Has BMW Downgraded the 135i & 335i?

We all have to look at the effect of our government and the new laws for fuel efficiency that are in place. Unfortunately we are our own worst enemy when it comes to fuel consumption and these are the fruits of our own planting. BMW wouldn’t put inferior hardware on the road though so I think the majority of people buying this car will not notice the difference. Also someone should be able to pick up a car equipped with an N54 as there are plenty of sedans, coupes, and convertibles out there.

I bought a 135i this past weekend and am absolutely in love with it. That said, I was mildly annoyed when a host of ‘improvements’ were announced this week. I did however wonder the same thing as this post. Has anyone seen dyno figures on the new Z4 with the twin scroll engine? Either way, I don’t think the changes are enough to merit much jealousy from current 135 owners.

I have had my 135i for two years this coming May. I am in love with my car and have been from day one. Really, if I were to change anything about it that would be fuel economy. In the city though – on the highway I’m quite pleased and impressed with the fuel economy. City economy is not so wonderful, however that is related in part to my driving habits. Unless you’re tracking the car, I cannot imagine noticing any measurable difference that would make someone envious of a prior model year, etc.

I could care less about tuning, but I would be surprised if the tuners are unable to hack in. Look at a company like DirecTV. They went through four versions of their access cards and spent 10′s of millions on security consulting before they designed a hackproof access card. I would doubt BMW has put that level of time and money into the software security on the new engine, but we will see.

All of this is just speculation at this point. It will be interesting to see what happens when cars start hitting the test track and dynos. However, I think there will be pros and cons to either. The N54 might make slightly more power out of the box, but the 10% improvement in fuel efficiency isn’t something to ignore completely. I think the reason why some are viewing this as a downgrade as purely because of the assumption that two turbos is better than one. And I don’t think that is necessarily the case here with the twin-scroll single turbo.

Ultimately, my guess is that the performance will be nearly indiscernible between the two engines, with the N55 being slightly more responsive due to the Valvetronic. But that’s just a guess on my part…

This is simple economics … they’re creating a market above the 135. In the car business it’s ALWAYS about money!

An interesting read. Congrats on the 2010 135i matB… it does seem that the current batch of 1-ers driving around will make highly desirable CPO cars! Let’s not get carried away until we see performance reviews though… a bit less power in the N55 seems likely but the power delivery could be interesting in itself and if gearing is revised the accelerative performance could be quite similar for “out of the box” cars running stock tunes.

“Just purhased the Z4 35s three months ago adn would like to get the same power out as per the new one being launched is this possible with still having good reliability?”

Yes, it’s called Dinan Stage II software. Go get it!

Well said Bimmer1 – ethanol is a shameful scam and it is being perpretated on us up here too by the Canadian gov (along with rule by absence as in the current 2 month proroguing of our parliament!). The fuel economy penalty alone should be enough to raise outcry but when nearly every fuel supplier contains 10%+ E it is tough to find alternatives. The tyranny is nearly complete, is another way of putting it. (And while consumers pay more out of pocket and enviro and social impacts both locally and globally increase the subsidies keep flowing to the ethanol lobby.)