4 cylinder 430i - sorry what?

[RPC]

I recently dropped my 335i off to the dealer from some recall work - and was given a new 430i Grand Coupe.

Initially excited by the 30i badge but was hugely disappointed when I fired it up to hear 4 pots, rather than 6. I knew that petrol 2.0 turbos were now widespread across most manufacturers but surprised that only the 40i in current 3/4/5 variants were actually still 6 cylinder units. I also read recently that the next generation m140i will move to a 2.0 turbo xDrive setup - so potentially the end of the 6 pot unit for the future 3/4/5 variants also. An inevitable but worrying trend.

To be fair to the 430i, it goes ok (248 bhp) and probably returns good mpg - but theres no joy in revving it out and to me just sounds rattly and dull compared to a silky smooth 6 pots of old. In many ways it might as well have a "d" badge on there.

Having had a string of 6 cylinder e46s, e39s, and now the e90 - I've learned that sonically the 6 is head and shoulders above the modern engines and realise how important a cars sound is to me as part of the driving experience. Maybe piped in sound is what I need to keep me happy but there's no substitute for the real thing.

Interested to hear what others make of the new 4 pot motors. It seems that in the near future - in order to get into anything other than a 4 pot, the options for new buyers will be full blown M cars, and the 6/7/8 series.

[bazz26]

The trend to downsize from large capacity engines to smaller capacity forced induction engines has been going on for a good couple of years now to meet stringent emission rules. The current 4 Series has been around 5 years now and the only non 4 cylinder petrol engines in it were the 435i/440i and M cars. The 430i superseded the 428i which was also a 4 cylinder turbo unit. Same with the current 5 Series, the 530e and 530i are both 4 cylinder turbo petrol units.

The next 1 Series will be front wheel drive too.

[rebel.ranter]

The next 1 Series will be front wheel drive too.

And ///M cars are going 4WD.

[318 iS Cosmos]

Hang on a second Richard, when did you get a 335i??

[RPC]

I agree that this is the way things are going but just surprised that it is so widespread.

Hang on a second Richard, when did you get a 335i??

A recent addition Shane - I moved to the US at the beginning of the year and looked a so many things before going with a 2011 e90 M-Sport. It has the later n55 single turbo engine which tends to be more robust than the n54. I don't know why but so many BMWs over here are not M-Sport so this was a nice find. I cant stand standard seats, particularly in the 3 series! As usual, I have a list of jobs for it already - ditching the runflats is first on the list and then get stuck into some preventative work on it.

Crappy dealer pic:

[CitizenKane]

Lovely 335i!