BMW Gets Loopy - and It's Not Even Octoberfest Yet
By Michelle Krebs April 16, 2009By Bill Visnic
Maybe they're growing the hops just a little too close to the medicinal marijuana over there in Germany. A media report this week says BMW AG is considering abandoning its legendary inline six-cylinder engine design in favor of a V6 layout.
A V6 in place of the magnificent inline six-cylinder engine design on which the very foundation of the company was built? Magnifying the madness, the proposed sacrilege comes from no less than BMW's high-performance Motorsports division.
Yes, the M division is considering ditching the hallowed I-6 when it's time for the next-generation M3 around 2013, Ludwig Willisch, top dog at BMW's M division, was reported as saying at Motor Trend.com.
BMW's already said the brilliant V8 that propels the current M3 is a lame duck due to sacrificed on the altar of the company's new religion of downsizing engines. So it was already ordained the next-generation M3 would return to six-cylinder power. But -- incredibly -- Willisch tells MT.com the "question" is whether to go with a V6 instead of the inline-6 engine design that's been in BMW road cars continuously since 1933.
"The question, M division CEO Ludwig Willisch says, is whether it (the engine powering the next-gen M3) will be an inline-6 or a V6. A V6 would provide better balance and more packaging versatility, while an inline-six would be lighter, a key quality for BMW's future, and avoid uproar among Bimmerphiles," reported MT.com.
This scare has happened before, as BMW executives and engineers have in the past let it be known the company was studying the advantages of V6s -- but AutoObserver's experience with BMW engine development over the years indicates the company almost surely will decide in favor of its historic engine layout. Nor was Willisch reported to say whether the M division's consideration of V6s extends to BMW's volume-production models.
But modern vehicle-design and -efficiency dictates indeed may be making it difficult for BMW to stay true to its engine heritage. Several Japanese automakers, for instance, also had long and successful runs with inline six-cylinder engines, yet all have been abandoned either due to emissions difficulties or to improve manufacturing modularity -- inline engines of more than four cylinders are difficult to make work in front-wheel-drive vehicles.
Japanese automakers also often cited a difficulty in passing new frontal-impact safety regulations with inline six-cylinder engines, which typically are markedly longer than a like-sized V6 and thus impinge on crucial frontal "crush space" in crashes.
Before it even was called BMW, the company then known as Rapp-Moternwerk designed its first inline six-cylinder engine for military aircraft in 1917. The engine was an instant success and led to a corporate reorganization that resulted in BMW.
Max Friz, the engine's architect, knew the inline six-cylinder layout was inherently balanced and very narrow -- advantages that enhanced the aerodynamics and longevity of the delicate airframes of the times.
Those same attributes, as it happened, were desirable for automobiles, and the smoothness and lack of vibration inherent in BMW's inline-6 engines has been a hallmark of the brand that still promotes its aviation heritage.
Photos by BMW
1 - This current generation of the brawny M3 is the first and last to use a V8 -- but BMW's consideration of a V6 amounts to heresy.
2 - BMW's first engine, an inline six-cylinder for military aircraft in 1917.
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This has to be false. At best, BMW is probably just pleading for attention with this announcement, if one could even call it an announcement. Indeed, more automakers would be wise to switch to inline 6 engines.
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