That being said, I don’t just use my cars on the street. I typically track my cars as well (road and drag strip). I’m nowhere near dillusional enough to consider these to be “needs”, though. These are my hobbies; it just happens that I enjoy being able to use my daily to do these things.

So you admit that the only reason you need more than 200 hp is that sprint to get on the highway/interstate? Fascinating! I mean I did not even say that an engine that has more than 200 hp is not needed. I simply wrote that you don’t need that much power for everyday driving.

And you even confirmed it in a way, your onramp accelerations means you probably only need the power of your car for 5% of the time you drive the car, the rest you swim in traffic or sit in a traffic jam anyways

It is evident that in the future BMW will use the 1.6 turbo engine found in the Mini Cooper S (PSA Group) to the next 1 series generation and also a twin turbo 2.00 lt like you have mentioned. I don’t think there will be any room for a 325i. Fuel economy and more power!

My 325Ci has 184 and it’s pretty peppy but only if I shift right to keep revs high does it help with merging into higher speed traffic. There was a noticable difference driving my mom’s E60 528i this week when trying to merge onto I-95. I’d say with Audi’s 2.0T producing 210+ HP a naturrally aspirated 4-cylinder engine from BMW shouldn’t be below the 210HP mark – if only for marketing purposes.

It doesn’t make sense to drive anything with more than 200hp? Hell, around here it doesn’t make sense to drive anything with less… For some reason TX only seems to give you about 100 feet of highway on-ramp before it spits you out onto the highway, where you’ll have to assimilate with traffic that’s already cruising at 80mph. It’s either haul ass to get up to highway speed or risk having an F-350 shoved up your backside when you attempt to merge at 50mph.

The 4cyl BMW thing is a lot like the Mini issue; a lot of people are buying these moderately cheap cars because the car itself fits into their budget whereas they would normally be looking towards Japan for their next car. What they don’t understand is that their cheap-o $20k econobox requires the same technicians as the $75k+ Execu-sedan 7 series. You just can’t swing a BMW product on a Toyota budget. Doesn’t work that way.

If BMW would introduce 4 cylinders to the US lineup, it would not yet make them a car company that makes something for everyone

No, worries it will still be a BMW, and it will still have a premium price in comparison to other cars. If they will be poorly maintained will be more a question of how the owner cares for his/her car.

And Jeez, I mean who really thinks it only makes sense to drive a car with more than 200 Hp? A modern 118i is for example a very good car, with 143 Hp, its more than enough to drive to the mall, or to work and to pick up the kids from school…

I HATE the idea of returning the 4cyl to the lineup.

Is there a market for gas and diesel 4 banger BMWs? Sure there is. I’m sure they’ll sell quite a few of ‘em…

Does that mean they should make them? No. I hate this idea of the one-stop-car-maker; the car company that makes something for everyone. What happens when Joe Public buys a 4-banger diesel because he’s cheap/can’t afford the 6 cylinder, runs out of warranty and takes his car in to a shop or the dealer for repairs? What’s likely to happen?

Answer) Same thing that happens with the old 318’s: nothing. The customer is told what all is wrong with his/her car; they fix the one or two small things that are making noise or keeping it from driving. The rest falls by the wayside because a cheaper MSRP got them into a car they truly couldn’t afford.

So be ready to have a bunch of really poorly-maintained Bimmers on the road.

The problem the 4 Cylinder Diesel engines would face in the US is:
A) Diesel is a LOT more expensive than Petrol in comparison to Europe where the difference is not big and thus the better mileage of the Diesel cars more than makes up for the small price difference.

B) Our dear American friends are still looking at Diesel powered cars as if there must be something wrong with them

1) 328 will get a bump of HP to 270 next iteration of the car.
2) 335 will get a bump of hp to 350 next iteration ….
3) this will allow for a 4 cylinder 250hp car, to be priced maybe 3K lower than the 328.

I could see a 4cyl – 260hp BMW, but i just can’t see people paying more for it than the current 328-230hp one… so by default i believe they have to bump the power of the 328/335.

Well, at least it looks like the 2.0 with the carbon fiber engine cover

I believe that the Porsche Boxster was always a 6 banger though mid-mounted.

Speaking of mid-mounted, isn’t 4-cylinders-for-$40k what happened to the porsche boxter?

Again, I’d love to see the E90 320Si – mid-mounted for better performance but it is down on power – bump it to the race spec 275 hp and you’ve got a winner!

Isn’t that kinda what happened after the fuel shortage of the 70’s? The small engines with better gas mileage, especially the Japanese models, became all the rage. And then we reverted back to big huge gas guzzlers….