So when does the 4.4i Twin-Turbo V8 comes out for the E70 X5?

[Fredo]

Originally Posted by marcx5

i was told by a BMW employee at the Performance Center/factory in Spartanburg.... that the dielsel twin turbo engine will be out by the summertime! he also said it will 'not' be more power than the 4.8 (they will keep that as the fastest one for now), but it WILL get much better fuel economy being a diesel. he seemed very confident in what he was saying. he also said the X6 will be available in April.

He is not exactly telling us anything new there re the diesel. Though of course the disel has significantly more torque so it's not just a bhp story. The SD will probaly be quicker or at least as quick in gear than the 4.8 because of the torque.

[rh71]

^ TT diesel by summertime is definitely new information - or at least the first time that's been mentioned. I don't really see a reason why it would not be possible other than the 50-state approval thing - I mean, they're already making them down in SC so there's no "start of production" dates to worry about. Would be nice if they announced something - they'd be making more money off us and it's not like they need to get the 3.0si off many lots since most of ours are built to order. Even the 3.0si on the showroom floor was taken by a buyer last weekend when I went in.

[dbinc]

I will see from my friend if he has any new information since he just came back from training.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by rh71

^ TT diesel by summertime is definitely new information - or at least the first time that's been mentioned. I don't really see a reason why it would not be possible other than the 50-state approval thing - I mean, they're already making them down in SC so there's no "start of production" dates to worry about. Would be nice if they announced something - they'd be making more money off us and it's not like they need to get the 3.0si off many lots since most of ours are built to order. Even the 3.0si on the showroom floor was taken by a buyer last weekend when I went in.

If the current diesels met North American emissions standards, then I would agree. BMW has talked about using urea injection to meet the standards next year, which would be combined with new engine control software at a minimum, so I suspect that there is a 'start of production' stage to go through. Perhaps the new engine will be a very minor tweak to the existing models, but I suspect not. I don't expect the engine block and internals will change much, if at all, but it will be interesting to see how much they have to do to it. It will also be interesting to see if they produce two versions for global markets (North Amerca, and ROTW), or whether they use a single configuration.