BMW mulls downsizing M engines, adding turbos
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BMW mulls downsizing M engines, adding turbos
BMW mulls downsizing M engines, adding turbos
motorauthority.com
BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer recently revealed plans to phase out diesel V8 engines across the board, but as drastic as this sounds it could be just the tip of the iceberg for the carmaker’s future plans to shakeup its powertrain lineup. BMW’s hallowed ‘M’ division could also be affected by the new wave of environmental consciousness sweeping carmakers across the world, the end result being smaller engines and turbochargers in future M cars.
Speaking with Auto Motor and Sport, Reithofer said BMW would focus on its six-cylinder engines as it attempts to improve emissions and fuel consumption levels in light of stricter regulations set to roll in over the next decade in both the U.S. and Europe. During the same interview he told reporters that he’d like to see future M cars lose a few cylinders and shed more weight. He gave the example of BMW’s brilliant 300hp twin-turbo 3.0L six as a future direction he’d like to take.
Although purists may scoff at the idea of a turbocharged M3 or even M5, it’s a direction rival performance house AMG is likely to take as well, and with the current practice of one-upmanship amongst carmakers BMW may not have a choice.
Speaking with Auto Motor and Sport, Reithofer said BMW would focus on its six-cylinder engines as it attempts to improve emissions and fuel consumption levels in light of stricter regulations set to roll in over the next decade in both the U.S. and Europe. During the same interview he told reporters that he’d like to see future M cars lose a few cylinders and shed more weight. He gave the example of BMW’s brilliant 300hp twin-turbo 3.0L six as a future direction he’d like to take.
Although purists may scoff at the idea of a turbocharged M3 or even M5, it’s a direction rival performance house AMG is likely to take as well, and with the current practice of one-upmanship amongst carmakers BMW may not have a choice.
that might be better for them anyway, NA engines are giving bmw a lot of challenges. especially when their 3.5 turbo engine has so much potential and in cases surpassing the m engines
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V8 diesels are useless. They are neither fast nor give good fuel economy and even in Europe they are sold in small numbers. In most cases they are bought in the flagships. Very good decision by BMW
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Canceling big engines is B.S. Challenge your engineers to figure out how to make them more economical.
Maybe we don't need giant displacement V-8s.
I partially blame Nissan and their got damn sameness and marketing, shoving a 3.5 V-6 down everyones throats, where the competition had to follow. This is the same company who laughed at hybrids.
Well today, now small is in. Get back to 3.0 V-6s and 4.0 V-8s....All these huge engines are just too damn huge for daily driving.
Maybe we don't need giant displacement V-8s.
I partially blame Nissan and their got damn sameness and marketing, shoving a 3.5 V-6 down everyones throats, where the competition had to follow. This is the same company who laughed at hybrids.
Well today, now small is in. Get back to 3.0 V-6s and 4.0 V-8s....All these huge engines are just too damn huge for daily driving.
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I don't know why big displacement gets a bad rep, really. The only fairly consistent downside of large displacement (per cylinder) motor is excess weight in rotating mass of the valvetrain making free and high revving characteristics difficult if not impossible to achieve.
In all reality that's effectively what turbochargers and superchargers are doing anyway... just increasing the effective displacement of the cylinders by cramming more dense air into a smaller space.
But for reasons I don't really fully understand, a turbo direct injected 4 or 6 cylinder can offer the power of a motor with two more cylinders but with an even flatter torque curve and better fuel economy.
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sometimes i really wonder if bmw really did make the Mclaren F1 engine. I am a die hard bmw fan and sorry, seeing them going FI is a huge turn off, it's just not right...
but it's just me, no need to flame, moving on...
but it's just me, no need to flame, moving on...
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However, during that time, in Honda's philosophy there was a resistance to large engines with many cylinders. I am not certain, but probably at the time, the voluntary restraint on power limits was a factor. Being a fan of Honda engines, I later went to Honda's Tochigi Research Center on two occasions and requested that they consider building for the McLaren F1 a 4.5 liter V10 or V12. I asked, I tried to persuade them, but in the end could not convince them to do it, and the McLaren F1 ended up equipped with a BMW engine.
The amazing thing is he asked for I think 550hp and got what 627 from BMW!
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Toyota and Nissan have both committed to lowering vehicle weight over the next several years. They will lower weight yet keep vehicle safety high through the use of advanced materials.
Also with engines, both Nissan and Toyota are pushing their engineers to make powerful V8s that are also fuel efficient.
The Lexus 4.6L V8 is as fuel efficient as some V6 engines on the market right now.
The way that automakers are reacting to stricter fuel economy and emissions standards illustrates differences in their corporate cultures. Companies like Toyota and Nissan just cancel entire classes of engines or give up, they challenge their engineers and themselves.
Displacement doesn't actually have all that much to do with the physical size and weight of a motor. Sure with all other factors the same it'll generally require a slightly larger block assuming an increase in bore and stroke won't do the trick given the same block. But compare, for example, the size/weight of the 1UZ-FE 4.0 DOHC V8 to GM's 6.2L LS3 V8. The 6.2L from GM is smaller, lighter, cheaper to produce, dramatically more powerful, and gets similar fuel economy. Main downside being it's just not smooth enough or refined enough of a motor for a luxury vehicle.
Why are you comparing the 1UZ with the LS3? The 1UZ is an almost 20-year old engine design, while the LS3 is very recent engine design. Why don't we compare the 1UR instead of the 1UZ to make it more fair?The 1UR has almost 2L less displacement than the LS3, and it makes a bit less power than the LS3, yet it gets better fuel economy. It's also smoother and more refined than the LS3.
