

if a carbon roof panel changes the stiffness of the car then that was a poorly designed chassis to begin with. the ferrari 458 is all aluminum including the roof. the mp4-12c has an aluminum roof and not cf. do you know something they dont?

 

a lot of G37 owners will jump on 370Z driveshafts when there is a wrecked one. You can carbon composite driveshafts for WRXs and they have good gains 100% of the power band. Its also a safety thing in case the driveshaft comes apart the fibers are a lot safer than the steel one which will become a giant blender

 

Wow, relax. Carbon is stiffer than any metal. The difference is its not worth putting a carbon roof on cars like Ferrari's when instead they can charge you extra for it. Don't get your point of mentioning them anyway. BMW has been doing this for how long?

 

If BMW can't even fix the problem on their bread and butter lineup of 4 cylinder engines, I'm beginning to doubt their ability to make a reliable high boost performance motor :

Major recall for 2012-14 F30 BMW 3 Series with N20/N26 for dangerous loss of braking

Delivery of N20 and N26 powered vehicles stopped as a result of power brake assist problem

On September 26th, BMW of North America announced to NHTSA its intention to conduct a voluntary Recall on certain 2012-2014 model year BMW 3 Series, 5 Series, X1, X3 and Z4 models equipped with the N20 or N26 engine, produced from May 2012 to August 2013.

Affected vehicles in dealer inventories will not be sold or delivered to customers until the recall repair has been performed. Vehicles at BMW vehicle delivery centers will be corrected before shipment to dealerships.

The Problem:
The oil supply from the intake camshaft to the brake vacuum pump can become restricted. If this happens the brake vacuum pump could fail due to lack of lubrication, resulting in a loss of power brake assist.

The hydraulic brakes will still function to stop the vehicle but without power assist. Without assist the driver will need to apply much greater pedal pressure to stop the vehicle. The distance required to stop the vehicle will increase as most drivers will not be able to apply enough brake pedal pressure.

In the event of a loss of brake power assist pull the emergency brake and apply as much brake pedal pressure as possible. If your BMW has an electronic parking brake pull up and hold the switch to engage the brake.

Move away from traffic and park in a safe location as soon as possible. Contact BMW Roadside Assistance and have your vehicle taken to the nearest BMW dealer.

 

This is probably one of the reasons that Lexus has taken so long to approve the release of the 2.0L turbo which seems like it's been in development forever. They definitely don't want a similar situation to the whole BMW N54 saga since reliability has always been a key Lexus selling point. The last post in that thread you posted is pretty funny though (from a 335i owner):

"BMW has come full circle. First the turbocharged cars wouldn't go, now they won't stop. My 335i came with an unproven fuel pump system which resulted in NHTSA involvement, several recalls, and a warranty extension. Now the vac pump isn't getting enough oil? No excuses, this is another example of insufficient testing of a redesign. Vacuum pumps have been around a long, long time. BMW found a different way to operate them, they had a responsibility to ensure it would hold up.
BMWNA blamed the N54 fuel pump failures on crappy American fuel. Are they going to blame the pump/brake failure on crappy American oil? Wouldn't surprise me. Wait, some of these failures happened with factory installed oil, right? Yes! We're off the hook!"

 

Not sure about the 2L turbo engine, but the engine they use in the new IS / GS will soon turn 10. Actually in 2015 it will be 10 year old engine, that is insane.... It will be old enough to have grandkids

 

and it is still top engine.