Quote:
Originally Posted by Efthreeoh
I'm not sure why you are pissing all over the N52. Does it compare in power output to an M engine? No of course not because it's not an M engine; BMW builds M engines for M cars. Does that make sense?
The N52 was designed as the replacement for the M52/54, where the M52 was a replacement for the M20. It's BMW's regular street fair engine meant for powering mass-production economy cars like the 3-series and their SUV (barf) offshoots. I've owned the M20, M54 and N52. Not that anyone asked but choosing between all three, I'd have a hard time choosing between the M20 and the N52. The M52/54 just seems not to have the BMW in-line 6 DNA. The beautiful and romantic mechanical sounds of the M20 are hard to come by in most car engines, especially modern-day, emissions-tight versions. Some of us Bimmerheads like the I-6 configuration because of the inherent balance, which leads to long engine life with low maintenance requirements.
Not everyone wants a M car. Replacing big-end bearings every 50,000 miles is not a requirement everyone wants to sign up for.
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It's not an M engine, I know. My original point was only that I don't see what's special about it. Every time I drove a car with one, I wished the car had an N54 or N55. I even prefer N20. There are engines to wax poetic about, but I just didn't see that as one of them and certainly don't think it's a high water mark or anything of BMWs "good old days". BMW has changed direction in some aspects, but engines are not one of their problems. It's a perfectly fine engine, but nothing I'd ever go out of my way for.
Just a secondary point, the I6 balance helps with harmonics, but I dobut there's any real world correlation to reliability. BMW has produced several unreliable I6 engines, and I'm not sure any of their engines are up to Toyota standards when you compare like-for-like. N55 is "reliable" if you don't care about PITA things like the oil filter housing gasket, valve cover gasket, oil pan gasket, etc. I suspect the same is true for N52.