According to Autoblog, via Automobile Magazine and via a live tweet (yes, we know, lots of “sources”), BMW is planning to bring a four-cylinder engine to the Z4 family in the North American market.
The Twitter rumor reported by Automobile Magazine mentions BMW ditching the naturally aspirated 3.0-liter inline-six in the base Z4 roadster in favor of a turbocharged four-cylinder powerplant. If the rumor turns out true, the Z4 sDrive30i will be featuring the first four-cylinder engine available in the United States.
BMW has been contemplating with the idea of offering a four-cylinder powerplant in the US, but expectations were that the unit will be found in the X1 or future 1 Series models. The engine in the Z4 will output at least 200 horsepower and 220 lb-ft of torque.
Clearly details are slim at the moment, thanks to the 140-characters limit imposed by Twitter, but we expect to learn more through an official article published by the respectable magazine.
Big news, yes, but it doesn’t come as much of a surprise since BMW has long flirted with the idea of using turbocharged four-pot mills in its base models like the Z4 sDrive30i and even the 328i.
Author: Horatiu B.
Source: http://www.bmwblog.com/2011/01/11/detro ... in-the-us/