BMW's North American Diesel Parade Continues On, With Fewer Cylinders

by Derek Kreindler

July 13th, 2012 11:56 AM

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bmw s north american diesel parade continues on with fewer cylinders

The 335d may not have done so well in the United States, but BMW seems undeterred, and is set to launch yet another oil-burning 3er shortly.

Rumors of another diesel 3-Series began in the bowels of the internet rumor-mill, but ended up being confirmed by BMW. Sort of. AutoGuide.com initially reported the “news” based on a tweet (!) from Automobile’s Jason Cammisa, but a BMW spokesman ended up verifying the factoid, telling them

“ …the next BMW Advanced Diesel engine that will come to the US is the 2.0-liter 4-cylinder turbo-diesel. Specific timing and model applications will follow.”

If the new engine doesn’t appear in a 320d, I’ll go out and buy a Jetta SportWagen TDI. Or a 320i.

#BMW #Bmw3Series #Bmw320d #Diesel #Rumors

Derek Kreindler

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8 of 33 comments

Vanpressburg on Jul 14, 2012

Finally. 320d makes much more sense than 335d.

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Carrera on Jul 14, 2012

The 335D was answering a question that no one was asking. Most people weren't looking for a performance diesel, but for a frugal vehicle. The 335d's consumption was impressive for the power and torque it was providing, but that's not what people were looking for. I've been in European 320ds and I was very impressed. The power delivery and fuel consumption was amazing. Now, if they could keep the price at $34-35K this could be a blockbuster. If the price gets into the $40s...I don't know...

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- Facelvega on Jul 14, 2012
  
  Judging from the price ratios of the different models on bmw's UK website, it looks like an American 320d should come in at around $34-35k base, and easily push $40 normally loaded. I.e., about 3-4 percent lower than a similarly-equipped 328i.
  
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- Krhodes1 on Jul 14, 2012
  
  @facelvega Highly unlikely that they would offer it for LESS than a 328i. I would expect the base price to be at least $2-3K higher. Probably split the difference between the 328i and the 335i. But nobody ever buys a "base" BMW, even my lightly optioned car has over $6K of extra stuff on it - and most buyers would consider mine a hairshirt special. These are not economy cars, though the 320d is certainly economical. But as I have said before, when you are talking $40K +/-, what's another $3-5K? The only reason I didn't order more toys on my car was that I didn't want them, the extra cost was not a factor at all. Just more stuff to break, and I think the iDrive/Nav dash setup is ugly. Ticking ALL the option boxes including some of the silly priced 19" wheel upgrades and you could spend over $62K on an '11 328i Wagon.
  
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- Tjh8402 on Jul 15, 2012
  
  @facelvega It's not without (successful) precedent. Consider that in many of Mercedes' cars here in the U.S., the economy/diesel is the entry model (current GL and S class).
  
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Blowfish on Jul 14, 2012

pay a premium for a diesel with an aluminum block as opposed to VW’s iron block. alloy block in dsl is it a good thing? as alloy likes to change shape when temp rose. merc made a bunch of them. the famous 350 sdl, solly that has nothing to do with alloy blk, but tried to blame our dsl with no sulphur! BMW historically didnt sell oel burner too well un-like merc or veedub those 4-5 cyl merc and wabbits were flying of the showroom back in the early 80s. Bimmer only carried on the 524 tdi for 1-2 yrs. They also sold the engine to a few Lincoln Contirentals , who tried to go oel burning too.

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- Geeky1 on Jul 15, 2012
  
  The 350SDL didn't have an aluminum block. The OM603 has an iron block with an aluminum head. The issue with the 3.5L version were unrelated to the block or head materials; the rods were simply too long. They bent, which lead to ovaled cylinder bores. This caused the engine to use a substantial amount of oil, which is when people usually noticed and took it in. There have been something like 7 revisions of the 3.5L rod over the years, and Mercedes was replacing the engines under warranty with 3.0s. The only issue related to aluminum that I'm aware of with any Mercedes diesel engine is the head on the original 3.0L OM603. The first casting run ("#14" heads) had a metallurgical issue with the aluminum alloy that made them especially prone to cracking if they were overheated. It was a non-issue if the owner wasn't a moron; there are plenty of early cars with their original heads still running around.
  
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Blowfish on Jul 14, 2012

You can do it without a diesel, too, if that’s your only criterion: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/car-life/across-canada-on-four-tanks-of-gas/article4386735 i really dont know how they can do it?

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