File this one under "News that will not shock Justin Berkowitz." For the fourth straight year in a row, the propeller people from Bavaria have taken home Engine of the Year honors as decided by… motoring journalists. Who decides on which motor journalists get to vote? Who knows? Anyhow, this is the second year in a row that the 335i's dark bread und white sausage has taken home the award. And why the hell not? BMW has simply eliminated turbo lag, a trick they couldn't even manage in their own twin-turbo V8. And the power is awesome. I once asked a BMW engineer about the possibility that they underrated 3.0-liter twin-turbo's power to save the face of the then out-going E46 M3. He was aghast. Nein! That would be unethical, immoral and many other non-nice things. Who would do such a thing? I explained the history of American muscle cars, the notorious underrating of horsepower and my German friend looked nauseous. Either he's a hell of an actor, or completely in the dark. I saw a 335i dyno 275 horsepower at the wheel. Figure a 15 – 20 percent driveline loss and you're talking at least 330 horses, maybe more. But hey, who's complaining?
9 Comments on “BMW 3.0-Liter Twin-Turbo 6 Named Engine of the Year...”
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I love that this engine will out-perform the M3 V8 with a pittance of a modification budget.
Hell, it might even have more torque stock due to underrating the I6 and overrating the V8. That engine is really too good for BMW right now.
I love my 335i and yes, it has more horses than they ‘list’. BTW, Jonny, Dinan will re-map the chip (boost the psi) to the tune of 384hp and honor the warranty. Also removes the top end limiter. :)
Uhh….’too good for BMW?’
I left BMW for a variety of reasons, but i still get Roundel as a member of the BMW CCA. Their master tech, Mike Miller, writes a Tech Talk column that should be named “the truth about BMWs”. I’m frankly surprised that he isn’t reigned in more by the editors. Anyway, he routinely eviscerates BMW for their “free maintenance” program and is very open about his feelings regarding their automatic trannys (my X5 tranny was slipping badly at 65k miles). Here is a typical quote from the current Roundel “With most E46s, my post-warranty concerns are first and foremost the Godforsaken automatic transmission, the cooling system, and to a lesser extent the climate-control system, door gaskets, window regulators, etc.- all normal E46 failures. The automatic is the most expensive, and they are failing left and right.”
so what does this have to do with their twin turbo motor? Mike has been very open with regards to the high temperature issue with this engine, feeling it runs WAY too hot. In fact he stated that BMW is going to do away with the oil temp gauge in upcoming BMWs, as one way to assauge owner’s concerns. It’s just one more reason to avoid BMWs IF YOU PLAN to keep the car long term. BMWs are terrific as a lease car, you get free maintenance (such as it is), their lease rates are usually excellent, and then you give it back. I would love to have a 335i but i would not plan to keep it past the warranty.
so when toyota back in 1993 came out with its 320hp twin turbo inline 6 engine, did it also won the award for best engine? I mean it’s basically the same set-up…..I want to see a twin turbo inline 8 to come out……Lexus R&D, I hope you are reading this…..
This is indeed a glorious engine. Absolutely astounding.
@ Phil:
Is there any company that makes an automatic transmission that can make it past 70000 miles? The days of the TorqueFlite A727 are long gone. If you plan on keeping your car for the long term, get a manual transmission.
Unfortunately, Dinan’s reflash costs $2000 – fortunately, most BMW drivers are stupid enough to pay that, despite the fact that there are other tuners out there willing to do it for half the price.
And yes, I did mean to offend BMW drivers.
And yes, I am a BMW driver (also a Porsche and Honda driver).
Vishnu has one of the best tunings out there for the 3.0L twin-turbo