BMW three-cylinder engines in 2015
BMW Australia boss confirms mainstream roll out of new turbo triple in 18 monthsThings are better in threes in the world of BMW it seems, with the German manufacturer confirming its new family of efficient three-cylinder engines will power Australian BMW vehicles within 18 months.
BMW Australia's Managing Director, Phil Horton, said the 1 Series and 3 Series models will most likely get the new 'triples' first, which will be offered in turbo-petrol and turbo-diesel guises, in 2015.
"We don't get it next year... We're talking about 18 months away but we're not talking about far into the future," said Horton of the new three-cylinder engine family's arrival in Australia.
The first Australian application of the new engine is expected will fall to the new 2014 MINI next year.
Designed to replace BMW's range of four-cylinder engines in the 1 Series and 3 Series models initially, the new three-cylinder engines will be around 15 per cent more efficient, yet they won't compromise in terms of power says the company.
motoring.com.au was impressed with the new 130kW 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol unit when it first sampled it in September 2012 in a 1 Series, essentially a 3.0-litre BMW six-cylinder engine sliced in half.
Peak power for the small petrol engines will range between 90 and 150kW, while the diesel models will favour torque over power, producing as much as 300Nm, and possibly more. An even smaller 1.2-litre engine is also on the cards.
"Those will be high volume engines," stated Horton, indicating the brand's commitment to deploying the engines in its best-selling models.
Although smaller than the four cylinder units they are set to replace, the triples won't necessarily be more affordable.
"This is not a cheap engine. It's just a different engine," said Horton. "It would be [judged] more around the performance of the engine. And the performance that we've seen is improved over the four cylinder engines".
"They're great engines. High power, turbo, very good fuel economy and they sound good. Why wouldn’t the customer want them?"
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