locomotiveBart

Not sure what the 5 means other than the series but the 2 digits following it "generally" depict the engines displacement. I say generally because it used to be the rule but since has strayed slightly, (for example, the 525 no longer has a 2.5).

DD_545i

It stands for Funf. Which when translated to English is Five. Which when represented numerically, is 5 (spooky coincidence or conspiracy)

Bimmer32

5 for mid of 0 and 10. They should now put "fi" instead of just "i" for "force induction."

v_therussian

Coincidence is the conspiracy

And x-drive will be the "fix"? It will be gay to have a "fi", cuz it's just not sexy to say "I have a five-thirty-five fi"... -yo is that like an Xi, but with a lisp?

DD_545i

I think you'll find you spell lisp with a "th" ..... lithp.

DavidF

Like others have said the "i" originally meant fuel Injected engine. Now that all engines are fuel injected AND because it has become a familiar symbol (it remains) it now means the car has a petrol or gasoline engine. Desiel engines use "d" and remember the low reving high torque "eta" engine in the 3-series with the "e" suffix.

Now it seems BMW will use the "i" as a prefix to designate electric and electric hybride vehicles.

v_therussian

mestes1999

Good to know, I always thought the "i" stood for "inline," which made me wonder why it was a 550i.

On a similar note, I'm so tired of the way BMW has changed the naming convention to some arbitrary numbers. It's so un-German of them. I thought it was just mainly in the US because we're dumb, but I guess it's everywhere.

For instance, my 2007 328i coupe should've been a 330ci, or ic. And the 335 should be a 330tt or something. It's obvious that it's just a marketing scheme to differentiate the product, or so that some people can feel superior to the others even if the engines have the same displacement.

Given, it's a 4.8L in the e60 550i, but at least is close to 50, but the new ones have a 4.4L twin turbo. So why didn't they go back to the 545i, or make it a 545tt?

DD_545i

It's all about marketing. The 550i came out a couple of years after the 545i. They wanted to differentiate it from the 545i and (a) make it seem like an all new model, and (b) charge more for it. Psychologically a 550i seems like more car than a 545i, so they can charge more for it. All that's really happened is they've enlarged the displacement by about 200cc and tuned it up another 34bhp.

As for the numbering, it is a bit weird and un-german now. To them though it makes sense. Take the 525d, 530d and 535d for example. All three of them use the same 3 litre engine, but have different levels of turbo (and probably other stuff). But the 525d is tuned to around how much you'd get from a 2.5 litre. The 530d is representative of a typical 3 litre diesel, and the 535d gives around as much as a 3.5 litre diesel would. They could have made (and maybe did) make a *40d also.

syrousd

Get an M5 then no more " i " wondering,lol. Joking aside, I personally like to remove all the "i" letters from all my cars it is pointless and means absoulutly nothing.