Each week, our German correspondent slices and dices the latest rumblings, news, and quick-hit driving impressions from the other side of the pond. His byline may say Jens Meiners, but we simply call him . . . the Continental.
At a recent Hyundai event, I asked the company’s European design chief Thomas Bürkle, a former BMW man, about the Hyundai grille, which reminds me of the face on some new Ford products. Bürkle acknowledged the similarities but pointed out that Hyundai was first, with the March 2006 Genus concept car (above). Copycats appeared later. The Genus was also the precursor of the i40 station wagon‘s D-pillar treatment, which was inspired by Korean architecture, according to Bürkle. The i40 is the European sister model to the Sonata and comes as a station wagon first. I will drive it in two weeks.
Engine Shuffling
Mercedes-Benz still offers the R230-chassis SL, but the V-12–powered SL600 and SL65 AMG have been killed prematurely. The SL600 came with a 5.5-liter engine, the SL65 AMG a 6.0-liter unit. The next SL will be launched either at the Los Angeles auto show this fall or the Detroit show next January.
Opel is updating its engine portfolio. For the next model year, the Astra—the sister model of the Buick Verano—will be available with two extremely efficient variations of the 1.7-liter turbo-diesel. The lesser one produces 108 hp and 207 lb-ft of torque, the more powerful one 128 hp and an impressive 221 lb-ft. Most impressive is the fuel consumption: 64 mpg in the European cycle, which tends to be optimistic but not ridiculously off the mark, except when applied to some gasoline engines out of Munich, Bavaria.
Speaking of which, BMW is adding two engines to its X3 lineup over here: an entry-level 2.0-liter inline-four gasoline turbo with 181 hp, and a 3.0-liter inline-six turbo-diesel with 309 hp. That unit is BMW’s counterpart of Audi’s 3.0-liter V-6 TDI, which I recently sampled in the A6 Avant. The small turbocharged four-cylinder engines will ultimately spell the end for BMW’s naturally aspirated six.
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But they are facing strong competition: Audi has updated its 1.8-liter TFSI, a variation of the EA888 engine architecture, to comply with rigid emissions and consumption regulation. This engine features a valve-lift system on the outlet side, and a combined direct-/port-injection system. At partial loads, the engine uses port injection; when starting and at high loads, the high-pressure injection valves are utilized. It’s force-fed by an IHI turbocharger. The 170-hp engine produces 236 lb-ft of torque.
This 1.8 is the first of the third-generation EA888 series; 2.0-liter variations will follow, with potential to produce more than 300 hp. Its predecessor, the EA113—a.k.a. the “Iron Gustav,” which is still used in the Golf R and Scirocco R, the GTI Edition 35, and the Audi S3 and TTS—will be rendered obsolete within the next two to three years.
Lights Out
Belgium is switching off most of its freeway lights. The country’s freeway system was illuminated by a continuous line of street lights, which—the joke went—made it visible from the moon.
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