Listen to the Sounds of BMW's New 1.5-liter Twin-Turbo 3-Cylinder Gasoline Engine on a 1-Series

We have heard the claims repeatedly from BMW's people ever since they announced the development of their brand new series of 1.5-liter TwinPower three-cylinder petrol and diesel engines: these new powerplants will be strong, fuel-efficient and equally important, sound the part.

At the recent Paris Motor Show, BMW sales and marketing boss Ian Robertson told reporters that the new three-cylinder engine “behaves like a six-cylinder, is half-of a six-cylinder and has the noise of a six-cylinder”.

Want more? Here is another quote from BMW regarding the gasoline version of the 1.5-liter twin-turbocharged unit that will be offered in outputs ranging from 120Hp to 220Hp:

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BMW Already Testing 1-Series Compact Models with its New Three-cylinder 1.5-liter Engines

As we were looking for pictures the other day for our story on the availability of the BMW Group's new 1.5-liter TwinPower Turbo engines in the United States and Canada, we discovered images of a prototype of the 1-Series five-door hatchback fitted with this powerplant on the company's website.

To date, while BMW has set the market introduction of the 1.5-liter TwinPower Turbo engine in diesel and petrol forms for 2013, it has only confirmed the i8 sports coupe and the i3 supermini gasoline-electric hybrids as the recipients of the three-cylinder units.

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BMW’s Hybrid Active Tourer Concept is a 1-Series GT in Disguise

If things stayed the same, we would probably still be living in caves – or even worse. Change is inevitable and this stands for car manufacturers, too.

BMW apparently thinks the same way; that’s why the Active Tourer Concept that premiered at the Paris Auto Show toady breaks with the Bavarian carmaker’s tradition by offering front-wheel drive.

The automaker claims that its latest study “offers an initial insight into innovations for the premium compact segment… in terms of both the interior and the drive concept.”

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G-Power Builds Insane BMW 1 M Coupé with 592HP V8 and Top Speed of 330km/h – 205MPH

It was not too long ago that G-Power introduced its first take on the BMW 1 M Coupé with a 429hp (435PS) performance tune. Now, the famed BMW tuning brand is taking it a few steps further with its new G1 V8 HURRICANE RS model.

While the G-Power 1 M Coupé made use of the original model's 3.0-liter turbocharged straight six, the G1 HURRICANE RS borrows the 4.0-liter V8 engine from the M3 E92 Coupe.

In fact, G-Power installed the entire powertrain from the M3 including the DCT double-clutch transmission gearbox and stainless steel exhaust system, and while it was at it, also made use of the M3's front and rear axles!

Being the power-hungry company that it is, the Germany tuner wasn't satisfied with the stock engine's 414hp (420PS) so it bolted on a customized ASA supercharger system along with several other goods such as an aluminium cast air box that boost output to 591hp (600PS) and peak torque to 580Nm (428 lb-ft).

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New BMW M Performance Accessories Including Power Kit for 2.0-liter Diesel

The 2012 Paris Motor Show at the end of the month will see the very first presentation of several new products from the BMW M Performance Accessories division including parts for the recently launched 1-Series 3-door hatchback and 3-Series Touring, plus a power kit for models fitted with the 2.0-liter four-cylinder common rail diesel engine. Read more »

BMW to Debut All-Wheel Drive 1-Series Hatchbacks and New Base Diesel Model at the Paris Motor Show

We first heard about the availability of BMW's intelligent all-wheel drive system (xDrive) on the 1-Series during the presentation of the three-door hatchback model back in May, and at this month's Paris Motor Show, the Bavarian automaker will hold the world premiere of these variants together with a new entry-level diesel option for the range.

BMW's all-wheel drive system will currently be offered on two 1-Series hatchback models, the 120d xDrive and the sporty M135i xDrive.

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New BMW Active Tourer Concept Previews the FWD 1-Series Gran Turismo [84 Photos & Videos]

These first official images of BMW's new Active Tourer Concept confirm our suspicions that the photo sourced from the cover of the next issue of Auto Bild magazine that we shared with you earlier today, did indeed show the real thing.

To answer the first question you are most likely to have about the Paris Motor Show-bound Active Tourer study, yes, it is intended for production - likely as a 1-Series model with the Gran Turismo moniker that is used by BMW on its more practical vehicles. One of its more direct rivals will be the Mercedes-Benz B-Class small MPV.

But that's not what makes the Active Tourer Concept really special, what does is its platform that will be shared with the next generation of Mini-branded cars and BMW's decision to break with tradition and enter the realm of front-wheel drive models.

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BMW Announces New 1.5-Liter Turbo'd 3-Cylinder Petrol and Diesel Engines with up to 222HP

In 2007, BMW introduced the Efficient Dynamics strategy to its new vehicles, which encompasses fuel efficient petrol and diesel engines, highly efficient transmissions, “intelligent” management of ancillary systems and advanced aerodynamics.

Despite investing heavily on hybrid and EV technology, as is evident with the ActiveHybrid models and the new “i” sub-brand, BMW also believes that the internal combustion engine has potential for improvement and will continue to power the bulk of its existing and future models.

To that end, it is introducing a new lineup of TwinPower turbocharged engines in both gasoline and diesel forms, starting with the 1.5-liter three-cylinder units.

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Is This Image of the BMW Active Sports Tourer Concept, aka the FWD 1-Series GT Real?

You can never be sure with magazine images of future models floating around the internet, but there's something real about this photo of what is described as the BMW Active Sports Tourer Concept and which is sourced from the cover of the next issue of Auto Bild that's due to come out on Friday, September 14.

The German magazine itself has issued a teaser of the upcoming issued but has darkened the car (see image below).

The vehicle pictured here is evidently a concept with the only fake feature we could find being the license plate – a common practice among car magazines in Europe to make readers think that the concept is a production model.

If real, the Active Sports Tourer Concept should be a thinly disguised version of the upcoming BMW 1-Series tall hatchback that may or may not sport the Gran Turismo nameplate when it enters production next year.

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BMW 1-Series M Coupe Falls into the Hands of G-Power and gets 429HP

Renowned BMW tuner G-Power has presented its take on the youngest and smallest member of the M family, the 1-Series M Coupe.

At the core of the upgrade package is a comprehensive tune of the 1M Coupe's 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six.

The German firm's engineers raise the pulse of the force-fed powerplant with an elaborate kit that includes reprogrammed software, flow optimized downpipes, enlarged capacity for the boost cooling system and a lightweight custom exhaust system made from titanium that shaves 20kg (44 pounds) over the stock exhaust.

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Scoop: 2014 BMW 2-Series / 1-Series Convertible Realistically Rendered

Over the past year, BMW has presented the five-door and three-door hatchback body styles as well as the M Performance-prepped and badged M135i version of the second generation 1-Series, also known under the internal codename F20.

So what's left to complete the series? Well, depends on how you define the 1-Series range.

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BMW Rumored to be Working on M235i Coupe for 2014

With only 600 1-Series M Coupes (pictured above) making it to the States out of a total of 6,000 examples worldwide, the hot two-door model is a rare beast.

For those who couldn't get their hands on the most compact and affordable M model, Autoweek magazine is reporting that BMW is preparing a kind of successor in the form of an M Performance coupe based on the recently launched in Europe, M135i hatchback.

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