"the world's most powerful straight-six diesel" delivering 286hp and 427 lb-ft?!!??? This is laugh out loud funny. Hey BMW, did anyone mention to you that trucks also use diesel engines? Usually straight-six diesels? I would imagine that something like the CAT C-17 or the Cummins ISX would hold the title of most powerful straight-six diesel, for road use. And I won't even get started on the cargo ship diesel engines, most of which are inline and some of which happen to have six cylinders.

Apart from that incredibly glaring mistake, it's nice to see this evolutionary improvement in BMW car diesels. I keep waiting for them to show up here in the USA.

Groundbreaking for BMW would be achieving 45 mpg with a 4 cylinder.

Or 100 mpg with a two-cylinder, turbocharged diesel, driving a generator at constant speed.

A Cummins ISX 385 ST is rated at 565 horsepower, with 1850 lb-ft of peak torque. That dwarfs the BMW.

Comeon, BMW was clearly referring to the most powerful engine of a car, not a truck or a ship. BMW is really a driving force in motor technology.

fyiCO2 the 320 diesel (169 hp) gets 50 mpg (UK) on the combined cycle.

Not to mention VW has plenty of 140hp TDI's that get around 45mpg. Nothing significant about getting 45mpg from a 4-cyl. The point here is that cars like the Honda Accord V6 and Toyota Camry V6 struggle to get even 25mpg combined. BMW makes as much or more power than those two and WAAAAAAY more torque while getting 30+ mpg.

It's interesting to bring up the truck diesels as a comparison. First of all, why wouldn't you reference the Cummins 530 ISX ST as the benchmark? It produces 530hp and 1850ft/lbs of torque at a meer 2000 RPM. Since they would not fit under the bonnet of an automobile, the measure of power is relative. Even considering the Cummins 530 ISX ST, it produces trite 35.33hp per liter while the BMW produces 95.3hp per liter. That's roughly 2.7 times the power per liter. This is because the Cummins, or the CAT engine for that matter are 15.0L engines while the BWM is a mere 3.0L.

I thing the title is misleading, but the point is rather obvious: it's a automobile engine.

The ISX must make that 1850 ft-lbs at way lower RPM. Simple math tells us 1850 ft-lbs @ 2000rpm = 705hp.

(1850/5252)*2000 = 704.5.

If it makes that torque at 1400rpm or so then:

(1850/5252)*1400 = 493hp

That sounds about right since it probably starts to taper off after that, reaching peak power a little while later and probably having a flat 530hp from 1600 to whatever redline is. I'm sure someone that has access to the engine data would know for sure, but either way, the point was that it likely makes peak torque closer to 1400 than 2000rpm.

Back on the topic of automobiles, it's again worth pointing out the BMW probably makes far more power at 2500rpm than a naturally aspirated gasoline engine of equal displacement, such as the Accord V6. The Accord makes peak torque of 211 ft-lbs @ 4000rpm. Even if it has extremely flat torque delivery, it probably makes maybe 190 ft-lbs at 2500rpm, thus 90 horsepower at 2500rpm. The BMW with it's 427 ft-lbs probably coming on around that range would thus be making 203hp at 2500rpm - more than twice as much power, resulting in far fewer downshifts and a smoother delivery of passing power.

Sid,

It is difficult to make the comparison due to the addition of the turbochargers on the diesel engine and the Accord is naturally aspirated.

Perhaps a 3.0L such as the 3000GT VR-4 is a better comparison even though it is tuned for different service and is 10 years old but it does use a 3.0L V-6 with a twin turbo arrangement. 315lb-ft of torque at 2500rpm = 150hp.

> [4 cyl. up to 45 mpg!]

I have a '01 Golf TDI that gets 51-53 mpg on regular diesel, 46-48 on 100% biodiesel. This is an engine two or three long generations old - 1.9L, 4cyl, 2 valves per cylinder. Where's my 60-70 mpg piezo injectin', common-rail sportin' Golf V?!

-mt

If you want a sports car that will get good gas mileage and drive well then this is a new option. The relative story here is the BMW DIESEL SPORTS CAR. Diesel has alwast stood for funky odor and sluggish performance that shouts I'm a tightwad! That's ok if your a freight hauling company or power provider but not if your want a car to sell. Now with high pressure common rail injection, multipulse ignition, and now aftertreatment for exhaust diesel has grown up. Welcome to the new diesel. 5000 RPM from a diesel is big news! Hey if I had the money I would buy one and run a GreaseCar or Frybrid kit on it and run B100 to warm up. SVO is the best CO2 option we have. It's even better than B100. Now a little fiddling and some money give you free fuel and great performance with good mileage in a great car..... Drive all day in the mountains sunroof open for fun :-) If only it were in the US and I had the money :-(

Patrick, I selected the Camry/Accord because they are similar in size, weight, power, and class-leaders in fuel economy. According to fueleconomy.gov, the last year of 3000GT import was 1999. It was rated at 18/24 in turbo form for a non-weighted average of 22mpg. The power/torque at low RPM are thus close to the BMW, but the fuel economy is even further off the mark. I think turbodiesel engines may replace N/A V6's as the premium engine choice for many cars in the next 10 years. V8 torque, V6 horsepower, and 4-cyl fuel economy all from one engine.

I do agree with that Sid, as long as they can get the emissions to meet the EPA requirements.

Then again I do see a place for 4-cyl, turbo, direct injection, variable valve timing & lift gasoline motors also as a replacement for V-6 engines as the "premium" engine choice. I doubt the average American agrees with me though.

Anyone know what it would take to get these things to meet U.S. emission regs?

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2851385

Honda and VW(look into the thread for the VW link) appear to be on target to bring 50-state light duty diesel by 2008-2009: non-urea/SCR NOx cats/traps. I'm sure the tech can be adapted/licensed to BMW, etc.

BMW has said they're looking at urea-SCR to meet the NOx requirements for the US.