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There are some mornings you don't like. Especially ones that have some not-so-good news to begin with. And so it did today with BMW announcing that it was about to retire its naturally aspirated 3.0-litre straight six petrol for a turbocharged four-potter. It was the equivalent of the earth falling on the collective heads of anyone with a BMW tattoo on his (or her) arm. You could count me on that list.
Strangely, the thought passed my head just the other night as I was to retire for the day. Well, BMW has already sacrificed quite a bit in terms of 'driving pleasure'. The electric steering on cars like the new 5 doesn't have as much feel as its predecessor. The cars in general have become much larger and then there are the other issues like runflats, i-Drive, less driver-focussed dashboards for quite some time now. The only thing left were the legendary naturally aspirated straight-six and as long as it was still available, there was still some BMW-ness left. That now has been hit for a straight six over the bowler's head!
Why BMW insists on killing the one ideal its company has been based on is hard to fathom. Okay, so emissions dictate terms, but it means hardcore enthusiasts in a Z4, X1, 3 or 5 Series will miss the rasp from the exhaust linked to a straight-six. The whole idea behind a straight-six was weight balance and a driving experience like no other. While the new 2.0-litre turbo four is nearly as powerful and more efficient too, it won't be leaving me with goosebumps the size of boiling lava. Fine, the turbo straight-six will continue to get those kicks, but then again it's just not the same as a finely tuned NA inline-six going into a frenzy under that hood. The last bastion then, of the traditional (and immensely loveable) BMWs has finally left the building.
P.S. Irony of ironies; three years ago I wrote this story celebrating BMW's inline-six. http://bsmotoring.com/news/bmw-530i-vs-bmw-635csiinline/787/1
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