340i and 440i

German any and all
#1

BMW has updated their nomenclature again. The N54/N55 engine has been dropped from the 3 series and replaced with the B58 engine. It’s a rework of their single turbo, 3.0L formula with a water cooled intake charger. The magazines seem to indicate this is the first iteration of the car that exceeds the E90 in feel and performance. The track handling package, M adaptive suspension, and a retune of the electric steering have put the car back in balance.

I really loved my 2006 325i 6 speed, and on a recent weekend at the track I was riding in a 2008 335i sedan. I forgot how smooth as glass that motor is (untuned). You can barely tell it’s a turbo.

The bad news on this 340i is this weight is dead identical to an S4 now, at 3850 pounds with xDrive. I don’t recommend open diff on a car with this much torque. The price is about $53,000 with sensible options.

#2

Why is it called 340 or 440 if it’s not a v8 or at least a 4 liter seems really weird.

In the UK I did see a nice 420d with an M package, will try to post pictures of her in my other thread

#3

maybe because they abandoned displacement nomenclature 7 years ago

#4

Yeah dumb. But a 640 used to be a v8 40 used to be s v8 even after they did that dumb shit. No worse than infinity doing g37 to q50, whose wise idea was that marketing?

#5

Everyone did it. Don’t get upset lol.

They realized that with everything going forced induction they needed to get off the old nomenclature standard as it would imply going backwards when your 350 hp 335i should be a 330i, but that is the same as a 230 hp car from the previous generation. In Europe everyone is infatuated with displacement.