Craigslist Find: 1991 BMW 340is E30 with 4.0-liter V8 Engine

It's not the craziest or most extreme E30 project out there (that title could go to the 350i with its 350HP 5.0-liter V12, perhaps even to the RX-7 rotary-powered 320i), but this BMW 340is that's up for grabs on Philly's Craigslist certainly caught our attention. As stated by the seller, the 318is' factory 136HP 1.8-liter four-pot gave its place to a 740i-derived 4.0-liter V8 engine (we're guessing it's the M60 V8 with 286HP) coupled to a 5 speed manual transmission.

The heavily modded E30 also features a limited slip differential, an upgraded suspension, M Roadster trailing arms, E36 M3 front brakes, M Roadster rear brakes, 17-inch M3 alloy wheels and a not so cool, larger double kidney grille.

The asking price for the 340is is $14,950 which may very well be justified by the work involved in the project, but don't forget that (in the States) with less than $15k you can get into the driver's seat of a M3 E36 Coupe.

BMW 3-Series Touring vs Estonian Tram: Driver Made it Out Unharmed!

Looking at the above picture, it's hard to believe that the driver of this black BMW 3-Series Touring actually managed to escape unscathed from this extremely tight fit between a tram and a traffic pole in the city of Tallinn in Estonia. And even though most of the photos were taken while the firefighters were trying to rip the car apart in order to free the tram, still, this driver should consider him extremely fortunate. And in case you're wondering, he's the guy with the long hair sitting at the rear bench of the bimmer fiddling around with his cell phone and laptop - any humorous captions are more than welcome.

BMW Reportedly Working on 1.3-liter and 1.8-liter Turbo Engines with 163 to 321HP

It's a rumor we've been hearing about since the beginning of the decade; BMW's turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engines, yet up until now, the only small capacity turbo unit we've seen from the Bavarian group is the MINI's 1.6-liter engine that was co-developed with PSA Peugeot-Citroen. Now, Britain's Sky Motoring is reporting that BMW is well ahead in the development of not only a 1.8-liter turbocharged four pot, but also a smaller 1.3-liter 3-cylinder unit, both of which will be available in the next generation 1- and 3-Series models.

The author of the article does not state where he got the information from, but he does give out detailed output and torque figures for all the possible variants of the two turbocharged engines. For example, the 1.3-liter 3-cylinder engine is said to be offered in three guises with 163, 201 and 241HP while the larger four-cylinder unit in two variants with 273 and 321HP. That means that the 1.3L unit tops out at an amazing 185hp per liter while the 1.8L at 178HP per liter.

The numbers are suspiciously high for a pair of gasoline engines designated to find their way under the hood of mainstream models such as the 1-Series, so for the time being and until we hear something new, this story remains in 'Rumorville'

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

2012 BMW F30 3-Series Spy Shots, Now With a Better View of the Interior

Here are some more spy shots of the upcoming next-gen BMW 3-Series with a closer look at the interior. Codenamed the F30, BMW is likely to play its next bread and butter 3-Series pretty safe with an evolutionary design. Even without looking at the pics, we all know it'll be the 3-Series version of the 5-Series.

As stated in our previous post (read here), power is likely to come from a series of inline-4 and -6 cylinder gasoline and diesel engines that'll see some boost from turbochargers. Also, with BMW downsizing and boost-raising, the next M3 could see either a turbo V8 or possibly even revert to a lighter but high-output 6-cylinder.

Inside, you'll see the newest bit: the car's center information stack is turned slightly toward the driver, harking back to the good old days of BMW. Also, this F30 seAlso, this F30 sedan is just the beginning. After it and the coupe/convertible debut, we could see a hybrid and even a GT variant joining the ranks. As soon as we got some spy pics of those two nasties, we'll let you know.

By Phil Alex