Scooby-Doo

Now BMW have released details of the 3 litre twin turbo petrol engine I hope a number of people will stick to their word and eat their hats.

7 Foot

What've I missed?

Scooby-Doo

Which part is not clear ?

BMW 335i 3 litre twin turbo rear wheel drive. 306 BHP standard.

john banks

Direct injection, max torque of 400Nm from 1500 to 5800 RPM.

Slightly disappointed from the mods point of view that it is an aluminium block.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

End of an era.

Hope BMW don't go turbo'ing all of their high-end engines.

Sure the old 2002 was turbo'd, but remember what that was like for apauling throttle response and off-boost performance

ScoobyDoo69

iTrader: (17)

5800 RPM...on a diesel! wow! nice one

john banks

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/02/21/b...ine-in-geneva/

It is petrol and redlines at 7000 RPM, and they claim zero lag in this article. The turbos really are tiny, and also not sequential from the looks of the plumbing. Interesting debate at the end which covers the variety of opinions.

I do think big turbos below on AWD machinery though and this will probably be very well judged. Don't know why they didn't just make a 3.5 though.

7 Foot

Who should be eating their hats? What did they say?

Scooby-Doo

There was a discussion a year ago on here where I and others stated a BMW petrol turbo would be released within 18 months and a number of people offered to eat their hats if BMW released said item. Now the truth is out I demand hats are eaten

I will have a dig around for names then request they take their places for dinner.

fast bloke

Is this fact or speculation? 306 BHP from a 3.0 twin turbo seems crapish when they can get 340 from an NA 3.2

Trout

iTrader: (1)

It wasn't exactly speculation as the 335 has been discussed in the press ever since the new shape 3 series came out.

No real surprise there then.

Mind you there were some insisting that Subaru would never bring out a 2.5 Impreza in the UK either - right up until the press release

brickboy

It's the torque they've gone for, not the power ... no amount of VVT or other NA fiddling will get 300ft-lbs over a 4000rpm span.

Sounds like they're going all Volvo, one of the marketing points of the T5s is the wide flat torque curve.

chiark

Blimey, I must admit that I'm surprised despite all the press. I thought they'd do a 335D, but turbo petrol? They've gone all Audi! Or as brickboy says, Volvo.

The potential for tuning will be interesting, you can't deny that!

john banks

Potential for tuning might be difficult - it is probably quite high compression, it is an alloy block, the packaging might be tight in getting a new manifold or bigger turbos on there, the intercooler is tiny, and those direct injection injectors might be tricky to replace for higher flow items, and I bet they don't put a rear LSD on it.

chiark

but, other than that, it's interesting . I'll get me coat

Good points John, all of 'em. How much is deliberate not to detract from the M3 I wonder?

john banks

Probably a lot of it is not to step on M3 toes. They could have easily made it so much more powerful, but it wouldn't fit with the BMW ethos, and I don't think it would suit RWD either to have more conventional turbo delivery. The present M3 is so throttle sensitive (and fairly firm) that even without sport mode on (which remaps the throttle response) if you are in 2nd gear over a few small bumps it is quite easy to start kangarooing because the bump moves the throttle position which jolts the car, which moves the throttle some more etc, however, it is very balanced in smooth corners. I wonder if the N54 will be quite that throttle sensitive.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I agree about the thottle response. I found the throttle sensitivity on BMWs of recent years can be a right PITA since they switched to fly-by-wire type throttle control - especially with stiff suspension and bumpy roads

Probably just me and my lead feet, but it seems my foot struggles keep the pedal fixed in a specific position on bumpy roads, probably down to the low spring resistance of the pedal. Never had the problem on the old cable throttled cars.