Does anyone know where the MC engine comes from? I know it's made in Brazil, but who did the design? Was it a BMW or Mini design or was it derived from another maker's engine?

I read a post on another site about it being derived from a Chrysler engine.

Does anyone know the real story?

Thanks to all.

 

The company which designed the engine is called Tritec. They are are Joint-Venture of Mercedes/Chrylser and BMW.

Originaly the engine was build to burn ethanol, not gas. What BMW did was to change some things so it can also use normal gasoline.

HTH

 

Thanks.

Do you know if it's used in any other cars?

 

The current R50/53 MINI engine was originally designed By Chrysler Corporation in Detroit, around the 1995-96 time period (Pre-Merger with Daimler-Benz).

There is a long story behind it, but essentially Rover/BMW comissioned then Chrysler Corporation to work on the development of a suitable engine for the new MINI that would be launched 5 years later (2001). Rover originally wanted to use a 4 cyl engine of their own but it just would not fit in the MINI's engine bay. At that point, all the development work on the car had already being finalized with the exception of the engine!

The problem was how to convey to American Chrysler engineers the true "feel" and "performance" that was expected on a car like the MINI? The simple solution was to ship from Europe a few new "classic" Minis (Which were still in production by Rover at that point) to Detroit and hand over the cars to the Chrysler engineers so they could understand what was expected of a Mini in terms of handling and performance and translate this experience into the new engine design.

Chrysler did a terrific job and within 1 year they had a fully working test mule with the new engine, called TRITEC.

This is the extremely "summarized" version of the story of the TRITEC 1.6L Chrysler engine. Since you seem to be very interested in learning more about the history of this terrific car, I highly recommend you purchasing the following book:

"The New MINI" (2nd Edition, released August 28th, 2005) **Make sure you order the second edition, not the 1st outdated edition*****

By: Graham Robson

http://www.amazon.com/New-Mini-2nd-G...e=UTF8&s=books

This book is simply fantastic . It tells you the WHOLE story of the Mini, since its inception in 1959, right through the rather convulated and sour BMW/Rover marriage in the 1990's until the release of the R50 MINI Cooper in 2001 and its very successful market reception. The updated second edition includes the mid-life cycle refreshing the car received in the 2005 model year and the introduction of the Cabrio models.

Extremely well written, great photos and insider information. A must for any MINI enthusiast!

The current R50/53 MINI engine is manufactured in Curitiba, Brazil and highly industralized city in that magnificent country.

Here is the website of TRITEC Motors:

http://www.tritecmotors.com.br/english/index.html

The Cooper (R50) engine is used only on export versions of the now discontinued Chrysler Neon and the Chrysler PT Cruiser. US versions of these cars use bigger versions of this motors (Specifically 2.0L and 2.4L variants). The engine is also used (And will be used more extensively) in a Chinese made compact sedan called "Chery". There is some speculation that Chery will be coming to America as an entry level Chinese car offering in the next few years.

The Cooper S(R53) engine is not currently shared with any other car in the market place and its development was exclusive to the Cooper S.

Have fun reading all this info.

If you have more questions, just ask.

 

Also the R50 MINI ONE "D" (D stands for Diesel) of the current R50 MINI, was sold only in Europe and was fitted with a 1.4L 4 Cyl Toyota derived diesel engine and was fitted to a 6-speed Getrag manual transmission (Like the one found in the Cooper S) but with different gear ratios.

The MINI ONE (Gasoline engine) uses the same exact TRITEC engine as the MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper S models, but it was detuned to produce only 90 Horsepower, versus, 115 for the Cooper model.

The MINI ONE is only sold in Europe and selected markets around the world. It is the cheapest, entry level MINI and it is slotted below the MINI Cooper.

MINIUSA and MINI Canada did not import the "ONE" model into North America citing the perceived lower power ratings that would make it uncompetitive in the market with other compact vehicles offering more standard horsepower and would not be liked by the "Horsepower obessed" north american market.

A new MINI ONE is around $2K cheaper than a basic MINI Cooper.

 

Thanks much for the information and excellent references!

 

The same engine is used on the PT Cruiser

 

Not the US version, though....

 

Thanks for the info, I'll be buying that book...

 

That engine plant, a state of the art facility, has since been sold to the Chinese, who are copying the engine-building technology.

The new mini is being produced with a completely different engine from a completely different source (jointly developed with Peugeot / Renault, I think).