Confirmed: New 4 Cylinder Turbo in Development

[mdynamics]

Confirmed: BMW working on 4 cylinder turbo, may come to U.S.
Rumors of a new four cylinder engine from BMW have been confirmed by BMW's North American leader Jim O'Donnell. Questions on whether it will be offered in the United States, though, are still very much in the air. "We can't really confirm or deny when it is going to come into the US, or if it is going to come into the US, until after the election and the government makes it clear what is going to be the platform that manufacturers have got to work to," says O'Donnell. It really seems so simple to us. If an automaker has a new engine that offers both good performance and good fuel economy, it should be offered in the U.S. market.

Granted, the last effort to sell four-cylinder Bimmers in the States didn't go over so well. But BMW's reputation was earned first by cars like the 2002, which was motivated by a sprightly little four-banger. Considering the fact that BMW owns the MINI brand, the automaker should know better than anyone else that Americans are now willing to spend a good deal of money on small cars with small engines. We'll gladly support a revival of the tii badge on a lightweight 1 Series platform powered by a nice turbo four.

Source:
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/12/c...y-come-to-u-s/

Confirmed: New 4 Cylinder Turbo in Development

Jim O’Donnell (BMWNA CEO) has officially confirmed in an interview with Business Week that BMW is working on developing a new 4-cylinder motor, so all the speculation can finally come to an end.
As heard in the interview: “It will deliver stronger performance in terms of acceleration than the current 6-cylinder, it will deliver lower emissions and will give you better fuel economy; so it is a win, win, win situation. This will be a high tech 4-cylinder engine; obviously turbo charged. We can’t really confirm or deny when it is going to come into the US, or if it is going to come into the US, until after the election and the government makes it clear what is going to be the platform that manufacturers have got to work to.”
What he is basically saying is that future US policy will dictate whether or not we see these motors. I have a tough time swallowing that personally since that means BMW is not thinking about how to become more efficient for the right reasons but rather to meet requirements of the government. I thought I just read something about sustainability? If what he says is true about the performance, efficiency and emissions why would the US not see this motor?
I apologize for turning this into an opinion piece as that was not the original intention. As I listened to this interview numerous times to make sure I quoted it correctly the more I realized what he was saying; BMW is developing this great motor but we will only see it if a certain president is elected and certain policies are implemented. That is not saying we will not see this motor ever but that it may be fast tracked and we see it sooner than later, which is a great thing for countless reasons. The only down side I see is that the current 6 cylinder (N52) life-cycle is cut by a few years.
It is also possible that he may be referring to other programs which may require cars to have hybrid technology or hit certain numbers in which case this motor would not meet those requirements. At this point it is a waiting game but we do know that these things really do exist and hopefully we will see them soon in cars weighing in a bit less. What do you think?
You can watch the full interview here

Source:
http://www.bimmerfile.com/2008/09/10...n-development/

[larryn]

Is that a pic of the existing diesel? One thing I noticed is that there are lines for an external oil cooler off of the oil filter housing.

[123D-M]

Also reported here: http://www.leftlanenews.com/bmw-read...urbo-four.html

[mtla4]

Put the 4 bangers in the line up and produce less 135I and call it a 135I M with more raw features. Personnaly im done with 4 cylinders

[gio]

Originally Posted by mtla4

Put the 4 bangers in the line up and produce less 135I and call it a 135I M with more raw features. Personnaly im done with 4 cylinders

Yes, I'm tired of 4 cylinders too. They are loud annoying engines.

[mistermojorizin]

never had a 4 cyl (even the handmedown minivan i drove in highschool had 6 cyl's). but from what i saw in the s2000, i liked it

[AchtungF80]

My dd is a 4cyl BMW and I can personally vouch for the durability of their 4cyl engines.

200k+ and running strong, original hg, timing chains and clutch.

[Jack in Jax]

IMO the blogger is reading too much into this. ('Which President is elected"?) I suspect O'Donnell is speaking, at least in part, to how the new CAFE standards are going to be administered for companies - like BMW - that can't meet them with their existing product lines and given sales. O'Donnell could have meant something like "Once we know how the penalty fees (for non-compliance) will be administered, as part of the CAFE standards implementation, we'll know how much we can save on fees by introducing this new engine. Knowing those savings will help us project the net costs always associated with the intro of a new product, including the marketing, inventory costs (cars and parts), training and other overhead costs."

Let's remember there is also a tug of war between our retail fuel supply chain and the EPA. The EPA loves Ethanol due to lower emissions. It wants to ignore the additional fuel consumption burden it places on the country due to lowered mpg. I suspect it's now even harder for the EPA to accept diesel fuel emissions as they are currently allowed here in the USA. That may be another factor O'Donnell is concerned about.

Surely would love to see that engine come here...

Jack

[Noize]

Wish list AKA my dream:

120i M Sport
2.0 liter DI 4 cylinder 335HP@7800rpm
2950 lb curb weight
No sunroof
rear LSD

Asswhoopins to other cars for miles. Sign me up.

[mdynamics]

Originally Posted by larryn

Is that a pic of the existing diesel? One thing I noticed is that there are lines for an external oil cooler off of the oil filter housing.

I'm not sure Larry, it's the picture attached with the article. But really good catch on the oil lines coming out of the oil filter.

This is the current 4cyl diesel engine


And this is the euro 4cyl engine
Attachment 11716

So I think the article one is different

[bats]

Where's the popcorn smiley?

I would love to see a 4 cyl 1 series coupe.

[SCOTT26]

And you heard it here first! , The engine will be about 240PS it wont surpass our turbo charged six cylinder but the other NA six cylinder engines.

The 1er Coupe gets it first.

[larryn]

Remove rear ballast, and still have a true 50%-50% weight distribution, plus be 150-200lbs lighter than ours. If they can keep the power up there.. could be a huge winner.

BMW has to get a lot less crotchety about people doing things to their cars though... They are building tuner cars now, yet don't want people to tune them.

[larryn]

Originally Posted by SCOTT26

And you heard it here first! , The engine will be about 240PS it wont surpass our turbo charged six cylinder but the other NA six cylinder engines.

The 1er Coupe gets it first.

Scott! Long time no see. Thanks for the confirm. MY2010?

[SCOTT26]

Scott! Long time no see. Thanks for the confirm. MY2010?

I know been across the world in Australia , New Zealand , South Africa , amongst others supervising the Z4 presentation and the MINI Crossover Concept in Munich and others which will be revealed in the next two weeks.

As you can imagine busy! Paris in a couple of weeks and then a whole month off! It has been hectic.

A Concept car will show the new engine and then a production vehicle , because of the focus on smaller more efficient vehicles our current attention is on the 1er. BMW would like the 1er and it's various future platform offshoots to offer sustainability like the 3er and it's variants offer to BMW Groups Bottom line.

That means going back to the shelf where projects that were put away for later are retrieved.
Currently BMW have been given a very negative reaction especially to it's refocus on concentrating on efficient dynamics rather than supercars. But all this is in aim of sustainability and be able to commence the journey when other manufacturers are being forced off the road.

It is true we had to redirect our focus on the M3 CSL because what we originally wanted to do there was not much an opinion of difference compared to the actual production M3 Coupe.
What we want to do now with such a car , it's technology under
"Efficient Dynamics" is not ready to be incorporated into a road car.
But at BMW we test and evaluate everything so that tomorrow is there just on the horizon.

The 1er Coupe is one car that has serious potential @ both ends of the spectrum. Especially the four cylinder turbo charged engine offering segment leading performance , dynamics and excellent class leading efficiency not expected from a performance coupe of this kind.

[1ToBeOn2Wheels]

Very exciting! :thumbup:

[Heinzftw]

Looks freakin awesome

[imported_mega]

this hit the news and was confirmed 6-8 months ago but nobody paid attention

240 is pretty low considering bmw got that out of the s14 without boost

[larryn]

mega, I see it replacing the 128i. It's marginally more power. It doesn't seem to make sense to have both cars with similar output.

BMW seems to do this a lot with new models. Make a new model and a little more than a year later, bump it up. They did this with the E46 (323/328 > 325/330), and the e90 (325/330 > 328/335). I bet they'll do the same with our cars. The turbo 4 seems like half the equation. I wonder what they'll bump our N54 motors to? (330hp, now that the S54 will be replaced? That Z4 replacement will no doubt have the new M3's powerplant in it)

[ptack]

Meh.
Maybe I'm jaded having just put 175000 miles on the last US BMW 4-cylinder, but the real point of this engine will be fuel economy. Hopes that the cars are going to shed 600 pounds or more to keep performance at 135i levels are fantasies. Maybe it will make for a super Mini, but otherwise it will probably make for something like a more economical 128i. Remember, the X1 is coming and this would be just what the marketeers ordered.

[123D-M]

SCOTT26: Do you work for BMW in Munich? I am in the Belux office in Belgium.

[imported_mega]

that's the great thing about boosted 4cyl, they get excellent gas mileage if you keep your foot out of the gas

and if you like to put your foot down they will move out