BMW B57

The B57 is BMW’s current 3.0-litre inline-six diesel, in production since 2015 and fitted
across the range in most of the world. In the United States it barely exists: our records hold
a single certification entry for it, a 2018 540d xDrive, and no brochure mentions it at all.

What the B57 is

A 3.0-litre inline-six diesel from BMW’s modular B-series family — the same
architecture as the petrol B58, sharing its 500cc-per-cylinder
module, bore spacing and much of its ancillary layout. It uses common rail direct injection at
very high pressure and, depending on output level, one, two or four turbochargers in series.

That modular relationship is the point of the B family. The B48
four, the B58 six and the B57 diesel six are deliberately built to share components and
production tooling, which is a manufacturing decision with consequences for the whole range
rather than a fact about any one engine.

Where it appears in our records

One specification page. 261 hp, 30 mpg combined — the best
combined figure of any six-cylinder engine in our records, and the only reason this page can
say anything numerical at all.

The engine that was certified and not sold

This is the unusual part, and it is worth stating precisely because it is easy to overstate.
The EPA holds a certification record for a 2018 BMW 540d xDrive: the car was tested and rated,
which is a step a manufacturer takes when it intends to sell something. Our
2018 5 Series brochure — the document BMW
printed for the American market that year — does not mention a diesel anywhere. Not in the
model line-up, not in the equipment tables, not once.

What we can say is that those two facts sit side by side in our data. Why the car was
certified and then absent from the brochure is not something a specification archive can
document, and we are not going to construct an explanation to fill the gap. If you know of a
United States 540d brochure or price list, the submission page
explains what to send.

The practical consequence for an American reader is simple: if you are looking at a
six-cylinder BMW diesel in the United States, it is far more likely to be an
M57 from the 335d or X5 xDrive35d of 2009 to 2013 than a B57.

What we do not publish

No reliability rating. The NHTSA complaint database records faults against a
vehicle, not an engine, and with a single United States certification record there is
no complaint history to draw on regardless. Anything you read about B57 durability is drawn
from other markets, and we have no way to check it against a source we hold.

Common questions

Which BMWs have the B57?

In most markets: the 530d, 540d, 730d, 740d, X3 30d, X5 40d, X7 40d and others. In United
States records, one — the 2018 540d xDrive.

How much horsepower does the B57 have?

261 hp in the single US-certified application. Elsewhere the engine is offered in several
output steps, from around 190 hp to over 390 in the quad-turbocharged version, and we cannot
verify those figures against a source we hold.

Is the B57 related to the B58?

Yes, closely. Both belong to BMW’s modular B family and share the same basic architecture;
the B58 is the petrol six, the B57 the diesel. They are not
interchangeable, but they were designed together.

Can I buy a BMW diesel in America?

Not a new one. The last diesel BMWs in our records are the 2013 X5 xDrive35d and this single
2018 certification entry. For a used one, the M57 cars of 2009 to
2013 are what the American market actually got.

Sources

Output, model year and fuel economy from EPA certification and fuel economy data. The
absence of any diesel from the 2018 5 Series
brochure is from the document itself, which is published here in full.