BMW recently launched their 1 series with a new 1.5 litre 3 cylinder turbo engine capable of producing 180ps and 270Nm! It is lauded as a very bold move considering that none of the luxury car makers have tried to adopt a 3 cylinder engine. Car manufacturers resisted using 3 cylinder engines as they were not as smooth revving as the 4 cylinder engines and 3 cylinder engines were also noisier. BMW proved this all wrong with their new engine that was capable of very smooth revving and produced astonishing performance with good fuel economy. BMW is now considering to put it in an entry level 3 series to increase the usage of the engine and also promote better fuel economy for its range of cars.
In the past car makers such as Daihatsu and Suzuki have developed 3 cylinder engines for their K-Cars (super compact cars) but their engine capacities ranged from 660cc to 1,000cc. None of these engine were used on bigger models similar to the 1 series size as the engines lacked the performance to match the car's weight.
Ford also took engine downsizing to the extreme when they launched their 1.0 litre turbo engine. It was initially thought that this engine was meant to be used in the Ford Fiesta and Focus however, Ford took this one step further and put it in a Mondeo. The Mondeo is not exactly a small car and putting a 1.0 litre turbo engine took many motoring observers by surprise. The question is whether the consumers will accept this idea considering that the engine is so small and the car's physical size is of a mid size saloon that weighs around 1400kgs. The impressing thing about this 1.0 litre turbo is that is capable of producing 130hp and 200Nm making is very similar to a naturally aspirated 2.0 litre engine.
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