What hasn’t already been said about BMW’s new generation of straight six engines? The B58 family has been praised time after time and it is so good, it was one of the reasons Toyota partnered with BMW for the Supra/Z4. The mill has been recognized as one of the best in the world by Wards Auto this week, becoming one of the winners of their Best Engine awards held yearly.
By now, winning an award for the best engine has become tradition for BMW, especially when it comes to straight sixes. Last year BMW won its 34th Wards 10 Best Engines trophy for the B58 found the X5 xDrive40i and this year, the unit used in the M340i xDrive model claimed the accolades. That’s the B58M30O1 for those of you out there that love code names. The M340i-powering unit delivers 382 HP and 500 Nm (369 lb-ft) of torque.
According to Wards Auto, the BMW B58 engine “wins a 2020 Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems trophy with zero debate among judges and darn near perfect scores in the horsepower and torque categories.
” Their tests shows the engine perform admirably in various weather conditions, including several inches of snow and not even once did it run out of breath. “The car’s no slouch no matter what mode you drive in (EcoPro – hah!),” editor Bob Gritzinger wrote. “Punch up Sport Plus, hammer the accelerator and hang on.”
Having driven the BMW B58 on a number of occasions I can wholeheartedly say this is a winner in a lot of categories. It delivers torque from under 2,000 RPM, making it feel meaty and ready to pounce at any given moment. It also has plenty of horsepower for the upper end of the rev counter and can handle serious weight being added on it.
Furthermore, if you want it to, it can be pretty economical given the right circumstances. As editor James Amend from Wards Auto put it: “BMW drops the equivalent of a Russell Westbrook triple-double on the rest of the industry with this awe-inspiring turbo inline-6.”
