MINI Cooper Getting New Range Of 3 and 4-cylinder Engines

The resurrection of MINI under BMW’s stewardship is one of the great success stories of the new millenium, and there’s an all-new Cooper ready to make it’s world debut in just a few months. The first details of the new Cooper are starting to leak out, including a new range of engines that for the first time includes a tiny turbo three-cylinder.

These new engines are the first BMW-made motors for the MINI Cooper, featuring the TwinPower direct injection and turbocharging technologies. The motors are set to break cover in November. The base engine will be a 1.5 liter three-cylinder turbo making 134 horsepower and 162 ft-lbs of torque. It’s actually a rather large three-cylinder engine, though not quite as big as the 2.0 liter four-banger that will offer 189 horsepower and 207 ft-lbs of torque. An “overboost” feature allows the three-cylinder to make up to 189 ft-lbs of torque, and the four-cylinder up to 227 ft-lbs for short periods of time.

No mention of fuel economy numbers or of the rumored diesel model, but you can be sure that fuel economy is going to be important to the MINI brand going forward. It’s amazing how much power automakers are able to wring out of smaller and smaller engines, with the MINI motors rivaling the power of much bigger engines, though Ford is still the leader in three-cylinder performance.

The new MINI is more than just some fresh engine choices; a new chassis employs various weight-lightening features shared with the BMW 1-series, and new transmission options (both automatic and standard) will help make the most of every gallon of gas.

But as far as fuel economy goes, MINI needs to at least hit 40 mpg to get anyone’s attention. These gas engines can only get so much smaller though, and new solutions will have to be employed if MINI hopes to keep an MPG edge on the competition.

What I’m saying is, where’s the MINI hybrid at?

Source: MINI

Forbidden Fruit: Europe-only Twin-turbo E400 Cabrio Gets Nearly 36 MPG!

Mercedes-Benz recently redesigned its E series cars with smoother headlights, better aerodynamics, and some environmentally-friendly updates to the engine control software here and there. Unfortunately, Mercedes saved the best update of all for the UK/European market when it launched the car you see here – the new-for-2014 Mercedes-Benz E400 Cabrio.

What makes the new E400 Cabrio Benzo so special is a twin-turbocharged six-cylinder heart transplant that replaces the previous car’s V8 in grand style, generating nearly 330 hp at 5500 rpm and more than 350 lb-ft of torque from just 1400 rpm all the way to 4000 rpm, for effortless acceleration off the line (0-60 happens in just 5.3 seconds!) and from a roll (think: freeway on-ramp, 30-60 mph).

The E400 Cabrio’s ultra-low emission V6 kicks out just 185 g/km of CO2 as well, all while giving back 35.8 mpg … which is a damn sight better than the 19/28 mpg rating its significantly less-powerful American sibling, the 2013 Mercedes-Benz E350 Cabrio. 330 horsepower and 36 mpg? Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too?

We probably won’t see the E400 Cabrio in Mercedes showrooms on this side of the pond anytime soon, largely because it will surely scavenge sales from the V8-powered E550. That’s too bad, though, because that twin-turbo V6 with all-wheel-drive and 30+ mpg fuel efficiency would be an easy sale.

Source: Autocar