BMW 318i, is the engine smooth, other opinions?

Hadley said:

I am about to buy a BMW 318i for my wife. I am used to and like a lot the 6 inline engine. The new 4 cyl. valvetronic engine, is it as smooth, and any (+) or (-) opinions on this car, or any advice, I would very much appreciate to hear. (A test car is still not available at my dealer) Thanks a lot.

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I live in the U.S., so the engine in my 1994 318 is 138HP. I'm not sure how that compares the engine available in your car, and your area of the world.

I love the performance of my 318, but I'm not sure smooth is the word I would use to describe this higher revving engine. The number one issue with the 1.8 liter BMW engine is high RPM's are required in order to generate the necessary torque for quick acceleration. This doesn't lend itself to being classified as "smooth," espcially when you are comparing it to the BMW inline-6 engine. Many feel this larger BMW engine is the smoothest running engine that exists period, partially because the larger displacement provides adequate torque with minimal RPM's, but also because the inline configuration is also known to be far smoother than any V6 ever produced.

So to answer your question, if smooth is what you want, you should opt for a BMW equipped with the inline-6. If more responsive handling and a lighter feel is more atuned to your personal preference, the 318 would be a great choice. But with that choice, you should expect to experience the feel of a lot of RPM's, and all of the increased noise and vibration that goes along with that.

One other note, I would definitely recommend the manual transmission on any car equipped with the 1.8 liter engine. You would be disappointed with the performance of the automatic/1.8 liter configuration.