BMW S65

The S65 is the M division’s 4.0-litre naturally aspirated V8, built from 2007 to 2013.
It powered one car in the United States — the E9x M3 — and it remains the only V8 BMW ever
put in an M3.

What the S65 is

A 4.0-litre V8 with no turbocharger, eight individual throttle bodies and M Double-VANOS
variable valve timing. The 2008 M3 brochure spells
out the specification: a “4.0-liter 32-valve 414-hp V-8 engine with M Double-VANOS
‘steplessly’ variable valve timing”, with “8 individual throttles, electronically
controlled (drive-by-wire)” and an “oil coolant heat exchanger”.

One throttle body per cylinder is the M division’s signature on this engine, carried
over from the six-cylinder S54 it replaced and abandoned when
turbocharging arrived. The oil cooling arrangement in that same equipment list is there
because the engine was designed to be used hard.

Where it was fitted

414 hp for every US model year and every body style our
specification pages carry — coupe, sedan and convertible alike. The
M3 GTS and other limited versions sold outside the United States used higher-output
variants that are not in this archive’s certified data.

The only V8 M3

Read across three generations of M3 and the shape of the decision becomes clear: the
E46 had a 3.2-litre six at 333 hp, the E9x had this 4.0-litre V8 at 414 hp, and the F80
that followed went back to six cylinders with turbocharging at 425 hp. The V8 sits alone
in the middle, and it is the only one of the three that revs past 8,000 rpm without
forced induction.

What we do not publish

No reliability rating. The NHTSA complaint database records faults against a
vehicle, not an engine, and a figure described as “complaints about the S65” has
been produced by guessing how to split a car’s complaints between the engines that car
was offered with. Here the S65 happens to be the only engine in the E9x M3, but the
method would still be wrong, and we do not use methods that are wrong when they happen to
be convenient.

Common questions

How much horsepower does the S65 have?

414 hp in every US-market E9x M3, 2008 through 2013, across all three body styles.

Which BMWs have the S65?

The E90 M3 Sedan, E92 M3 Coupe and E93 M3 Convertible. In the United States that is
the complete list.

Is the S65 related to the S85 V10?

They come from the same era of the M division and share design thinking — individual
throttle bodies, high revs, no turbocharging — but they are different engines. The S85
is the 5.0-litre V10 of the E60 M5.

What replaced the S65?

The S55, a 3.0-litre twin-turbo inline-six, from the 2015
M3 and M4 onwards. It made more power from smaller displacement and fewer cylinders.

Sources

Specification and quotations from the 2008 M3
brochure in this archive. Outputs and model years from EPA certification data, with
the source named on every specification page.