If Alpina’s take on the BMW 320d got your blood rushing, you may want to take a peek into what Hartge is up to. European Car ripped up some roads with a pair of Hartge-tuned Bimmers diesels and, well, to say that they were impressed would be an understatement.
The first was the BMW Hartge 330d. With the new ECU, the turbocharged 3-liter inline 6 delivers 275 horses and 406 lb-ft. of torque. Zero to 60 blows by in just 6 seconds while the car’s economy is rated at 40 mpg Imperial (about 33.3 mpg US). To ensure you stick to the pavement, Hartge adds 20 inch wheels bearing Conti SportContact 2 rubber.
The second car was the BMW Hartge 535d. The name is misleading as you’ll only find a 3.0 liter under the hood, however, the powerplant sports sequential twin-turbo aspiration. 272 horses and 413 lb-ft of torque drive the beast from zero to 60 in 6.6 seconds while achieving 34.4 mpg Imperial (about 28.7 mpg US).
Unfortunately, these cars aren’t slated to come State-side, but as diesels become more popular here, one would think that BMW will start to thinking twice about not exporting these higher mileage performance sedans.
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[Source: European Car]