Johnhav430

I honestly would have a lot of faith in a Toyota made inline 6. Seriously. Engineers cannot defy physics--that is a balanced design. I wonder how much longer Audi can milk the V6.

mmarshall

The original Lexus IS had an 3.0L in-line six....IMO, quality-wise, one of the best engines Toyota/Lexus ever did, although it was a gas hog and used as much fuel as the more powerful 4.0L V8.

Johnhav430

I did not know that...even my 1998 Maxima gets about 2 mpg better than the 2006 LS430, with the HP/TQ being totally disparate. But that would mean the IS would have been doing maybe 2 mpg worse than a comparable Maxima of the time...didn't the early 90's Cressida have a inline 6?

situman

Is Toyota really this disconnected? The verbal vitriol the BMW Supra received should be deafening to anyone. I have zero interest in the IS, but my fear is this practice will spread to their larger cars and SUVs.

psolov

Hopefully they don't bring over the piece of crap plastic plumbing with it. It will destroy the car before 80k miles. Just got done dealing with the BS on a BMW 550.

mmarshall

The 3.0L in-line in my 2001 IS300, with RWD, was rated at only 23 highway and 17 city...and I rarely got 17 in typical NoVa stop-and go driving....on expensive 91 octane. It was a superb engine quality-wise (I wouldn't be surprised if it is still running today, after almost 20 years)...but an economy engine, it was not.

(BTW, that was the same engine, in sightly modified form. that was used in the last non-turbo Toyota Supra in the 1990s.....the Turbo Supra, of course, was boosted).

arentz07

I've only really seen rumors of the BMW powerplant making it into an IS, nothing concrete. I guess it would be feasible, given the relationship Toyota and BMW have, as well as the lineage of the original IS having the same inline-six as the Supra. However, I think that's a little too poetic for reality. Given the IS is a much higher-volume vehicle than the Supra will be, I don't think the economies-of-scale problem that exists with the Supra will be an issue for the IS.

E46CT

Either way you slice it Toyota still needs a turbo-6 for the IS. Or else it's dead in the water on arrival. Toyota spent development dollars on the TT V6 in the LS so initially I saw that as a no-brainer. But on the other hand a straight six would offer really good driving characeristics in a driving car such as the IS. Also BMW could sell a ton to Toyota at discount as BMW already has their new straight six in development. Toyota would save money, get a fantastic engine for the IS and BMW would wring out as much ROI they can on the B58 by selling extra engines. Win/win for everyone it would seem. Just guesses, really. We'll see!

Also BMW straight sixes are a different ball game than their V8s in terms of durability and reliability. The straight sixes are known deep-six-figure workhorses. On the whole they do need more maintenance and babysitting than Japanese engines... but on the other hand we really haven't had any modern/recent turbo japanese engines go long term yet either... you start to play in that territory and you generate a lot of heat and need a lot of heat management and associated plumbing. Complicates things further. Can't criticize german reliability when the japanese don't really have powerplants in the same arena yet. you are comparing 4 banger corollas to complicated twin turbo V8s criticizing one make over the other using that data is misleading.

LeX2K

One of the most fundamental rules of business is don't dilute your brand the name is very valuable especially for an auto company. Toyota has become incredibly lazy (and probably greedy) they have vast engineering and financial resources to make a modern inline 6. And it doesn't have to make money straight away the reputation long term is much more valuable. Look at the Supra, AE86 etc. as examples.

Propulsion

My biggest question is why?

What group of Lexus enthusiasts are asking for BMW sourced engines dropped into new Lexus models?

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

i think it's hilarious.

good idea, not going to happen.

great idea, not going to happen.

definitely not going to happen (emissions, efficiency, slow by today's standards)

on supraforums i saw the new supra referred to as the Zupra.

agree 100% despite rhetoric, i think bean counters run toyota and it's hard to argue with their success but like you saw i think they're sacrificing long term reputation with short term gains unless of course they intend to buy bmw, which they probably could.

mmarshall

I have to agree with pman6. We know the 2jz is an excellent block, and can run 200K or more miles without problems. The fuel-consumption and emission problems can probably be addressed by fitting a more advanced direct-injection system than it had before. That may also address the 0-60 problem, though, IMO, too much emphasis is put on speed today, even wth sports cars.

Stroock639

i agree, toyota should make me the new chairman

i'd cut profits from 20 to maybe $12 billion (i'd obviously take a pay cut from what my predecessor was making), pull a stalin with the zupra, reintroduce the supra as the gtr competitor it once was, bring back the mr2 with at most a 2 star safety rating since who wants a safe mr2, give the 4runner a V8 and manual options again, the rav4 a V6 option again, make the avalon back to being a wallowey boat, get the f sportness out of most lexus models, find whoever first devised the spindle grille and make sure they as well as anyone containing their genetics are sent into space far far away from here, give the corolla and camry a manual option for all trim levels and engines, make another corolla xrs with another 8000+ rpm screamer of an engine, and possibly most important of all... get that pathetic sounding disgraceful dishonorable 6 cylinder out of the LS 500 and give it an all new 5 liter V8 like it deserves, as well as thick cushy tires and thick cushy seats

Vladi

This rumor has no foundation unless Toyota has revised their power unit agreement with BMW to include Lexus cause one of the clauses states that BMW sourced engines can't be fit into any Lexus model

UDel

I don't see BMW letting one of their biggest competitors in the luxury market use their most sought after/famous engines and I don't see Lexus spending all the money buying BMW engines and trying to explain to customers why they had to go to BMW for engines on lux popular cars. For a low volume sports car like the Supra which will have different buyers then BMW, it makes sense but not for a entry level lux sedan in the same exact market.