Pretty soon they’ll be hawking a new Isetta in America to compete with the Smart, iQ, 500 and now the Ka! How stupid will that look on our streets!

God bless. They don’t sell any 6’s in Europe to begin with (except diesels in 5 & 7 series). And BMW has not certified single I4 in US. What the difference 3 pot makes?

its gonna sound like a mosquito

“However, BMW has yet to confirm a three-cylinder engine is even under development.”

You can’t just make this **** up LLN. I want hard facts please.

agreed

it would be a engine all of the ricers would look for, like all of the hondas you see on the streets with the 10″ tin can mufflers

I’m all for lighter Bimmers with turbocharged and direct injected 4-cylinder engines…but a 3-banger humming under the hood? No thanks!

@ Borat

BMW certainly do sell 6-cylinder petrol cars in Europe throughout their range.

3-cylinder + BMW = A big nono.

Putting a 3-cylinder engine with a BMW body will not work.

End of story.

You think it will be a V3?

Nope W-3.

BTW, it will sound like mosquito in BMW, but in VW Polo 3 pot sounds like 1/2 of Porsche?

londor, during time I spend in Europe I never saw one, but plenty diesels (well not as many 5 and 7 as in N.E. US, but some 5 & 7 with diesel motors).

londor… i believe he was talking about the 6-series, not the I-6 engines.

@ Borat

Just because you did not see one it does not mean they are not sold in Europe.

Next time check the facts instead of assuming and you will be correct.

@ A4

Whether he was talking about 6-cylinder petrol engines or the 6-series he is still wrong because both are sold in Europe.

If it can perform like a four, why the hell not?

You really don’t gain much with a 3-cylinder versus a 4. To aviod the vibrations inherit with this design, you’ll have to add several balance shafts which will just reduce the overall output. The alternative is a rougher engine, which is fine in an econobox but would be out of place in an entry level sports-tourer.

Actually, Borat is mostly right, while they do sell their I6 in Europe obviously, you barely ever see them on the roads. The bulk of their sale goes for diesels and their I4 engines called x18 and x20 (x being the body style series obviously). These I4s are pretty decent, but nothing special, rated at 143 and 170hp (remember, hp in Europe are gross values, so in the US they’d be lower after subtracting the alternator, friction loss and whatnot)

Anyways, a 3-cylinder engine really wouldn’t do justice to BMW, and it will not sound very good, but I can imagine they’ll be able to extract crazy fuel efficiency from it, maybe matching the diesel ratings. I guess everybody’s going for gas mileage these days…

londor,

I did not assume. I know they can be bought, the question is how many are bought with 6 cylinder petrol in Europe? Do you have any statistics? I am sure some are sold behind former Iron Curtain, since you can not get quality diesel fuel in Mother Russia and surroundings. But in civilized part of Europe I haven’t seen one. 5 and 7 series are not that common, so when you see one it catches your attention how it is motivated. The last 7 series with gasoline I6 I’ve seen was in original Transporter (it was 1998 728 not sold in US at all).

Can I outfit my tractor with this engine?

as starter for a diesel?

@ Borat

As you wrote your first post it meant that BMW did not sell 6-cylinder petrol engines in Europe. If you meant that they do not sell many of them then it is another matter.

In Europe in some countries diesel cars outsell petrol cars by 3 to 1 and obviously on those countries you will not see many 6-cylinder petrol cars (most of them will be 4-cylinder) but in other countries were petrol is cheaper than diesel 6-cylinder petrol cars are more common.

Here you can see the percentage of diesel cars sold in Europe by country

http://www.acea.be/images/uploads/files/20090325_All_Characteristics_1990-2009.pdf

@ mayer ray nagin and borat… LOL!!! I was thinking more like an H3 engine

@londor:
Like I said, when do you see petrol BMWs in Europe, they tend to be either the x18 or the x20, based on the same I4 but with a few modifications leading one to produce 143hp and the other 170. Rarely to did I see a 335i or even a 330i. The sort of exception is Switzerland, my country, where people apparently can afford the I6 and the gas for it a little more, so you see them a bit more on the road then in the rest of Europe.

i get it…a new marketing synergy could develop here…3-series = 3-cylinder, 5-series = 5-cylinder, etc…of course, this would mean very interesting times for the 1-series ahead, indeed, but then the series designations would have some meaning to them

Sonuds interesting…But kinda weird being sold as a BMW. they should probably sell it under their MINI brand

There would have to be something else on there to help out. Turbo, one or two, supercharger…?

SOMETHING

the power to weight ratio has to be right for this to work

To the naysayers:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change” – Charles Darwin

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” – Arthur Schopenhauer


Times change, and the 3-bangers humming like a mosquito made me lol.

@lonfdor, I think 6 cylinder gasoline (in colonies, petrol in her majesty tongue) certainly offered all over, it does not mean it sells. That all I meant. Thanks for the chart, it is great statistics.

3-cylinders always remind me of the geo Metro convertible.
Obviously, I don’t like this idea