BMW 335i - Twin Turbo

[catalyst]

I agree, if there bumping up to a V8, there better be some fucking huge improvments.

IMHO they should bump the displacement up on the 6 cyl, a V8 IS the easy way out.

Something reminicent of the s38 would seem to me to be a better choice.

Going turbo on a base model car is a kind of strange move.. I never thought i would see a turbo on any gas powered 3 series, ever, but as long as they do it right and dont fall into the hole of gping turbo as the easy way out.. its ok i suppose *sigh*

e36 4 life, for me at least.

[Longhairedhippy]

if they're only going to get that much horsepower out of it, why not save on development and fit the S54 engine, now that the M3 doesn't need it?

[catalyst]

Because the s54 is an engine with the maximum amount of power being pushed out of it, while still running on 'street' octanes. Its reliability would probably come into question when being used in a more base model car.

I guess we will see just how reliable the s54 is, as some of the M3's are starting to breach the higher miles. I personally would not want to own a car with an s54 in it while not under warranty.. who knows what problems these cars will have in the post 100k range. Also its pretty hard for your basic at home mechanic to work on, considering it sports things such as drive by wire.

If the s54 proves to be as reliable as it is powerful, it truly is an engineering feat.

[spiff]

yeah, S52 from wha ti hear can become somewhat unreliable, but i have a feeling like it will be like most of the other BMW engines and prove to be reliable.

i think moving to V8 isnt neccessary, but then again, im just used to smaller BMW engines putting out huge power, so for them to move to V8, its gonna start getting nutty.

[Addicted?]

Originally Posted by c4talyst

Because the s54 is an engine with the maximum amount of power being pushed out of it, while still running on 'street' octanes. Its reliability would probably come into question when being used in a more base model car.

I guess we will see just how reliable the s54 is, as some of the M3's are starting to breach the higher miles. I personally would not want to own a car with an s54 in it while not under warranty.. who knows what problems these cars will have in the post 100k range. Also its pretty hard for your basic at home mechanic to work on, considering it sports things such as drive by wire.

If the s54 proves to be as reliable as it is powerful, it truly is an engineering feat.

yeah time for a lot of cars to start proving themselves.. within a few years we will see how the wrx and sti engines in america hold up, the s54 motor etc... i hope the s54 does fine to 160k+

David

[witeshark]

BMW 2002 Tii That is all

[the afro guy]

this engine won't be going into the base models. its going to be there to fill the gap between the 330ci and the m3. because thats going to be a big gap. the 330's will have 250hp and the m3 will have 400. that is a BIG gap. i think the reason the m3 is going to a v8 is so that it can make competitive torque numbers. they can always squeeze big hp numbers out of just about any engine but torque is what makes a properly fast car. just look at hondas, if they fall off vtech they absolutely suck, its the same concept.

also, the reason that they are going v8 and not making a bigger 6 is down to weight. while the new 6 cylinder (R6) is very light for an inline 6, they aren't that much lighter than a v8. now the block from the existing engine can't be taken out much past 3.2 litres with out risking structural weakness by having the cylinder walls too thin. so they would have to make an entirely new engine that will ONLY be used in the m3. and thats a lot of money in R&D for just one car that is also very low selling.

the s54 is slated for use in the upcoming m1, or m coupe as its tipped to be called to save confusion with the original m1 monster. so the ongoing development for that engine isn't without reason. the s54 isn't unreliable, its just designed to run on high octane fuels that just aren't available in the US. 98 octane is the minimum recomended fuel for them. running it on a lower octane is always going to throw up problems after a while. the engines need constant maintenance (like all ///M engines) and i think that a lot of people fail to realise that yes it is a very highly strung motor, and no you can't miss a service and it'll all be fine and dandy. thats most likely where the unreliablility stories come from.

anyway back on topic, i think this engine is going to be an absolute pearler. i think they have chosen twin turbo route so that they can keep the 3 series as an all 6 cylinder line up, as the 318i has been dropped from the e90 range. no doubt they will be rolling out a marketing campaign that goes something along the lines of "the greatest 6 cylinder cars in history" or some rubbish like that. it is a good idea to fill in that 330 to m3 gap though otherwise there will be a lot of disgruntled buyers out there that want a fast 3er but don't have the $$$ for an m3. very good idea

[Addicted?]

^^ afro very good write up and outlook at everything! i didnt think about the big gap between the 330 and the m3... you have a very good point!

David

[Turbodefrost]

hummmm, everyone is making very good points here. I don't know whether to love it or hate it. So i'm gonna go towards the "sweeeet" idea.

[komodo]

[witeshark]

I think it's super neat!

[Chris]

I was once having a conversation with harry about how mercedes takes their car, slaps a turbo on it and calls it better than a Bmw. Bmw on the other hand prides itself on its top end performance cars being all Naturally aspirated. I don't particularly like that BMW is breaking with the N/A tradition (turbo diesels and such not withstanding, i'm talking about teh high end performance side of the coin) and throwing turbo's into the mix for the high end american market.
Now i'm not saying i wouldn't give my left nut to have a chipped version ofthat car, I'm just saying that i would rather see that much horsepower out of it N/A and then a New m3 with a V8 that just flat out rapes....but that's just me (not that M3's don't already rape)

[Chris]

*just read the second page of the thread* Here's my thing, I'm okay with the M3 V8 as long as they don't use the block from teh V8 5ers....I don't like when people turn to corporate part-binning like GM does and all that shit. It takes away from the car, the name, the company, everything

[the afro guy]

nope they're basing the engine on the architechture for the m5 v10 but with 2 cylinders less.

[komodo]

Originally Posted by the afro guy

nope they're basing the engine on the architechture for the m5 v10 but with 2 cylinders less.

Then why the twin-turbos?