Quote:
Originally Posted by footie
I bet you anything that US brand dealers will have a field day when BMW start introducing 4 cylinder engined cars, they will use the engine size of their cars to look down on BMW products. It's that bigger is better philosophy and I bet it will work for a while until the US consumer finally sees sense that it's not how big it is but how you use it, now where have I heard that one before. I can just see BMW's ad campaign for these smaller engines.  |
I'll bet you are incorrect on that. comparable to BMW are the following manufacturers in the US:
Acura
Audi
Infiniti
Lexus
Mercedes
of those manufacturers, Acura & Audi continue to make 4-cylinder competitors to the BMW, with no negative feedback, in fact, Acura's TSX (the Global Honda Accord) uses a NA 4-cylinder.
Audi's 2.0T is the backbone of the A4, whether in Quattro trim or not.
Mercedes, until the recent redesign of the C class, had a supercharged 4-cylinder as their main engine (C230)
Infiniti offers one engine, the 3.7L V6, in their G37. you can call it a poor man's 335. Lexus offers a 2.5L V6 in their IS250, which produces just 204hp.
in all of these cases, if BMW puts a good turbo 4-cylinder against the competition, i have no doubt it'll win, and win going away. with the torque numbers they've demonstrated from the 3.0TT, and the number they're talking about from the 4-cylinders, they've got nothing to fear. 4-cylinders are a known commodity here in the US. they're viewed as "economical" engines, which, with gas prices as unstable as they are today, is a good thing.
for the 3d or 4th time, 4-cylinders are good! i don't think the 3-cylinders will sell well here.