IluvS500

What year was the Inline Six phased out for the V-6 and what were the reasons?

AREITU

Mostly likely 1996.

For emissions, saftey and packaging.

tpliquid

1997 was last year

vas2vas

v6 cheaper to make, smaller engine....

woodie

I think the bore spacing on the new V8 and V6 are the same so they can use the same tooling on both blocks. Also on the 3-valve heads for each.

DMXtremeZ

i like the inline better

IluvS500

The inline sounds cooler.

davis449

Don't know why they switched from the I6 to the V6. I know the I6 has 24 valves and the V6 has 18. The I6 is a higher reving engine as it cruises at higher RPM's than the V6, but that's prbably due to the electronc vs mechanical tranny.

GDawgC220

They stopped the inlines and produced the V's because it was cheaper to make the V6's versus the Inline 6's.

-G-

ABsC280

any opinions on good vs. bad for the i6. also, any for the v6?

GDawgC220

IMO, the I6 is a stronger and "bulletproof" engine. But prone to the headgastket problems in the earlier w202 years. Tho I think the V6 is more fuel efficient than the I6.

Also the harmonic balancer can go out of whack and cause headaches, but can't think of anything else right now.

-G-

sph17

..For a detailed discussion of the pros-cons of the various combinations of I6, V6 4 spd transmission vs. 5 speed AT.

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...threadid=56490

ricerokets4life

you should be wary of your MAF no matter what w202 you choose. they dont like many foriegn objects, including the oil from overoiled aftermarket air filters.

FrankW

97 had the last i-6.

i-6's more balanced and will result for better weight distribution for the whole car. That's why BMW ain't giving up on their i-6, although it's pretty much to the end of how far they can go on power w/o force induction in the E46 M3's engine. I love the sound of the M3 I-6 too.

v-6's more efficient for fuel consumption, save a lot of space up front, but the weight is focused in one area. It's also less costly to built.

FrankW

mnn...they were mainly talking about the M111 2.2 and 2.3 inline-4. only couple guys mentioned M112 inline6

AREITU

Actually the V6 is shorter so it's closer to the firewall for better weight dist. The I-6 is longer and hangs over the front. With a V6 You can also have a larger crumple zone and don't have to worry about the engine flying into the passengers when the car gets front-ended.

BMW's I-6s all sound good. The 325 sounds a bit sweeter than the 328/330 and the M3 sounds like a 325 with an overdose of steriods.

vas2vas

that has nothing to do with safety, both bmw and m/b have collapsable engine mounts, so if the car has a front collision the engine is designed to slide underneath the car...

AREITU

Actually V6s can be placed closer to the firewall so provides better weight distribution. Fuel consumption isn't dependent on the cylinder arrangement, as my Accord V6 gets nearly the same gas mileage as my friend's BMW 325i, while the M3 gets jack for gas mileage.

AREITU

I wouldn't doubt that they're some of the safest cars on earth. One of the positive points regarding german over-engineering is that the saftey features are too. THe reason I mentioned V6s being potentially safer was a quip from "Car and Driver" mentioning a rumor that BMW was developing it's first V6 for various reasons, one being packaging.

ricerokets4life

personally, i like the straight-6 better. i like the sound it makes at WOT.