BMW's Biggest Mistake? Why The E90 320si Could Have Been So Much More

Today we're looking at one of the forgotten cars from BMW's recent past - the WTCC homologation special 320si. Fancy carbon fibre engine cover aside, is this car really different enough to justify the price now being asked?

#BMW #E90 #320si

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[Watty]

I remember these very well… came very close to buying one but test drove a low mileage 1 year old 330i and but bought that instead…it was significantly better and I still have it 👍

[RadekPogoda]

I sold two of these in my “BMW salesman” days. One to a client that knew exactly what he’s buying, the other to a bloke who “liked the styling”. Both were seriously unhappy :)

[Thanos.m]

If you think about it BMW 16 years prior to the introduction of this was making the e30 320is for southern Europe which made 189HP and weighed nearly 400kg less than this

[matthewstokes]

I currently have a 320si. Bought it absolutely because I'm a touring car fan, and a BMW enthusiast... Anyone buying one because they think it'll be an M3-lite, or a high performance car will be disappointed. It is a fun car to drive hard, but its not the fastest.

[Tajemni]

My friend bought one not even knowing that it was a homologation special. I didn't know it either, but I was curious about its stats so I jumped into internet. There I found out about the engine problems, and asked if the car had the engine rebuilt. My friend didn't know, and half year later we knew for sure which option it was as the engine literally shat itself.

[TheWretchedWorld]

My uncle had an e90 330i with the same wheels that on this car. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where they came from, until I saw this video. I never saw another e90 with these wheels. I had no idea this car even existed

[seigma]

First of all, thank you Jay for reviewing this car, it has a special place in my heart and so I want to step in to add a few details.

The history of BMW 4cyl performance engines has been kind of overshadowed by its popular 6cyls, but it's actually very interesting.

The S14 developed for the E30 M3 was an engine that was already old when it came out, in fact, bmw put it in the M3 while simultaneously developing its successor that should have been derived by the new M40 engine.

So with the E30 we start to have 2 lines of 4cyl, a standard one (M40) and a performance oriented one (namely the M42 that powered the E30 318is).

BMW developed a motorsport variant of the M42, it was codenamed S42 and it was used to compete on touring championships with 2L displacement limits in the 90s.

The M42 (and S42) was carried on to the E36 generation in the 318is, where it evolved into the M44, the last iteration of this line of engines. Imagine that in north america they got the M42 and M44 into the base E36 318i, so they kinda got screwed with the M3 but got lucky with the base model.

The E36 marked the end to the development of the performance line of 4 cyl engines... Or so it seemed.

The 4 cyls that came after the M43 and M43 were codenamed N40 and N42 and were developed with a lot of new BMW technologies, like the aluminum block, double vanos, valvetronic, etc, with the N40 being the "cheaper version" and therefore not having valvetronic, but limited to 1.6L of displacement and used only in certain market on the E46 compact.

The N40 and N42 received an update around the E90 launch, namely the N45 and N46, and here's the catch: due to the N45 not having valvetronic, it was able to rev higher, and thus it was chosen by BMW for the 2L displacement motorsport.

I guess they did this 320si because the regular N45 was available only as 1.6L displacement.

So all in all, this 320si is like the spiritual successor to the E36 318is.

If there's a guy that knows a lot about BMW 4cyls, that's Bruno from BDS motorsport. He used to tune E36 M42 and M44 engines and then moved to the N45 in the E87 116i, you can even find a video here on yt of his tuned 116i.

I remember in one of his lives he talked about the E90 320si engine and essentially said it was flawed because some components were made at motorsport levels, and others were recycled from BMW partsbin or just made cheaply compared to the racing version of the N45, backing up the idea that they made this car more because they needed to homologate the 2L N45 rather than to make a 318is successor. Very interesting anyway.

Lastly, while it's true that the N43 (N46 successor) makes roughly the same power as the 2L N45, it's also true that it's nowhere near as rev happy and fun to drive as the latter.

[clivethecorvette]

I've owned two 320si, my current one is on 153, 000 miles, original engine. The video sums the car up well, one other detail to add, they have hydraulic power steering, which does help with feel over the regular 320i electric steering. I have to agree with the downsides: poor fuel economy and mediocre straight line performance and some owners reporting serious cylinder liner issues. Despite all that I like them, they are different, have a genuine motorsport back story and thanks to so many of them being broken there are relatively few remaining. The upside to this reputation is that prices are very low; consider that IF the engine was bombproof and made more power they would probably be priced beyond my means as a daily driver. Besides, if you find one that has had steel liners and new cam chain they should be tough, I don't know of any crank, rod, piston or top end failures. The top end shares many similarities with the S54 M engine, with solid lifters (the same parts used) and actually has stronger rockers than the M part (they are used by a number of race teams in S54 engines).
My commute to work has plenty of roundabouts, the grip is impressive and makes working the engine between 4k and 7k revs great fun. I feel that part of the secret to keeping the engine healthy is more regular oil changes and a very careful warm up process before giving it full throttle. I fitted a sump heating pad, so on colder UK mornings I plug the car in for a few hours before driving.

[CarNitty]

I love how I can just search for a car off the top of my head an 90% of the time, I'm greeted with a JayEmm review. Just perfection.

[energymc]

My friend had one, that carbon valve cover 😍 And interesting that they never fitted an oil temperature gauge in place of the mpg meter, considering how important this would be for the "fragile" engine

[johnshaw]

Caught between homologation requirements and their own M cars is my first thought.

[JamsA]

Can remember looking at these when new & frankly, I was disappointed. Despite being a homologation special it didn't feel different enough from a standard 320i, and felt no quicker than my then-current E46 320ci. With all the trick motorsport components, that engine should have been more like a Honda K20 or at least a Renault F4R. I seem to remember there were some serious reliability problems too

[Buck]

Always like the more obscure cars that appear on here. I also had a friend with one of these and was baffled by his love for a 320. Bit of research later and it told the tale you tell here .

[edwardkarran]

Noway!! My good friend had one of these last year. Trying to explain how well it drove to others was difficult. Such a gem of a car. Pity the oil pump failed on a track day. Miss it dearly. It's suspension is going into my 1 series coupe!

[SoundsToBlowYourMind]

I think this is more akin to the E30 318is, than the M3. I had a black 1990 E30 318is, great car, wish I still had it as E30s are skyrocketing in value now!

[colinw]

Has to be a straight six for me. I do love the simple yet elegant styling of that era though, and especially in that

[nemanjamihailovic]

Not a single word regarding legendary unrealiabilty of 320is engine and espensive repairs?

[benzinapaul]

I remember these costing BMW a fortune in warranty claims replacing the cracked aluminium cylinder liners. Not sure if they still suffer this fate. Interesting to see how this would compare back to back with an Alpina D3

[msitpro]

You can't compare it to a S2000's F20C when that engine uses VTEC, and that would not be allowed in WTCC Super2000 rules. I'm not sure it even allows variable cam timing. Then... For emissions reasons, you can't slap the 300+° duration cams from the race engine in the road going version. (If you did, peak power would probably shift to 8500rpm and be up to 230hp+)

[andyjones]

Had this for a test drive back in the day. Even thou quite nimble and the engine being a little gem it was just slow. Took it to the autobahn and you were eaten alive there. Nothing wrong with taking the 6 cylinder cars back in the day. It just didn’t live up to its badge.