[tjalt]

Did anyone notice the 328 does not have direct injection. Why would BMW not incorporate?

[DerekS]

Originally Posted by tjalt

Did anyone notice the 328 does not have direct injection. Why would BMW not incorporate?

BMW is introducing a new DI 330i for the Euro market (approx. 272 hp), but it requires a low sulfur fuel.
Not sure when it will come to NA. Eventually, most of their gas engines will have DI for greater fuel efficiency.

[Darrel Revok]

From what I've seen direct injection is a great way to keep compression high in a turbo charged engine to avoid turbo lag, as Audi did with the 2.0T, and BMW is going to do with the 335. As a method of getting more horsepower, what would be the point since the 328 has a detuned engine anyway.

[SteVTEC]

The port injected 1.8T's are also pretty much lag free. Higher compression and direct injection is more about maintaining high part-load efficiency and better fuel economy than it is about remaining lag free. Port injected turbocharged engines have never been particularly efficient because cruising, off boost, with low static compression, results in poor thermal efficiency, which is most of the drive cycle. For minimal lag you want very small turbos that spin up fast which is most important. How exactly fuel is injected doesn't really matter as far as how much lag you're going to have. I guarantee you you can get tons of lag on the 335i engine once people start putting bigger turbos on them. You can get all the lag you want depending on the turbo size. A big single turbo will not spool much below 4000 rpm and whether its port or direct injected won't really matter.

I do hope they bring the direct injected naturally aspirated N53 to the US soon. I have a hunch they'll probably make it the base engine in the new X5, and hopefully you'll be able to get it in the MY08 5er also. Otherwise I'll probably go with a "528".