BMW to change model designations, further yet from actual displacement?

Sat, 12 Jul 2014

Once upon a time, you could look at the back of a trunk lid of a BMW and come up with a pretty fair idea of what sat under its hood. For example, a 320i was a 3 Series with a fuel-injected, 2.0-liter engine, a 328i was a 3 Series with a fuel-injected, 2.8-liter engine and a 328Ci was a two-door 3 Series with the same engine. Those were good days.

Today, though, that simplicity is dead and gone. A 328i now has a 2.0-liter engine, just like the 320i, while the simple "C" designation that was affixed to two-door models has been replaced with a "4," so we have a 428i and a 435i. It gets worse, though. A 550i uses a 4.4-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 (it should be a 544ti, although we'd be willing to hear an argument for "tti") and a 740i uses a 3.0-liter, turbocharged six-cylinder, which is the same engine found in a 535i. It's madness.

And, well, it's about to get madder, if a post on a BMW enthusiast forum is to be believed. According to f30post.com, we could see a shakeup in at least the 3 and 4 Series nomenclature, thanks to an impending refresh that will see the addition of new, turbocharged four- and six-cylinder engines, codenamed B48 and B58, respectively.

The B48 will take the place of the current 2.0-liter turbo found in the 320i and 328i/428i. In this case, the higher output models will be rechristened as the 330i and 430i. Meanwhile, the six-cylinder 335i and 435i will evolve into the 340i and 440i. There will also be a plug-in hybrid variant that will carry the title of 330e.

We reached out to BMW regarding this latest change in the brand's naming conventions, although all we were able to get was the standard (and unsurprising) line that the company wasn't "in a position to comment."

What do you think of these changes? Scroll down and have your say in Comments.

By Brandon Turkus