BMW working on range of 3-cylinder engines?
According to a report on Sky Motoring in the UK, BMW is working on a new range of 3- and 4-cylinder engines for use in its next-gen 1 Series, 3 Series and Z2 Roadster. If there is indeed an inline-three engine in the pipeline, we'd be shocked to see it installed in BMW's bread-and-butter 3 Series, but it may be plausible for the entry-level 1 Series.
Displacing just 1.35 liters, the 3-cylinder powerplant would reportedly be offered in outputs ranging from 163 horsepower and 140 lb-ft of torque all the way up to a turbocharged 241 horsepower and 192 lb-ft of torque. If true, that's a ton of power for such a small engine that's durable enough to see duty installed in a passenger car. The engine family would also include a 1.8L turbocharged 4-cylinder with either 273 or 321 horsepower.
At this point, we're taking all of this with an appropriately large grain of salt, but assuming that these rumors are accurate, we'd also expect to see this engine family used by the German automaker's Project i series of eco-friendly vehicles.
[Source: Sky Motoring]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
why not the LS2LS7? 8:27PM (5/08/2009)
BMW is not going to ship a 163HP 1.35L engine. Such a thing could exist, but it's going to be expensive and high strung. The M3 straight six made 333HP from 3.2L and it was trouble enough that BMW ended up having to recall a bunch and they backed away from similar designs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M54#S54B32
You're talking about a system with 30% more power (and thus revs) than this vehicle per liter. It'd hit at least 10,000 revs. That's not going to happen outside a motorcycle motor.
Someone is just daydreaming and passing it off as truth.
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Steve 4:23AM (5/09/2009)
Tell that to the 1.6L, 208 horsepower BMW engine in the JCW Mini Cooper. If BMW does this, it will probably be turbocharged.
http://motoring.sky.com/news/next-bmw-1--3series-get-3cylinder-engines.aspx
The only person daydreaming here is you.... dreaming that you actually know what you're talking about. The BMW 3 cylinder is being developed, with the specs listed in both this article, and the one I linked. The only two questions to discuss are: where will they be used? and will they come to the States?
Swede 6:31AM (5/09/2009)
1,35 liters is too big.
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jim 9:21AM (5/11/2009)
A 3 cyl is just the motor for the upcoming 0.5 Series
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markogts 5:13AM (9/29/2009)
There is no sense in increasing revs, if the target is better efficiency. Surely, these engines will be supercharged, probably with more than one system, like the VW 1.4 TSI. A mild-hybrid is also to be taken in account, kinda evolution of the "Efficient Dynamics".
I'm curious to see how will they manage vibration problems in a 3-in-line. Sure, counter rotating shafts, but this offsets the drag advantages of the 3-cyl design.
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markogts 5:26AM (9/29/2009)
The M3 straight six made 333HP from 3.2L and it was trouble enough that BMW ended up having to recall a bunch and they backed away from similar designs.
Is there any source for this claim? AFAIK, the E46-based M3 revved up to 7900 RPM, now the V8 reaches 8300 RPM. In the meanwhile, the line-six (does this fit in the definition of "similar design"?) is now cast in magnesium and reaches 272 BHP at 6750 RPM, on a "regular" sedan. I don't see any "backing away from similar designs", do you?
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