BMW Diesels Arriving in 2008
As the global automotive press flocks to Geneva this week, we’re getting some interesting tidbits that will impact car buyers here in the U.S. Reuters is reporting that BMW will sell diesel versions of its cars and SUVs in the U.S. next year. Roughly 40% of all BMWs sold in the world last year were diesels. Mercedes-Benz has already announced that its new diesel models, called Bluetec, will be sold in the U.S.
We don’t know which models will be offered with diesel engines, but the company’s CEO simply said “Next year we are also going to offer our diesel vehicles in the U.S. ,” which sounds to us like all of them. Currently, BMW offers diesel engines for almost every model, with some, like the 325d shown here, able to hit 62 mph in 7.4 seconds while getting 30.9/45.8 mpg city/highway.
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Are those imperial or US gallons?
the release I looked up does not say Imperial on it. But since it's a UK release it may be imperial with no mention. doing the conversions I would guess imperial. 31/46 mpg ain't shabby though.
Dave,
Does those milage estimates take into consideration the new EPA testing method?
Larry,
The European test method is a different test method from the old or new EPA test method. The last time I compared the two, even accounting for Imperial gallons, the European test method tended to give higher figures.
I'm still excited to see diesels coming to the US. I doubt we will see the 320d, which is the bottom-rung diesel 3-series, but the 325 and 330 are definite possibilities.
Honda (another company which has announced its intentions to sell diesel cars in the US) currently sells the same Civic and CR-V in other markets with a diesel engine, so those are obvious candidates to receive diesel engines in the near future (their other cars, like the Odyssey, Pilot, and North American Accord, aren't sold outside North America).
I'd gladly take one.. as long as the diesel option stays "affordable." Benz only adds $1,000 for their diesels...
The new diesel has been confirmed by an inside source with BMW AG and should be seeing US production in late 2007. The most likely models will be the X5 and the 5-series for now. If demand is strong, BMW will release diesels for the 3 and the upcoming 1 series.
Aaron Smith
www.motorphilia.com
Interesting technical tidbit. According to an engineer at BMW the turbos have a very unique feature: when the accelerator is press to the floor, for a fraction of a second, the valves pull and allow for a small amount of fuel to go into hot ehaust manifold.
This causes a small explosion and helps spool the turbines up quicker, thus removing turbo lag.
The engineer claims that this is the only car to do this right now.
Aaron Smith
http://www.motorphilia.com