Head of Development at BMW Klaus Draeger has cleared up some questions around the new N37 3 Cylinder engines for Autocar. Yes they are bound for the UKL platform which includes the front wheel drive 1 Series and the F56 MINI. However BMW will not be producing a variant suitable for a rear-wheel drivetrain any time soon. That even means we won’t see the N37 on the rear wheel drive 1 Series either. The powerplant, to be produced along-side the current Prince family of four cylinders at Hams Hall in the UK, will achieve the magical 95g/km of CO2 emissions that is so essential for the EU market. Additionally the engine should match the 54bhp-per cylinder rating of the recently introduced N20 2.0 liter four cylinder. That should mean a power output up to 160 bhp or around 155 hp. You can imagine this 1.5L engine spanning outputs ranging from 90 hp to the current Cooper output of 120 hp. But what of the Cooper S? Will it use the3 cylinder and drop it’s output to around 160 bhp from 180? Unless there’s a bit weight reduction we can’t imagine that would be the case. Instead we’d expect the 1.6L four cylinder to remain in active service as the Cooper S and JCW engine for the F56. What this means for the various front wheel drive BMW models remains a mystery. More...