Remember the days when a BMW 328i had a 2.8-liter engine and a 535i had a 3.5-liter engine, and you knew this from the name of the car? Thanks to downsizing and turbos, those days are gone, but now BMW is reportedly set to unveil another perplexing change to their model names.
A tipster over at the Bimmerpost forum reports that following a mid-cycle refresh and new engines in 2015, the 328i will be called the 330i and the 335i will become the 340i. Same goes for the 4-Series coupe; the 428i becomes the 430i and the 435i becomes the 440i.
No, their engines aren't going up in displacement. The -30i cars will be powered by a 2.0-liter turbo four, and the -40i cars still have a 3.0-liter turbo inline six. But they are new engines — the B48 and B58, respectively. The first one is the same turbo four that goes into the new 2014 Mini Cooper.
Take all this with a grain of salt until it's confirmed, obviously, but Bimmerpost's moderators note that this tipster is usually correct. At the moment it's not clear which other models could be affected by this change.
Also, Mercedes is doing pretty much the same thing with the 2015 Mercedes C-Class, which will come in C300 and C400 variants with four- and six-cylinder power.
Should we get used to saying BMW 340i? It's got an okay ring to it, but part of me will always think there's a V8 under the hood.