FAO [TW] Fox BMW COMMIT HERESY?????

Greebo

Greebo

Greebo

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BMW M Cars get tri-turbo diesel

BMW recently revealed its intention to create a new range of M-tuned cars that would sit between the standard range and the ‘proper' M cars, and today we find out that on launch, the brand will offer a four-wheel-drive BMW M550d and M550d Touring, a BMW X5 M50d and a BMW X6 M50d.

They might have been borne in the fires of the original M535i way back in the eighties, but today's star is a different kind of six. That new 3.0-litre diesel packs three turbochargers: two small ones and a larger turbo. The lower inertia of the smaller turbos is used to deliver "razor-sharp responses" according to BMW, while the larger one is tuned for maximum pressure when you really feel like opening the taps.


As a result, it produces 381bhp and 546lb ft of torque. In the M550d XDrive, that equates to a 0-62mph time of 4.7 seconds (the new M5 does it in 4.4), a top speed of 155mph, a combined mpg of 44.8mpg and emissions of just 165g/km. Naturally the SUVs emit more (199/204 g/km for the X5 and X6), but acceleration is only blunted by up to half a second.

So there you have it: BMW's first ever diesel-powered M car. Do you embrace this new direction with a whoop and a high-five, or does the thought of the M Division making an oil burner turn your stomach?
 
Skeeter said:
Initially you would think this would be ideal for the UK, especially when you see that half the new cars sold last year were diesels.

But then when you realise that 80% of all f10 5 series sold over here are 520d's, you see that a 50k M diesel just wouldn't sell.

If your spending that much money on a car, are you really that concerned about the MPGs?
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I see your point but you would be surprised. My boss kepts spending £60k every year on twin trubo diesel Rangerovers because of the fuel economy.........:rolleyes:

In fact, since moving on from M3's to the Rangerover I could well see he would buy a M550d if it was available.
 
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[TW]Fox;21130287 said:
Oh, well its wrong then.
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Might be but BMW does sell a lot of diesels especially in some european countries as much more than 90%

The proportion of diesel-powered vehicles increased
further in 2010, accounting for 44.0% of BMW brand cars
sold worldwide. The proportion is particularly high in
Europe, exceeding 90% in a number of countries, including
Spain (90.9%), Belgium and Luxembourg (91.4%),
Italy (92.9%), France (95.0%) and Portugal (97.1%). In
Germany, the proportion of BMW brand cars powered
by diesel engines increased by 6.1 percentage points to
68.6% in 2010.
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http://annual-report.bmwgroup.com/2010/gb/files/pdf/en/BMW_Group_AR2010.pdf
 
[TW]Fox;21132029 said:
I am well aware of the BMW diesel/petrol sales mix, I was talking specifically about the previous 6 Series. It was introduced for the 2004 model year with only petrol engines in the range. Not until the facelift in late 2007 did the 6 Series finally gain a diesel engine, so for roughly half its production time there was no diesel option therefore it was completely untrue to say that 90% of the previous models were diesels.
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I appreciate that but perhaps it might be true that post facelift 90% were diesels?
 
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