[amdmaxx]

current N55 makes 320hp (in iS, 640, etc).. Why not bring that to F30 from the start?

[ecleland]

Such a hard decision. Do I go with a 335d at $7500 off MSRP for wait for F30 and pay full MSRP. Love the E90 so think I may take the deal.

[Tag]

Originally Posted by amdmaxx

current N55 makes 320hp (in iS, 640, etc).. Why not bring that to F30 from the start?

The 335is has an N54 as does the 1M and the Z4 sDrive35is.

[aajami]

Originally Posted by dicker

Wrong. The E46 engines were different than the early E90's

2005 E46 was the M54 with either 184, 225 or 235 hp.

2006 E90 was the N52 with either 215 or 255hp.


DTM-R13: A large portion of the US market E90's are built in South Africa.

Thanks for clarifying. My point was that BMW upped the horsepower of the introductory models shortly after their debut with the E90 generation, so I would expect them to do something similar with the F30 generation.

[WULFFZA]

Originally Posted by DTM-R13

WTF Is this?

"the South African produced F30 328i (denoted by "SA") begins later, in February 2012."

Does this mean cars for that part of the world? US models should be made in Munich right?

The Rosslyn plant in SA has been manufacturing 3series sold around the world for many years, definitely included E46 models, not sure how much before that. Some dealers actually advertise that its an SA model.

I know its a knee jerk reaction to think that a car that comes from Africa must be a disaster, but let it be known that the Mercedes plant in SA frequently earns top honors internally for quality ratings, least defects per car of all the Mercedes factories.

The first X3 wasnt low rent because it was built in Austria, the first Z4 wasnt low rent because it was built in South Carolina, they were low rent because those were the quality specs and parts that were provided for that car to be built.

[skiernan36]

Doesn't look much different from the E90...

[ns2000x]

Power
Coupe

[Imola.ZHP]

I have a question...

Why not a diesel hybrid? Electric at low speeds, super efficient at all other speeds...

??

[M ETT]

Originally Posted by Nero7

Thanks for the news, can't wait too see some official pics. Is it worth to wait for the 335xi or is the 335i also good for winter? Here in Sweden, the winter is quite long.

I'd say it depends on how much snow and what type of roads you drive on. I've had both (335i & 335xi) RWD is more fun 4WD is has a little bit better grip at start. I also feel its ever so slightly more stable in corners, but main advantage is overtaking on snowy roads. With 335i the ESP will kill the power when one pair of wheels hits the build up of snow in the middle of the road.

[weiweiwei]

I wonder if the rear view camera would be like this video of the 650i. Go to 0:24

[Prophet]

i think this must be a typo - the 320d with 181HP? the current one is 184, so wouldn't it be logical that the new one has at least the same amount? i'm considering the F30 320xd (or if they bring out the 323(325)xd - like they did with the F10) so that's why i'm asking

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by DTM-R13

WTF Is this?

"the South African produced F30 328i (denoted by "SA") begins later, in February 2012."

Does this mean cars for that part of the world? US models should be made in Munich right?

http://www.southafrica.info/doing_bu...ng/rosslyn.htm

[James T. Kirk]

New 335i with less horsepower = lame

[SCOTT26]

They need to keep a balance between the upper and lower series of BMW models. If the 3er was to be given the more powerful engine it would be the 340i. And BMW do not want to implement a 340i especially with an M3 on the way.

[BenTrovato]

The N55 is relatively new and the engine is fantastic. If I'm BMW I would consider keeping this engine as the high end 3er motor with upgrade packages available to boost power. People love upgrade packages that are covered by warranty and in the turbo era its a financially intelligent move should they go that route.

[vladberca]

The power of the engines posted on the first page is not correct: for the low range petrol engines (316i/136hp and 318i/170hp) will be the same engines from F20 1 series.
320i will receive the detuned version of N20 (184hp) available for X3 too.
The same as for 316d, 318d, 320d (the same specs as for F20 1 series).
These will not be available for US market.

328i and 335i will be the same as for 528i and 535i (N20 & N55).

330d and 335d will be the same as for X3 30d (258hp) and X3 35d (313hp) - these versions will be available for Europe too.

335d for US market might be replaced with the Hybrid version

325d will have 2.0l with 4 cyl, as the new engine from 525d. Will have for sure an xDrive version too (will be the rival for C250 CDI whch has a 4matic version). Also available for Europe!

A performance version for 335i (an upgrade of 20 hp) will be available for sure.

For M3 we still waiting more details (it will have a new engine).

[Liang]

Originally Posted by SCOTT26

They need to keep a balance between the upper and lower series of BMW models. If the 3er was to be given the more powerful engine it would be the 340i. And BMW do not want to implement a 340i especially with an M3 on the way.

The F10 550i (400hp) got a HP upgrade over the E60 550i (400hp)...

So the F30 335i will retain the same HP output as the E9X 335i? Isn't it a foregone conclusion that the new F30 will weight more than the outgoing E90.

More weight, same power?

[epiphone3]

Originally Posted by aajami

It was the same when the E90s were first introduced in 2005. The first models were the 325 and 330, which had the same engines as the E46 325 and 330, respectively. It wasn't until a year later that BMW replaced the E90 325 with the E90 328 and the E90 330 with the E90 335, the latter of which featured a brand new engine (N54) with more power than the previous generation.

The opinion expressed here is factually incorrect. The E90 debuted with new valvetronic 6-cylinder engines that made more horsepower and torque than than the E46 models they replaced and the engines were an all-new design featuring valvetronic and the new magnesium-aluminum block.

The E46 325i and 330i made 184hp and 225hp, respectively. At introduction, the E90 325i and 330i made 215hp and 255hp, respectively.

[SG335Xi]

Originally Posted by James T. Kirk

New 335i with less horsepower = lame

They are rating it at 302.... previous generation was 300... am I missing something?

[positiveions]

kids, we have an increase of horsepower on the N55 engine; by 2!!!!!!!

[cstavaru]

I was thinking about the new 3-series a few days ago and I realized that the only thing likely to lure me to switch from my current 335i/N54 would be a powerful hybrid version (and the M3, of course).

But a hybrid with N55 is really a bit of a dead end as far as tuning goes. I'm sure it will have a lot of low-end torque but the N55 is not very tunable to begin with and I'm not sure the electric motor stuff can be tuned. I suppose there is no hope of an N54-derivative in the hybrid version because that is supposed to be very efficient and the N55 is more efficient than the N54.

So for now, I'll just keep my N54 sedan and hope that there is a strong twin-turbo on the way or the new M3 will have over 450hp and be very tunable. But I think that the new M3 will have 435hp / 335kw, or 10% more power than the current one, the same way as the new M5 has 10% more than the old one.

[bimmer_335]

Originally Posted by tag824

So the new 335i is most likely larger and weighs more but only get's 2 extra hp? They must have some trick up their sleeve, can't be slower than the outgoing e90. Can it?

I doesnt make sense that outgoing model can produce 332 hp and incoming model has only 302. I think they will sell perofrmance software seperately or may be part of the sport package.