3-Pots On The Way From BMW & Merc

German quest to eliminate cylinders continues, now they're targeting the classic fours

By Chris-R / Wednesday, 22 July 2009 / Loading comments

In their ongoing quest to save the planet (or something) Germany's favourite car-makers are following modern-day trend-setters like the Daihatsu Charade with their own three-cylinder powered models.

The Charade wowed in '77 with its mighty 3-cylinder

The Charade G10 was introduced way back in 1977 with an 843cc three-pot, but apparently BMW and Merc are still five years away from producing theirs.

According to an Autocar report, the new engines will power all Mercedes models up to the C-class, while BMW 'is developing cars to suit the quirky noise, vibration and harshness characteristics of three-pot engines.'

Daimler strategist Johannes Reisenrath explains the strategy thus in Autocar's article: 'Logically, if we go from eight to six cylinders with the same output to help economy, and we go from six to four cylinders, then four has to go somewhere too,' he says.

...and even spawned a Group B study!

'Now we can do a 1.2-litre three-cylinder, so we can have 168bhp with a turbo, plus 150-185lb ft, which is enough to drive a mid-sized car like the C-class very well. It also has a six per cent fuel consumption benefit, and with 95g/km of CO2 fleet fuel consumption as a target, that’s an option we have to consider. We will have one on sale in the next four to five years.'

BMW is also reported to be planning a three-pot engine for its next generation 1-series.