4
NEWS
BMW's three to get ready
Munich's inline triple sees the light of dayBMW officially has a three-cylinder engine heading our way – but it’s still not sure when.
The Bavarian car-maker has confirmed its new three-cylinder engines will spearhead an all-new family of petrol and diesel powertrains, including redesigned four- and six-cylinder engines.
Conceived as both a front- and rear-wheel drive engine, the 1.5-litre three-cylinder is tipped to be nearly 10 per cent lighter and up to 15 per cent more economical than BMW’s current 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine line-up.
Yet it won’t lack for oomph, with its first production outing in the 2014 i8 plug-in hybrid super-coupe expected to bring around 165kW of power, though its “normal” power range will be between 90kW and 150kW as a petrol engine.
Its first production application as the primary power source in a BMW Group product is thought to be as a transverse, front-drive engine for the 2014 MINI, which will make its motor show debut late next year.
The same car, which will debut BMW’s new small front-drive architecture – dubbed UKL1 - will also become the first home for the all-new engine family’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines.
The engine will first be seen inside BMW’s urban people-mover show car – the Concept Active Tourer – this month’s Paris Motor Show.
After the next MINI’s introduction in 2014, BMW has hinted the three-cylinder is slated to find its way into the 1 Series, 3 Series and “other models associated with the 1 and 3 Series and in that size range,” a spokesman said.
The engine’s chief development engineer Fritz Steinparzer admitted yesterday that the new powerplant’s upper limit is a car weighing around 1300kg.
It will also be mated almost exclusively with BMW’s new eight-speed automatic transmission - complete with Predictive Drivetrain Management, which makes the gearbox’s ECU talk to the navigation system to choose the right gears for each corner and elevation change, saving yet more fuel.
The engines will improve fuel consumption by “more than 10 per cent for most of the models we plan to put it into, but between five and 15 per cent depending on the configuration,” Mr Steinparzer said.
They will play a key role in supporting BMW’s target of reducing its corporate average fuel consumption by 25 per cent between 2008 and 2020, by which time it expects at least 80 per cent of its sales volume to still be powered by internal-combustion engines.
The three-cylinder engines will also usher in a new family of BMW inline engines, with new 2.0-litre four-cylinder and 3.0-litre six-cylinder engines to follow. All three engines will have longer strokes and narrower bore centres than the current four- and six-cylinder engines and, at 11.0:1, higher compression ratios, too.
“The new four-cylinder will be lighter than the current engine by about 5-6kg,” Mr Steinparzer admitted. “The three-cylinder will be 8-10kg lighter than the new four-cylinder, and around 15kg lighter than the existing four-cylinder petrol engine.”
Dubbed the B38 engine internally, the petrol-powered three-cylinder will boast direct fuel-injection, variable valve timing on the intake and exhaust valves and variable lift, along with a single-scroll turbocharger.
But the range won’t stop there, because BMW plans to offer the little 1.5-litre engine in even smaller form, as a 1.2-litre engine that will power base MINIs as well as hybrid models.
Even so, Mr Steinparzer refused to rule out putting either of the new small engines inside its larger models, like the 5 Series, albeit only as a range-extending powerplant for hybrid drive.
As revealed last week, the three- and four-cylinder engines are pre-engineered for front- and rear-drive applications, while the inline six is considered a pure rear-drive machine. The four- and six-cylinder engines will use twin-scroll turbochargers in place of the single-scroll turbo on the three-cylinder.
There is also substantial overlap between the engines, with up to 60 per cent of the parts shared between all three petrol-powered engines.
The ace up BMW’s sleeve is that the core of the engine design will remain to provide three diesel engines, too. The diesels will share up to 40 per cent of their parts with their petrol siblings, including their core architectures.
While the petrol-powered three-cylinder is dubbed the B38, the diesel is known as the B37. That flips up to B48 and B47 for the four-cylinder engines and B68 and B67 for the inline sixes.
“They look so similar that the people on the production line shouldn’t be able to tell the difference between whether they’re building a diesel or a petrol version of the car,” Mr Steinparzer said. “They hook up to the same cooling and exhaust interfaces, for example, and the same engine mounts.”
Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Share this article
Written byMichael Taylor
See all articlesOur team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Stay up to dateBecome a carsales member and get the latest news, reviews and advice straight to your inbox.
Subscribe todaySell your car with Instant Offer™
Like trade-in but price is regularly higher
1. Get a free Instant Offer™ online in minutes2. An official local dealer will inspect your car3. Finalise the details and get paid the next business day
Get a free Instant Offer
Looking for a family car?Get the latest advice and reviews on family car that's right for you.
Explore the Family Hub
Related articles
Disclaimer
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Love every move.
Buy it. Sell it.Love it.
®Contact
Advertise with us
Local marketplaces
International marketplaces
Scan to download the carsales app
Want more info? Here’s our app landing page
App Store and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo
are trademarks of Google LLC.