The N20: BMW's turbocharged four explained

Compared to rivals Mercedes-Benz and Audi, BMW was rather late to join in the downsized forced induction party.

Insufferably proud of its silky smooth six-pot engines, Munich found itself backed to a corner as Europe tightened its leash on the tail pipes.

The result is that small turbocharged engines are the only way forward in order to simultaneously meet emission regulations and still deliver levels of power that customers have grown accustomed to.

The new 2.0-litre turbocharged four-pot, codenamed N20 by the hacks at Munich, steps in to fill the shoes of the multiple award-winning N52 six-cylinder engines which were available in 2.5 and 3.0-litre guises.

Based on the 3.0-litre N55 six-cylinder that powers the 535i and many other BMWs, the N20 is a highly advanced powertrain featuring twinscroll turbocharging, Valvetronic, and Double VANOS.

In fact, the new engine quickly picked up where its predecessor left off, being named in Ward’s list 10 Best Engines in only its first year of existence. BMW typically offers its engines in varying states of tune as a shortcut way to give increased variety to its model range.

While we can no doubt expect more variations to come eventually, the N20 is now available in only two settings — 184hp and 245hp.

Compared to the equivalent six-cylinder motors they replaced, the new engines offer 8 to 12 per cent improvement in torque, spread over a wider window of revs, and nearly 20 per cent reduction in fuel consumption.

Although BMW has begun introducing the engine to its international line-up since mid-2011, the two new 5 Series variants here represent the engine’s official debut in the Malaysian market, and we can expect to see it making its way to the 3 Series and perhaps the X1 and Z4.

Munich may have been late to the turbo party, but with the N20, it arrives fashionably so.