Curious as to your impressions if you have. It's more than I want to spend on the next family car, but seems like it hits the right spots- good gas mileage, great performance... now they just need to stick it in the wagon. I actually even like the looks.
haven't seen it yet.. but I am sure a turbo 4 is going to upset a lot of US BMW "purists" who insist that a real BMW has a straight 6
Yeah, like the M3 and Z3 and 2002.
mad_machine wrote: haven't seen it yet.. but I am sure a turbo 4 is going to upset a lot of US BMW "purists" who insist that a real BMW has a straight 6
damn, my 318 isn't a real BMW...
on the upside, that would mean that I'm not a real douchebag.
Haven't driven the 4 pot, but did test drive the '11 328ix wagon against the A4 Avant - surprisingly the Audi won hands down. Until you got over 5500 RPM (and select "sport" every time you get in) the Bim was a dog. Worse fuel economy with the 6 too, but now it's a fair fight.
Saw an interesting news line about the new turbo-four 3-series: New BMW 328i actually more fuel efficient than old 335d diesel.
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/02/01/new-bmw-328i-actually-more-fuel-efficient-than-old-335d-diesel/
The new engine only wins by 1mpg in the city, but it was surprising.
I remember going to F1 races in the 1980s and hearing the BMW turbo 4s going past at full song. I think they were putting out in the range of 1200 hp. It would make your hair stand up! BMW has a lot of experience with four cylinders.
WOW, 36mpg highway?
Holy crap, that is some good MPGs.
The only BMW engine to ever win a F1 world championship was a four!
I went to the media launch for the new 3 Series, so I was fortunate enough to drive the car around Barcelona and even got some laps around the Circuit de Catalunya. They used the event to showcase the new tech, so they only had 328i 8-speed automatics and 320d 8-speed auto diesels. Fortunately, manual transmissions are still available; The 8-speed is cool and a very good auto, but it's still a torque-converter automatic with all the downsides, though they're minimized thanks to quick shifts and intelligent programming
There wasn't room for our full review in the issue that just left (April 2012), so you'll have to wait 'till the May issue for that. I can tell you that the new 2-liter turbo is a fine powerplant; more powerful and lighter than the 6-cylinder it replaces. It shares many design elements with the 6-cylinder turbo in the 335i. It's very drivable at low revs, the boost lag didn't seem bad though it was hampered by the automatic trans.
The VANOS and Valvetronic setups are in full effect to work with the Twinscroll Turbo (pulses from cylinders 1 and 3 get their own route, as do those from 2 and 4, to maximize the impact on the turbine). There is no butterfly throttle; Valvetronic can regulate the valve opening so effectively that they just use the valves to dictate the amount of air going into the cylinders, from fully closed to WOT.
They did what they could to minimize vibration, but the new four just isn't as smooth at low revs as the six, and the start-stop engine feature really showcases this shortcoming.
The engine ran beautifully on track, no overheating problems or limp modes even after about 10 laps, although each lap had a pause on the front straight. Actually, that probably would encourage heat soak, so I think they've put a lot of work into the cooling issues that use to hamper our old hopped-up 335i.
Scott Lear wrote: I went to the media launch for the new 3 Series, so I was fortunate enough to drive the car around Barcelona and even got some laps around the Circuit de Catalunya.
Rough life! 
Seriously though, thanks for the information.
Scott Lear wrote: I went to the media launch for the new 3 Series, so I was fortunate enough to drive the car around Barcelona and even got some laps around the Circuit de Catalunya.
Show off. 
Scott Lear wrote: The VANOS and Valvetronic setups are in full effect to work with the Twinscroll Turbo (pulses from cylinders 1 and 3 get their own route, as do those from 2 and 4, to maximize the impact on the turbine). There is no butterfly throttle; Valvetronic can regulate the valve opening so effectively that they just use the valves to dictate the amount of air going into the cylinders, from fully closed to WOT.
On a car that I were leasing, I find this amazing. On a car that I were considering purchasing, I find this terrifying.
Tom Heath wrote:Scott Lear wrote: I went to the media launch for the new 3 Series, so I was fortunate enough to drive the car around Barcelona and even got some laps around the Circuit de Catalunya.Show off.Scott Lear wrote: The VANOS and Valvetronic setups are in full effect to work with the Twinscroll Turbo (pulses from cylinders 1 and 3 get their own route, as do those from 2 and 4, to maximize the impact on the turbine). There is no butterfly throttle; Valvetronic can regulate the valve opening so effectively that they just use the valves to dictate the amount of air going into the cylinders, from fully closed to WOT.On a car that I were leasing, I find this amazing. On a car that I were considering purchasing, I find this terrifying.
Valvetronic is truly an amazing and reliable technology - 117k miles on my 750Li with that system and no problems whatsoever. Of course, it'll fail on the drive home now that I've written that... It's supposed to dramatically reduce pumping losses, which with a n/a V8 I get but with a turbo 4 that will have positive pressure most of the time it seems to be technology for technology's sake.
My favorite fun fact from the engine spec sheet: Fuel delivery pressure. Peak direct injection fuel delivery pressure of 200....
BAR!
(2900 psi)
Oh, and one more nugget I didn't have room for in the review that will appear in the magazine. The seatbelts have pretensioners that snug the belts up against your body when they anticipate a potential crash. Driving around Catalunya with the various nannies turned off, in a few of the higher-speed corners you could tell when you were really booking as the belts started to snug up in mid-corner. It was distracting at first, but after a couple of times I decided it was a tactile indicator of Doing It Right.
I take it you had to break someone's knees for the Catalunya trip? Might it be Tom's?
I'll be looking forward to it. Sounds like another contender with great MPG's and good performance... just get the wagon sorted and we're home free!
Again, it looks much better than the E90 in the pictures, but I'll have to see one in person to make the judgment.
So how does this stop start thing work? I'm thinking of, say August in Georgia or Florida - What happens to the a/c when the car turns itself off every 20 feet in a traffic jam? I wouldn't mind a diesel wagon with a 6spd.
I'm also really interested in the stop/start thing. It seems like it could be full of fail if they implement it wrong. Left foot breaking is imperiled with all of the nannies being introduced.
I understand that it shuts the engine off if you're at 0mph with your foot on the brake. When you take your foot off, it starts up. Also read from multiple sources that it is choppy (not seamless) in this application. But I think it can be disabled with one of the "eco" settings.
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