Somia25

New info found from:

http://www.bmw.com/bmwe/products/automobil...edan/index.html

The optimal synthesis of power and running smoothness: the V8 powerplants in the BMW 735i (200 kW at 6,200 rpm) and BMW 745i (245 kW at 6,100 rpm) are highlights of engineering technology.

New 3.5 engine :

No. of Cylinders/valves per cyl 8/4
Dispacement acc, to ECE reg, in ccm 3,600
Stroke/bore in mm 81.2/84.0
Nominal power(kw) at 1/min 200
max torque (Nm) at 1/min 360

reckamech

Hey Somia25

Thanks for the info. The 535 is the model I am waiting for . One thing I am wondering is the introduction date. I am assuming the 535 will be introduced the same time the new 4 series will come out.

RichReg

Somia25: I'm not too sure if they are considering another V8 for the 5 Series lineup. The V8 used in the 7 has been around for quite some time. It was my understanding that BMW was preparing a new inline six (or possibly V6) for this purpose which would replace the V8.

R.R.

Guest

In Europe, the current 3.5 V8 has been revised with Valvetronic. It's newer and more powerful than the old 3.5 that was around for quite awhile.

RichReg

Wow! I did not know that there was a revision made to the 3.5 liter V8 engine that is offered in Europe! Do you know when this Valvetronic revision was made & what the horsepower rating was before & after?

Thanks..

R.R.

Somia25

Looks like someone didn't do their homework.

The 3.5 V8 is indeed new and more powerful with the use of Valvetronic!

BMW is sticking them in the new seven series as we speak. So why

wouldn?t BMW use the same engine for the new 535's and a 335's??

Since the Japanese competition now has V6's cranking out 250 to 280 hp for $30,000 cars,

BMW im sure will use this fuel efficient V8 with some balls on their $40,000 to

$50,000 cars to one up the competition!

RichReg

Somia25;
Yes its true I didn't finish my homework, and I'm still confused. In several different articles, BMW (and sometimes even the head of powertrain development himself) is quoted as saying that there is a new six-cylinder engine in the works.

I see what you are saying, especially now with the 5 Series becoming as large as it has, it would make more sense for BMW to use the 3.5 liter V8. But they've never had the 5 nor the 7 Series available here in the U.S. with more than one choice of V8 engine available. And we also know that there is an S350 (and soon an E350) that Mercedes will be marketing in the U.S. using a 3.7 liter V6 to replace their six-cylinder model, so I'm not too sure if BMW would want to market-position their cars ABOVE Mercedes, even though another V8 would be nice.

If I am not mistaken, back in the days of the E34 there was a time where the 535's V8 was replaced by a 530 with an inline six. Then of course we know that the E39's 528 engine was replaced by the higher displacement 530. BMW would definitely be breaking new ground if they replaced an inline six with a small displacement V8, at least as far as their U.S. lineup history goes.

R.R.

Somia25

RichReg,

With all the articles I have read in car mags and around the net, it?s hard to remember where
I have seen things. After doing some searching, I found an article that was from May 2002
that in the 6th paragraph down talks about two V8 engines:


AUTOWEEK ONLINE


Here?s food for thought:
BMW's bread and butter is their 3 Series. Mercedes Benz has worked very hard to try to take market share away since they redesigned their C class. Wouldn't it only be fair that BMW would now have a car to steal from M.B's bread and butter their E-Class?? So why wouldn't BMW want to market-position their cars ABOVE Mercedes ??
Its a Dog-Eat-Dog world..

Somia25

THE POST ABOVE

FORGOT TO PUT MY NAME IN ....

SILLY ME !

Somia25

RichReg

Point taken.
I see where they COULD be going with this, but the only problem with this strategy is pricing, especially with such a controversial new car like the E60. Heavy price increases thrown upon a just recently redesigned car PLUS the discontinuation of one of the lower end models sounds awful risky.

As great as you & I may feel about the E60, BMW still has to consider the market's perception of what their cars should cost. MB has been keeping their prices under control, not raising them 6 percent, even with the new engine in the E500. If BMW creates a 535 using a V8 I'm not so sure that they could manage to sell it @ a competitive price (that is, equivalent or lower than MB had for their E430). Most likely the 525 with Valvetronic would remain in your scenario though, with about 200-205 hp.

That Autoweek article was printed in May '02, but was written over 18 months ago, so I would take it with a grain of salt. My feeling is that they will create a new six cylinder with Valvetronic that has just enough horsepower to match the performance of the 3.5 liter V8, and then replace the 530 with that engine, and maybe even change over the 735 to use that engine as well. This would keep their costs low and therefore their pricing more competitive. We'll see.....

R.R.