Just the Facts:
- BMW confirms it will bring a 5 Series diesel to the U.S., but it hasn't said which of its diesel power plants the sedan will get.
- The automaker is also planning diesel power for another as-yet-unnamed model, too.
- Currently, the 330d and the X5 xDrive35d are the only two U.S.-spec models fitted with diesels.
After a February test-drive in the diesel-powered version of BMW's all-new F10-generation 5 Series sedan, the most we could say about whether the U.S.-market would ever see it: maybe.
The gloves are off now, though, with BMW confirming at a media event this week that the magnificent new 5 Series also will be available to U.S. buyers with one of BMW's magnificent turbodiesel engines. The company won't yet say which diesel — or when.
But for compression-ignition aficionados, the news gets even better. BMW is planning to give us diesel power for another as-yet-unnamed model, too.
Willem Rombauts, product manager for the 5 Series, X5 and X6, said two more models in the U.S. will offer diesels. "The 5 Series will definitely be one of them," he revealed.
Currently, the 330d and the X5 xDrive35d are the only two U.S.-spec models fitted with diesels. Both use BMW's twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder diesel that generates 265 horsepower and a sinful 425 pound-feet of torque. Both have been on sale since 2008. Neither, however, has recorded the kind of sales numbers that make the accountants back in Germany break out with spontaneous yelps of Wagnerian rapture.
As to the matter of which diesel the U.S. 5 Series will get, it's almost certain it will be one of the straight-6s already offered in Europe, either the twin-turbo job we already know from the 3 Series and X5 or a slightly less muscular single-turbo 3.0-liter.
But there are two other possibilities. First, since Rombauts says it will be "a few years" before the U.S.-market F10 5 Series gets the diesel, the single- and twin-turbo configurations could be enhanced and/or effectively merged, sort of what we've seen BMW do with the current N54 twin-turbo and N55 single-turbocharged gasoline inline-6s.
But one BMW powertrain source also slyly speculates the diesel for a U.S. 5 Series could be a four-cylinder. The company has said it's committed to re-establishing four-cylinder engines in the U.S. — we haven't had one since the late and sometimes-lamented 318ti went away after the '99 model year — but isn't saying whether the first four-cylinder returnees will be diesel or gasoline. A four-cylinder diesel — particularly an advanced one that punches with the grunt of a six — could be the pure-economy play that is missing from BMW's current turbodiesel models.
Although those diesels' fuel economy is markedly better than their gasoline counterparts, today's gasoline prices don't provide much incentive for the unindoctrinated to take a flyer on diesel. But a four-cylinder diesel 5 Series could deliver significantly better fuel economy than the same car with a gasoline six-cylinder — pleasing diesel lovers and helping BMW move closer to meeting the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard of 34.1 mpg starting in 2016.
