[rickwttgrf]

What is the general feeling about this Brasilian made 4-banger......... My initial take is that this has the potential to be of a lesser quality than we may have come to expect from BMW. Any ideas?

[Paul]

I don't know enough to give a fully informed reply, but the performance figures they appear to be getting from a 1.6 in the Cooper 'S' and 'S' Works certainly seem pretty good.
I don't see why the quality should be less, after all, it seems likely that Jeep are going to use the same engine in their latest concept vehicle, and it has been quite heavily invested in. I believe so any way.

}:O

[rickwttgrf]

The Chrysler/Jeep influence is not what I call an "Assurance of Quality", If ya know what I mean. I know that Benz is in the mix somehow, and that should be a good thing, but the initial feeling is a little shakey. Things like a thermoplastic valve cover, and other "cost saving" features listed in some Links are examples. Remember the last Jeep plastic valve covers? Isn't oil supposed to stay on the inside of an engine?..........I hope my fears are compleatly unjustified! :')

[digidelia]

i agree, rickwttgrf. it is beyond me why BMW chose to go in with Chrysler to build its engines.
i have a plymouth neon right now, and if the MINI's engine is going to be anything like the neons, i think that i will have to pass on it.

[d. hale]

Well, here's a link regarding the Tritec plant in Brazil.

European car manufacturers (if memory serves) face or will face stiff tax penalties if their "fleet average" drops below a certain level of fuel economy. I seriously doubt that BMW is in a position to produce a small fuel efficient four-cylinder engine. Most of their effort is in getting power, not efficiency (which is not to say that BMW engines are wasteful, exactly, just that their design goals are biased towards high output).

Now, I don't know the business decision, but it seems to me that going in on a Brazilian factory would buy BMW some time if they wanted to design their own 4-cyl. They could also decide *not* to if the Tritec engine is smooth enough, powerful enough, and efficient enough -- after all, the BMW brand is still safe. Real BMWs still will get real BMW engines.

Oh, and don't discount thermoplastics. Plastic has come a long way. I think a cam cover is a good place for plastic, and if it frees up funds to produce better piston rings or other essential parts (Dana Corp. is producing the cam cover, rings, and seals) then the plastic's a good thing. Plastic's light, too.

[digidelia]

we will have to see if Chrysler will even still be in business when the MINI debuts in the states

[Casey]

this was in the Mini World magazine from march 2001


BMW RETHINK
Autocar reports on a "secret BMW plan to develop a direct injection, four-cylinder petrol engine to use in the new Mini which oculd add to the mounting problems at DaimlerChrysler. BMW refuse to comment..."

I've also heard things like this from others..but have heard from Paul that a mate of his saw the sales brochures at a dealership and they are still listing the 1.6 liter brasilian engine. Though as some of you have speculated...maybe bmw is making a new engine that will come out in the mini in following years.

[d. hale]

Hmm.

"And what of those engines? When, at the 1996 Paris show, BMW announced its plan to build an engine in Brazil, in partnership with Chrysler, most questions focused on the future of Rover's innovative K-series engine that, with a different transmission, would have fitted easily under the new MINI's hood. Indeed, up to that point, it had been the chosen power unit. What few realised at the time (and BMW didn't admit it) was that dropping the K-series was a political decision. BMW was desperate to sell cars and set up marketing agreements in South America, and the quid pro quo was a major
investment, such as an engine plant. So the MINI gets an engine based on a Chrysler design - not the most auspicious start. "

From Phil Bailey's Automotive World.

[digidelia]

i think i read somewhere that BMW was only planning on using the Brazilian engine for awhile, then they were going to replace it with their own engine that was also going to be used with the new BMW 1 or 2 series (I can't remember which.)