Saab engines for BMW!

[horse]

Personally, and as a BMW guy through and through, I've never thought their engines were anything special.

Well, their straight sixes have been quite nice over the years, especially the 3L twin turbo diesel (N54?).

Oh, and the V12 they built for Ron's little sports car wasn't bad either...

BMW diesels are world leading. No other manufacture can give such a good performance to efficiency ratio in a diesel. They're super smooth as well. The reliability on the ancillaries of a BMW engine is a bit questionable, in my experience, which would be the only down side. Also, Porsche/VW group have the jump on direct injection petrols IMO.

Regarding Saab, it's got to be a great deal. Having a premium German engine will go some way to improving Saab's recent image of being poor Vauxhall/Opal clones.

[747heavy]

countryman platform...ok.
but BMW engine? I might be too conservative thinking ther ebut wasn´t BMW into longitudinal mount engines in all their stuff except MINI?
This would imply considerable reweork on all ancilliaries and systems to fit into a front transverse installation and compromise potentially the engine mounting...

you are right Marcus, but this is maybe going to change for the future, so getting SAAB on boad to share some of the costs, makes sense.

Although BMW is well known for its environmentally friendly EfficientDynamics range and to a lesser extent it’s soon-to-arrive ActiveHybrid models, the German company is also working on Hydrogen vehicles. This morning we were sent photos of a modified front-wheel drive 1 Series being used as a test car.
The idea behind the system is rather simple. It combines a traditional front-wheel drive setup with a hydrogen fuel cell, electricity-storing super-capacitors and an electrically driven rear axle.

http://www.bmwcoop.com/2010/05/14/more- ... ive-model/

[PlatinumZealot]

That's true, and I do hope Spyker can do something to revive the brand.

Personally, and as a BMW guy through and through, I've never thought their engines were anything special. BMW's magic is in their suspensions.

BLASPHEMY!!

I am a BMW man.. and the suspension is great.. but any true BMW person knows the pride is the engine! In fact the BMW suspension does not cope as well as the Jap suspensions on the 3rd world roads that I drive on, handling is still better though. The engine on the other hand is the best!

[PlatinumZealot]

countryman platform...ok.
but BMW engine? I might be too conservative thinking ther ebut wasn´t BMW into longitudinal mount engines in all their stuff except MINI?
This would imply considerable reweork on all ancilliaries and systems to fit into a front transverse installation and compromise potentially the engine mounting...

Not really... Remember the Toyota 3sge beams engine? It was mounted sideways in the Celica and Caldina, but mounted longitudinally in the Altezza. The same for the Nissan SR20; transversely mounted in the Sunny/Pulsar/GtiR and Longitudinally mounted in the Silvia/240SX/Cefiro.

[Pup]

BLASPHEMY!!

To each his own. I've always found them to be sluggish oil burners, but obviously I'm a turbo guy. The way they handle though is unique; and what's amazing to me is that you can drive a little 1 series or a big X5 and they feel the same. Obviously the heavier car won't handle as well, but the feel is exactly the same. Plus they're the best built european car as well, imo.

[WhiteBlue]

The engine in my 118d is a beauty. Very responsive, drivable and economic. It doesn't feel like a diesel at all. Best of all it is not a front but a rear wheel drive which is unusual in the class. Before I was driving an Audi Quattro and except in deep snow I do not feel much difference.

[horse]

The engine in my 118d is a beauty. Very responsive, drivable and economic. It doesn't feel like a diesel at all. Best of all it is not a front but a rear wheel drive which is unusual in the class.

Totally agreed. This is the best small diesel there is.

[xpensive]

I had a Saab 9-5 Aero 2.3 with 250 Hp as a rental some years ago, boy the sheer punch and torque-steer of that thing!

[jon-mullen]

I've heard of M20s lasting 500k miles in the E30s and E28s. I've had two of them (E30s), both at unknown mileage, and been about to get both to a few miles an hour under their listed top speed. Not bad for a 25 year old engine that's only had oil and timing belt changes. Not to mention they're easy as hell to work on, a valve adjustment on all six cylinders only takes 10-15 minutes.

[747heavy]

New FWD model or models will come in at least 3 bodystyles and will be introduced before 2013

by Alex Ricciuti
October 1, 2010 7:30 am

BMW will sell a compact, front-wheel drive model below the 1-Series in the U.S. market, according to a report by Automotive News.

BMW had previously announced that it will build a front-wheel drive model smaller than the 1-Series to be sold under the BMW badge to compete against the likes of the Audi A1 in Europe and other global markets. It would be built on a platform shared with MINI able to produce both front and all-wheel drive vehicles. Now, the Bavarian brand has confirmed that the new class of car(s) will also make it stateside.

BMW has hinted in past that the new front-wheel drive architecture will be used for more than a single model and the report refers to a "family of cars" with front-wheel drive that will be sold in the United States. BMW will not specify if they intend to launch a variety of models or a single model sold in different body styles.

"It will be a relatively big segment because we have several body styles," Ian Robertson, sales and marketing chief at BMW AG, told Auto News in an interview at the Paris motor show.

BMW has labeled this new class of vehicle the UKL.

The new front-wheel drive BMW/s will come with 4-cylinder engines in at least 3 body-style variants and will have an initial global volume of around 100,000 units. The models will be introduced before the arrival of the mega-city electric car in 2013, Robertson said.

BMW has previously released a survey in which 80 percent of 1-Series owners believed the car to be a front-wheel drive. The BMW brand is still strictly a rear-wheel drive product.