BMW tagged posts

For the current MINI Cooper’s John Coooper Works (JCW) series vehicles, they are using a turbo-charged 1.6L 4-cylinder engine which outputs 208 hp, code name “Prince”, jointly developed by BMW and PSA Peugeot Citroën.

The 2015 model year JCW models will see a completely new engine, which is based on the BMW B48 2.0L turbo 4-cylinder engine. The B48 series engine is not new for the MINI family – the current MINI Cooper S, has already used it for the 2014 model year, with output tuned to 189 hp with 207 lb-ft of torque.

On the 2015 JCW models, the B48 engine increased its boost and the final output is said to be around 227 hp (230 bhp), and the torque will be 258 lb-ft.

Bo...

Today is the last day of June, from our website statistics, below are the most popular articles of this month.

– Fun Facts

Not All Gasoline Brands Are The Same
How Many People Lease Their Cars?
New Round of Horsepower Competition
The Plastic Trend in the Automobile Industry

– Tutorial Series

Car Suspension Design
Car Braking System Design (to be continued)

– Industry News and Analysis

BMW 2-Series Crash Test and Analysis
New Plans of the MINI Brand
Direct Sales Model: Good or Bad?
Toyota 10-Speed Automatic Transmission
New Mercedes-Benz C-Class vs. Old C-Class

Nowadays, plastic is not something unfamiliar in our daily commute cars. We see them in the interior trims, body panels, cowls and even some brackets inside the engine compartment.

Previously we can never think of using plastics in some critical parts which are subject to high loads, excessive heat and demanding stress. But the usage of engineering plastics continues to expand in the auto industry.

One example is the BMW N20 4-cylider turbo engine. For some F30 3-series, the N20 engine comes with a plastic engine oil pan, as shown in the below image. The engine oil pan seals the underside of the engine and holds all of its lubrication oil.

Recently Mercedes-Benz go anoth...

Today IIHS released its BMW 2-series crash testing results and the corresponding rating.

Generally speaking the 2-series got a Top Safety Pick Plus result, which is because it achieved “Good” results in all testing categories, including the small overlap front test, which is shown in the below image (released by IIHS). From the photo you can see the 2-seires has very good safety cage strength to handle the frontal impact energy: there is no excessive deformation around the A pillar area.

However, we also found some weak points in the BMW 2-series, from the crash test.

1...

It has been almost 2 months since we report the news of the BMW M2. Many things happened during the past months, for example the upcoming Audi RS3 was estimated to offer around 400hp.

It looks like BMW is following up the competition, and adjusted the engine power range. The latest news says the BMW M2 will have 374 – 395 hp, and the energy will comes from a modified version of the 3.0L turbo 6-cylinder N55 engine. Please note that this is just and estimation and it is not officially confirmed by BMW at this moment.