I hear a few people talk about one of the newer BMW engines that is supposedly bulletproof (B58/S58?). School me on this engine and why it's considered to robust and reliable. What are the good years for this engine?

I've never owned a BMW but thinking about it if they've got a solid, well dialed engine.

 

Most BMW inline 6 engines are bulletproof from 2010MY to now.
This includes N55, S55, B58 and S58.

 

This, get any with confidence. They have Toyota certified reliability after all!

 

Most BMWs are pretty reliable these days. Been shooting up the rankings.

 

It's an evolutionary thing. They've been doing NA straight sixes since the dawn of time. By the time the N52 came around, it was more or less perfect. Bulletproof for 300k+ miles, with just basic maintenance. In the mid-2000's they added turbocharging to this formula and launched the N54, which had a bunch of issues with things that were new to that design. High-pressure fuel pumps, wastegates, etc. They refined the formula for the N55 and it got much better. By the time they transitioned to the B58 (which was further refined by Toyota in preparation for the A90 Supra launch) it was pretty close to perfect. It's in pretty much everything BMW makes, plus the aforementioned Supra, and has been dead reliable across literally millions of units.

The S58 (found in the M3/M4 and X3M/X4M) is just the high-performance version of the B58. Forged internals, low compression and twin turbo vs. high compression and single twin-scroll turbo. Both will hold an absurd amount of power on stock components while remaining reliable. I would daily a 700whp B58 or 1000whp S58 for the next 20 years without concern.

 

1000 wheel S58 is a little close for my margins, I would limit it to like 900 or so haha! God I'm temped but I would want a 7 series maxed out but you can't get the base 6 in a max spec car.....and if I bought a max spec it would make no sense to pull the V12 out and replace it with a 6.

There is a fun build going on right now with a 760 targeting stupid numbers, I'm excited to see if he gets 1400

 

Guy local to me is selling a 700+hp big turbo Supra. I passed on it as I felt it wouldn’t be feasible for DD’ing. That plus I would want to track it and I’m trying to keep the B58 away from the track. Car is a clean build. I probably wouldn’t change a thing but I prefer to put my personal touch on it.

To OP, as a multiple Toyota vehicle owner, I picked up a B58 because so far it seems to be a pretty solid reliable platform.

 

I should say the B58 will be better than the N55.

 

In general yes but i would stay away from the mild hybrid B58s if you’re planning to keep it long term. It just adds additional complexity without much benefit to help meet emissions.

The N55 i had never had any issues while my X3 with B58 needed oil.
The current X3 has updated B58 with hybrid, so far all good.

 

Another thing to add is their fuel efficiency is also incredible.

 

For the B58, anyway. My singular best tank on my S58 was 21mpg, back during engine break-in. I can totally live with that, but it's far from stellar.

 

Uh how? Have you ever tried to get a high score tank? That's crazy low for a 6 IMO, worse than my 12 cyl cars by a couple of MPG

 

my 540i gets about 20-21 around town(18-19 if I'm flogging it). 30+ on the highway if I drive even somewhat conservatively. Not bad for a luxury barge. Torque for days.

 

I also get similar results in my X3 with the same engine, even with the extra load of the transfer case and other drive line components from the X Drive system.

 

Current X3 with B58 is 21mpg since new which is about 1-2mpg better than the non-hybrid B58 i had.

M3 with S55 is around 15mpg but i drive it mostly in Sport +