View Single Post
      04-24-2011, 02:12 AM   #105
simianspeedster
Captain
60
Rep
631
Posts

Drives: 2020 840i Coupe
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: The Vast Interwebs...

iTrader: (0)

I've driven and ridden in lots of 4 cylinder cars over the years, both NA and turbo. None come anywhere close to an N52 in terms of smoothness or sound quality, though the latter is subjective.

Larger displacement NA 4s that make enough power to be useful in a sporty car vibrate too much at idle and usually have other points in the rev range where they make themselves very obviously known.

Turbo 4s can make good power with smaller displacement, of course, but as another poster pointed out, you often get to hear the plumbing noises more than the engine. I completely agree that the Acura RDX's engine falls into this category (a friend had one for a while -- it was a terrible match for that car) and the 2.3 Turbo in my old MazdaSpeed 6 fell into this category as well.

We haven't even talked about the strange, inconsistent throttle response that many turbo 4s suffer from. When it comes to physics, there is no free lunch. There are a lot of compromises involved in trying to replace a smooth, refined inline 6 with a turbo 4, but I've yet to see any tangible benefits.

The 2.0T engine in the current Audi A4/A5 is heralded as one of the best turbo 4s available in terms of power delivery and smoothness. I drove 3 cars with that engine, 2 automatics and one stick, and I really disliked it on every level. I don't see how BMW's engine can be worlds better, but I guess we'll see.
Appreciate 0