[Munit]

So talk of a successor engine has been going on and to me seems much needed to keep pace with their usual new engine technology every few years. The n54/n55 have now been around a long time. I know its a great engine and could be used for 20 more years and do fine but of course bmw has always done this. They leave a great engine and build a better one.

I just don't know what direction they will go as the tuning potential is already able to bump power up significantly but how will they make more power but also more fuel efficient, less lag and what else do you think they are striving to improve?

[hans007]

well the n55 has only been around for 3 years.

for a while BMW was putting N54s in the "40" marked cars like 740 or the M or IS cars.

so there is the N55HF which replaced that in the 40i cars for 2012 and up model year, so i'd assume the f30 will get that too. (for example the 2011 740i had the n54, the 2012 - 2013 has the n55hf)

relatively the n55HF seems to get rated at 15-20hp more than the normal N55

[shivaswrath]

poo...that sucks.

[sean10mm]

A future 335is/340i/440i/whatever probably gets the N55HP. There might be tweaks to the N55 but probably not much beyond that since the transmissions in the F30 are only rated for around 350 ft-lbs torque and the N55HP is already at 330 ft-lbs.

M3/M4 will of course get different transmissions and engines but that's a whole other ball of wax.

This is all speculating of course, as far as I know there isn't any hard evidence either way.

[shivaswrath]

Originally Posted by sean10mm

A future 335is/340i/440i/whatever probably gets the N55HP. There might be tweaks to the N55 but probably not much beyond that since the transmissions in the F30 are only rated for around 350 ft-lbs torque and the N55HP is already at 330 ft-lbs.

M3/M4 will of course get different transmissions and engines but that's a whole other ball of wax.

This is all speculating of course, as far as I know there isn't any hard evidence either way.

Oh serious, only 350lb??

The 335is/435 or whatever are all coupes, right?

Did the sedans ever get an 'is' designation, or is that why the PPK was released?

[claykin]

My take on this is BMW will unveil whatever this new engine may be in the coupe and also use it in the 4 series gran coupe. The 3 series will likely get the new engine after these 4 series are well into production. Possibly in time for LCI

[jsedlak]

My $.02, because that is all it is worth.

They won't want to bump output unless the M3 gets a bump as well. They won't want a OEM tuned 335i out pacing the M3.

If rumors of the F8x cars not seeing a big boost to power output are true, then expect only a slightly more powerful N55 to be put in the LCI F30, or whenever the next engine refresh is due.

However, if the F8x cars get something like 450hp or more, expect to see a new engine. It could be based on the F8x engine as it is rumored to be turbo'd, but power should be significantly less. Remember: they want to continue building out the M-Performance brand, which contains the power kit. In this case, I'd expect output to be in the 325-350 range with a OEM kit to boost to ~360-380hp. These are rough estimates (based on the 450hp guess and current output numbers).

Note that timing isn't much to consider... as the above poster suggests, they could be showcasing a new engine in the 4 and then bring it down into the F30 335i refresh. This engine could still be based on the F8x tech.

[eric@helix]

Originally Posted by jsedlak

My $.02, because that is all it is worth.

They won't want to bump output unless the M3 gets a bump as well. They won't want a OEM tuned 335i out pacing the M3.

I think your $.02 is worth a lot. Brand management is at least as important as engineering capability. Well said.

[sean10mm]

Originally Posted by shivaswrath

Oh serious, only 350lb??

Yeah, if you look up the F30 manual transmission # on realoem.com and then go to the ZF web page you can see the F30 6 speed's torque rating in metric units.