It’s all theoretical of course but when asked about BMW’s new 1.5L three cylinder architecture the head of BMW M was unusually candid about the possibilities. According to an interview Dr. Friedrich Nitschke gave to Car and Driver the new engine is capable of more than we initially thought. Quite a bit more. Here’s the [...] (visit MotoringFile for the full article) More...
Wow. The skeptic in me thinks it's entirely possible, but how long would it last, and at 100HP per cylinder, wouldn't you need to upgrade the rods and pistons, not to mention the crank etc? That's a lot of work for three cylinders to share, and for the rest of the components to handle. Not to say it's "unpossible" but it brings up questions. One of them being if the new three cylinder engine can do this, why can't there be a serious increase in power with the next generation 4 cylinder engine?
300+ HP From MINI’s New 3 Cylinder Possible According to BMW M Interesting... Hope it's for longer than one rotation...
opcorn:opcorn:opcorn: Yeah I'm with y'all. I'll have to wait and see on this one.opcorn:opcorn:opcorn: Jason
Possible? Yea I think so, likely? Naa. Since they are only at 300hp with their Twin Turbo inline 6, they would have to do something mighty to pull it off in a street car :aureola:
Don't see mini jumping from less then 200 HP to 300 in one year. Not that it couldn't happen but......
I think BMW/MINI will lock the ECU preventing aftermarket tuning opportunities. The upper performance crown level will always be worn by a vehicle wearing the blue/white roundel logo....with perhaps special opportunities made available to the JCW / GP2 MINI variants.... HP sells but you can bet they will control how its metered out....
That is exactly what will keep MINI behind the 8 ball. They need to cater to the after market world, to keep the older cars in play with parts, etc.. Why do they car if the aftermarket can tune their cars. The warranty will be void at that point..
Never fear folks, there will always be first generation MINI's around, but they will be "Mini's" and Mini's will be "mini's". :lol: Jim
Since they'll be using this engine in BMWs too, I'm thinking the 300hp will be in one of those cars.....
300HP--that would finally be the thing that may push me over the edge to buy a new MINI. I wouldn't want any more than that. Be a tough decision, between that and a Rotrex or TVS on the R53.