Quote:
Originally Posted by RPM90
There has been speculation and rumor about a replacement engine for the N55 and it's been going on for about 1.5yrs.
At some point the speculation will be true.  But I don't think it will be as soon as some think.
The N55 came to market in 09 in the 535i GT as a 2010 model.
It came to other BMW's in 2010 like in the 2010 135i.
So that's about 4 years of mass production.
It's not likely that BMW will bring a new replacement for the N55 sooner than 7 production years imo.
The N55 was a brand new turbo design incorporating newest advancements in turbo engines like twin scroll turbo and valvetronic intake.
BMW needs to get a return on investment before they bring a whole new engine.
The N54 was more of a "stop gap" engine brought to market to compete with the higher HP engines from the competition.
SO BMW used an older engine design and added twin turbo's. It was a big hit, but it lacked the refined and efficiency they needed, thus the N55 came pretty soon after, and that's why it's life was shorter before replacement.
The N55 is still quite new and loaded with technology and it's efficient given how much power it produces, especially when coupled with the new 8spd AT.
It's be interesting if the 4 series launches with a new engine.
I'll bet it won't.
A new engine is more likely to come during the mid life cycle refresh of the F30, still more than a couple years away. |
there's a recent post by m koesel where he states that the 435 is an interim model to an m-performance 4 series(analagous to the m235) coming for 2015 with a power bump and, if i recall correctly, will have the b68 although i could be wrong about the last part.