BMW 118d confirmed for Australia
July 7, 2009 by Matt Brogan
2008 World Green Car of the Year winner, BMW’s 118d, has been confirmed for Australian showrooms by year’s end.
The BMW 118d, which consumes just 4.5 litres per 100 kilometres also achieves low CO2 emissions of just 119 grams per kilometre from its 2.0-litre four cylinder turbo diesel engine.
The 105kW/300Nm engine features an aluminium crankcase and common-rail fuel injection to accelerate the 118d to 100 km/h in 9.0 seconds and also boasts Auto Start Stop, which switches off the engine at the lights to save fuel, as well as a gearshift point indicator.
Other fuel saving measure include intelligent energy management (Brake Energy Regeneration) which serves to efficiently generate electric power for the car’s on-board network and ‘on-demand’ management of the air conditioning compressor as well as electric power steering.
“The BMW 1 Series is the ultimate driving machine in the compact segment and at the same time is a perfect example of the broad-scale introduction of Efficient Dynamics,” said BMW’s general manager of marketing, Tom Noble. “Having just released 26 new BMWs with the latest European Efficient Dynamics technologies for greater driving pleasure and efficiency we’re delighted to extend the range with the BMW 118d, last year’s World Green Car.”
Pricing will be confirmed closer to the release date.
Print it: 
Sounds like it could a load of potential. I’d certainly be interested in one as it would probably be more practical than the Mini Cooper D.
It would be nice to know what transmission it is using though.
Wow this car has been around ages in the UK.
Australia is finally stepping out of the dark ages :)
For some reason we always get the super efficient cars later than other RHD markets. We always get short changed.
^^^it’s because of the quality of the diesel here (high levels of sulfur).
MxMan, I thought our local diesel sulfur levels had been fine for the last couple of years at least. It’s why we now have a decent choice of diesel powerplants from VW, Mercedes, Peugeot, etc. I would say the delayed introduction of the 118d is more likely due to the fairly small market for it in a country that a) doesn’t completely “get” premium hatchbacks yet and b) doesn’t quite “get” diesel engines.
Gotta love the persistence of the poor quality diesel (high sulfur) myth…
I’d like to see even more small capacity diesel engines on the market.
Not so much a myth. The 10ppm standard only took effect from Jan this year, and some suppliers STILL have an exemption, because they can’t comply.
Other requirements only took effect from Feb/March.
At least one car manufacturer recommends only BP supplied diesel.
The requirements phase in:
Sulfur
500 ppm (max) 31-Dec-02
50 ppm (max) 1-Jan-06
10ppm (max) 1-Jan-09
Funny looking Sydney Harbour Bridge!
Everything in 118d sounds interesting. I’m definitely checking one asap, this is another great BMW if not the best.
Carz said
Everything in 118d sounds interesting…OK.
I’m definitely checking one asap….OK.
this is another great BMW if not the best….NO !!! We need 123d seriously.
DesignEng©™ Says:
At least one car manufacturer recommends only BP supplied diesel.
Really? Which car manufacturer is that?
I know that the 10ppm only took place 1-Jan-09 but how is it some are exempt from this rule? If they can’t comply they should just stop selling diesel.
Any idea what the EU standard sulphur content for diesel is?
Well that all sounds good. In the last month, two of the five Prius owners I know changed up to a 1 Series and one of them bought the 118d because of it’s green credentials. From what I’ve heard, it’s a very impressive car and great fun.
I can’t help but think though that it would be more worth it to bring over the 318d and make that the new bottom rung of the 3 Series range over the pretty unimpressive 320i.
Agree with Alex on that last post – 318d would be a good package, however the next gen 3 series looks like it might finally deal with the fact the 320i has always been an underpowered dud.
Word is forced induction will appear, with the replacement for the 320i petrol offering something like 130 to 150kw and 350nm. Let’s just hope they dont stuff up the exterior design!
Then (hopefully) we’ll see a 323d with the 150kw 400nm 23d twin turbo diesel engine.
A 320i turbo and a 323d (both with the option of the DCT gearbox) would make a formidable team at the bottom end of the 3 series range!
JJ
Hans, JAG.
You can’t just suddenly remove two of the largest players from the market, hence the “short term” exemption for poor quality diesel from these two.
EU standards? Don’t know, couldn’t be bothered doing the research.
According to Wikipedia, the EU is moving on a large scale to 10ppm sulfur diesel this year (Euro V standard). There are still various exemptions which will allow > 10ppm diesel for a number of years. 50ppm diesel (Euro IV) was mandatory from 2005 onwards.
So it seems we are not all that far behind the EU on this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.....fur_diesel
Again, I would say the delayed introduction of niche models like the 118d is more to do with marketing and supply concerns rather than local fuel quality.