And here we go! The internet rumormill has stumbled upon a patent filing of a BMW turbocharged V6.
V6?
That's like a dirty letter and number for BMW, who has always been a proponent of inline six-cylinder motors. According to Bimmerpost, there are several possibilities when it comes to possible motors in the next M3, one of which is a V6 option.
But before you go further, please take into consideration that patent filings occur quite often and most never get used. So, don't let this speculation shake you up too much.
For MORE details, follow on down below...
Rumors of BMW considering V6 engines have been floating around for quite some while now. One possible future application often mentioned when talking about such an engine is the upcoming F80 M3 (F82 M4)...
...As BMW describes in their patent application, this image shows "the principle of this turbocharger layout invention (#1) in a 6-cylinder internal combustion engine in V configuration (#2) with a first cylinder bank (#2a) -- pictured as 3 circles and labeled with Z -- and a second cylinder bank (#2b) -- also pictured as 3 circles labeled with Z."
Remarkable is the particular invention. According to these schematics, the exhaust gases of all 6 cylinders are routed into one turbocharger (#4) which BMW says may also be a twinscroll turbo. After leaving the first turbocharger, the exhaust gases can be routed either into the exhaust system or into another turbocharger (#5). So this alludes to a sequential turbo layout. The patent application also mentions that this allows different sizes for both turbos.
*IF* this new engine was actually produced and used in the next M3, we would assume that BMW goes for a smaller twin-scroll as the first turbo, with a larger second turbocharger. All that being said, this patent filing doesn't necessarily mean they actually will use a V6 anytime soon, or at all. Patented inventions often get dismissed before making it to series production. At the very least however, this shows that BMW has (or is) actually considering V6 engines and how to make the related turbocharging as efficient and responsive as possible...
[Source: Bimmerpost]
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