Anyone add a turbo charger or supercharger to E90 320i ?

[Olorin]

Buying a more powerful E90 is just not an option. I'm stuck with the 320i for the next few years. Hence my dilemma. If one could chip their car and remove the chip before a service then that would work. But I have no idea how much improvement a chip and remap would make to the car (excluding everything else) because that's about all that I can do without voiding the warranty. That is something very important for me because I don't earn big bucks.

 

[andrewbuch]

Its a 4 Cyl BMW, you have to rev it to drive it, it was designed to do that... So just do it


I would start in this order:


Filter
De-cat
Dastek UNI-Q (Think it is removable??)

Then when motorplans up

Branches & full exhaust
Re Tune the chip
Lastly the diff ratio swap

 

[killua]

Buying a more powerful E90 is just not an option. I'm stuck with the 320i for the next few years. Hence my dilemma. If one could chip their car and remove the chip before a service then that would work. But I have no idea how much improvement a chip and remap would make to the car (excluding everything else) because that's about all that I can do without voiding the warranty. That is something very important for me because I don't earn big bucks.

Normal humans can only feel differences in acceleration that are more than 10%... which is the absolute most you could get from chip on NA. Thus difference wil be barely noticable... or not at all... And I do not think it would solve your problem... I suspect you will still not be satisfied with extra 10kw, for the way you drive you need a diesel. Even a chipped 320i will not be able to keep up with a 323i, and the 323i is underpowered :mmm:

Take the extra bucks you want to spend on mods, close the gap on what you owe the bank and then you can upgrade much quicker, maybe even a year.

But the reason you have the 320i instead of 320d is because you listened to advise on forums :excited:, so I would take most of the advise with a pinch of salt... Go test drive someones 320i that has a chip and see the differences for youself, don't just go spending...

 

[Olorin]

I never spent the extra cash on the diesel because people told me that it was a horror story waiting to happen. A lot of extra maintenance, extra costs when things do go wrong but the fuel consumption figures are nice. Also, the torque is fantastic. But its also a lot noisier in the car. I know, I test drove one before I got the 320i. I noticed straight away that it had considerable pulling power low down in rev range.

My next BMW will either be an E90 325i or a 320d (with a remap). Now on average most people I've spoken to with 320ds gained 50-60 nm so around 400-410 nm of torque. I'm not sure a 325i would be able to hang with that.

You brought up a good point about closing the gap. My idea is to put as much in the car payments as possible so I can clear my debt. With my previous car (Toyota Corolla 140i 2003) I actually made more than R10000 over book value (which was R48000 without an air con). Got R60000 for it. Now my E90 is an executive, with 80000 km on the clock and I drive less than 1000 km a month. So I figure in 2-3years I should be able to get something for it, especially since my millage will still be very low I reckon.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't decatting the car and replacing filter void my warranty ? Thanks for all your help !

 

[killua]

I never spent the extra cash on the diesel because people told me that it was a horror story waiting to happen. A lot of extra maintenance, extra costs when things do go wrong but the fuel consumption figures are nice. Also, the torque is fantastic. But its also a lot noisier in the car. I know, I test drove one before I got the 320i. I noticed straight away that it had considerable pulling power low down in rev range.

My next BMW will either be an E90 325i or a 320d (with a remap). Now on average most people I've spoken to with 320ds gained 50-60 nm so around 400-410 nm of torque. I'm not sure a 325i would be able to hang with that.

You brought up a good point about closing the gap. My idea is to put as much in the car payments as possible so I can clear my debt. With my previous car (Toyota Corolla 140i 2003) I actually made more than R10000 over book value (which was R48000 without an air con). Got R60000 for it. Now my E90 is an executive, with 80000 km on the clock and I drive less than 1000 km a month. So I figure in 2-3years I should be able to get something for it, especially since my millage will still be very low I reckon.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't decatting the car and replacing filter void my warranty ? Thanks for all your help !

320d vs 325i is a hard choice (one I had to make). The way you want to drive, the 320d will always be better than any petrol beemer smaller than the 330i, which will give ingear acceleration similar to the 320d. Only reason I chose 320d was because its cheaper... And I would have driven the 325i hard and not be scared of gearing down.

To compare the 320i to a diesel: One of my previous cars was a 1.6 diesel fiesta. And on the highway between 80-120 I drove away from every 320i, because all of them were caught in 6th gear... And the fiesta only has 66kw!!!

AFAIK most dealers will void you motorplan with the decat... and after market filters are just rubbish. Somewhere on these forums you will find dyno results for different filters, and the stock filter was best... if I remember correctly.

 

[andrewbuch]

I know a few people that had done a decat and BMW never knew & motorplan did not get cancelled.

Also there are guys running remapped software & BMW doesnt find out

 

[Olorin]

So then a chip and a remap are my only options NOW without possibly voiding my motor plan. The thing is, if it costs less than R5000 to do then I wouldn't mind paying it because at the end of the day I'm still keeping the car for some time so I might as well make the most of it. I could always take the chip with me when I sell.

But yeah, the 320d was very nice. I think what I would need to do IF I were to go for the 320d next would be to install a lot of second skin damping material because the sound of the diesel engine is terrible when I drove it. It's very loud and I need something quiet inside the cabin. The added benefit to a quieter cabin and lower engine noise is better sound quality since the noise floor is lower.

 

[killua]

I know a few people that had done a decat and BMW never knew & motorplan did not get cancelled.

Also there are guys running remapped software & BMW doesnt find out

Its still a risk worth considering.... the motorplan is worth 30k+!!! I wouldnt even sneeze hard in my car if I would risk losing my motorplan. On my previous car I had R30,000 worth of motorplan repairs done, where I payed R0. So it depends... If something does happen to his car and it comes under inspection, they dont pay. If nothing happens then he dodged a bullet :thumbsup:

 

[andrewbuch]

Why would you want to fit a Chip & also get a remap?? Rather just get a chip like Uni-q that you can keep & use on another car if you sell this car?

or you get the current software remapped..


I know its all a risk, It just depends what you want out of the car.

If it was me, I would just do cosmetic changes & get the car into a looker Because at the end of the day its still going to be a 4 cyl

 

[Olorin]

What kind of advantage would I get if I had my current software remapped ? Would it only give me a benefit if my existing software is out of whack ? Or would they (BMW) change things differently to the standard settings ?

 

[menno11]

Wiith my re-map on the 320d I got 80Nm torque, so its a huge increase!

With all the electronics on the E90, rather go for a re-map than a chip. Plus most of the companies will save your old settings, and if you are afraid of motorplan issues, you can take your car back to stock for the service and re-map again after the service. No problem! Also if something fails, you can quickly call them to reset the software and THEN take your car in for repairs.

 

[Olorin]

Yeah but you have a turbo. No fair.:bawling: I'm sure I won't get anything close to that kind of improvement in my car.

 

[andrewbuch]

Just a software remap on a 320i 4 Cyl will not yield much gains..

You are not going to get much extra power while keeping motoplan in tact.. sorry mate

Just drive the crap out of the car, its under motorplan so if something fails then it will be replaced..

 

[Matt Q]

Buying a more powerful E90 is just not an option. I'm stuck with the 320i for the next few years.

Dude.. if you want to tune and don't want to spend silly money.. get away from the E90 series completely

Besides the 335 which is proving to be an awesome (albeit expensive) starting point for modding, the new 3-series basically has the worst power to weight ratio of any 3-series ever (not to mention the KAK handling cause by the combined weight and crappy centre of gravity.

Let me use an analogy... you want to enter a couples race and your wife is fat... you can either spend lots of time and money getting her a personal trainer to shed those extra pounds and then whack her full of steroids and supplements on the race day.... or you can just ditch the ho and get yourself and nice thin wife to start off with.... you can still give steroids to the thin wife on race day but you'll be starting from a much stronger and lighter point

My advice? Sell the 320 (which is a 4-cylinder anyway and therefore a sin in the eyes of Allah the Mercedes-full) and get yourself a 330i which can be twin screwed into the stratosphere

 

[Olorin]

Besides the 335 which is proving to be an awesome (albeit expensive) starting point for modding, the new 3-series basically has the worst power to weight ratio of any 3-series ever (not to mention the KAK handling cause by the combined weight and crappy centre of gravity.

I don't know what you are smoking but the handling on the E90 is amazing. My car handles like it's on friggin rails and I've compared it to an IS250 and an Audi A4. Now the IS250, THAT was crap. Body roll galore. My car has 50/50 weight distribution. That's an advantage, not a disadvantage. You would think if the E90 had such kak handling that it would be news to people but yet it's one of the defining characteristics. I'm curious, have you driven an E90 ?

 

[killua]

Buying a more powerful E90 is just not an option. I'm stuck with the 320i for the next few years.

Dude.. if you want to tune and don't want to spend silly money.. get away from the E90 series completely

Besides the 335 which is proving to be an awesome (albeit expensive) starting point for modding, the new 3-series basically has the worst power to weight ratio of any 3-series ever (not to mention the KAK handling cause by the combined weight and crappy centre of gravity.

Let me use an analogy... you want to enter a couples race and your wife is fat... you can either spend lots of time and money getting her a personal trainer to shed those extra pounds and then whack her full of steroids and supplements on the race day.... or you can just ditch the ho and get yourself and nice thin wife to start off with.... you can still give steroids to the thin wife on race day but you'll be starting from a much stronger and lighter point

My advice? Sell the 320 (which is a 4-cylinder anyway and therefore a sin in the eyes of Allah the Mercedes-full) and get yourself a 330i which can be twin screwed into the stratosphere

Dude, you just killed my inner child!!! Even without sport suspension and 16" mags my e90 handles great :dunno: Compared to 95% of all the cars on sale today.
But maybe its just the ganja speaking :mmm:

 

[Matt Q]

I don't know what you are smoking but the handling on the E90 is amazing. My car handles like it's on friggin rails and I've compared it to an IS250 and an Audi A4. Now the IS250, THAT was crap. Body roll galore. My car has 50/50 weight distribution. That's an advantage, not a disadvantage. You would think if the E90 had such kak handling that it would be news to people but yet it's one of the defining characteristics. I'm curious, have you driven an E90 ?

I'm smoking a mixture of cheese, White Widow, 1862 (a friend's blend) and some good old Transkei for those "not too hectic" moments. I like to have a variety available in my "Bar"

I'm afraid your car really really doesn't handle like its on rails.. maybe compared to a stock A4 or a lexus yes... but not compared to a real BMW. Using the analogy above. If your wife was a bit of a porker and tended to sweat and smell and people pointed it out and then another dude rocked up with a wife so fat that the sky went dark and people started talking whale,, you would still have a fat wife, just not AS fat as the shamu that just arrived. Your wife/car is fat... sorry to be the one to break it to you but she is
The KAK handling of the E90 is news dude... every early review of the E90's (Including the new M) were very complimentary about quality of build and engines (besides that little 4-cylinder mistake) but all went on to question the bangle bungle styling and the slightly washy handling. Great compared to other Marques but still not great compared to earlier Bimmers.

You have a nice car bro.. but it's simply not as good on the bends as the E46 equivalent.. FACT!!

Have I driven an E90? Yes I have. I paid a deposit for the new M3 and when it arrived I took one look at it and left it in the showroom for someone else to buy. I also drove a 335 for a week (and a weekend) at the insistence of a friend at Auto Atlantic (when they first arrived a few years back) As he said "I know you don't like the styling but once you drive it you will be sold"

Well... the 335 engine is truly incredible.. really it is.. but the interior is very very boring.. to the point of looking cheap, and the handling is VERY wooly when compared to an E46 330 or even a 325, not to even mention an M3, the car just doesn't feel as connected as an E46, probably due to the increased weight, size and safety features still riding on the same size wheels... And I had a good long test session with the new M3 and it REALLY didn't impress me.. sound is muted, interior is very plain and the handling is kind of vague.... just not as sharp as the E46.. also it doesn't get on the power as quickly which shows in its much slower 0-100 times out of the box.

Dude, you just killed my inner child!!! Even without sport suspension and 16" mags my e90 handles great :dunno: Compared to 95% of all the cars on sale today.
But maybe its just the ganja speaking :mmm:

Agreed compared to most other cars it does.. but you also have a fat wife.. sorry dude compared to an E46, E36 or E30 it's still wooly and overweight (and underpowered)

BTW - your inner child died when you caught mommy doing dad a favor in that Santa outift.. sorry but it's time the world knows :dropjaw:

Bimmer's 3-series was more performance oriented and now it's more businessman oriented.. so for stop start comfy driving great.. but for someone who can push the car's limits it's not that amazing anymore...

If you find the handling of the new 3-series to be good you probably don't have the driving skills to test its limits.. once again I'm not insulting you, just stating my opinion..

If you want to know what it REALLY feels like to corner on rails let me take you for a spin.. if after that you STILL think your car handles well I'll eat Yolanda's shorts

 

[Sankekur]

As usual matt doesn't pull any punches

@matt: You stated before that the e90 has a crappy centre of gravity, I was just wondering in what sense is it crappy? (My best guess would be that it is to high, as a high centre of gravity would kill handling even with 50/50 weight distribution)

 

[killua]

I don't know what you are smoking but the handling on the E90 is amazing. My car handles like it's on friggin rails and I've compared it to an IS250 and an Audi A4. Now the IS250, THAT was crap. Body roll galore. My car has 50/50 weight distribution. That's an advantage, not a disadvantage. You would think if the E90 had such kak handling that it would be news to people but yet it's one of the defining characteristics. I'm curious, have you driven an E90 ?

I'm smoking a mixture of cheese, White Widow, 1862 (a friend's blend) and some good old Transkei for those "not too hectic" moments. I like to have a variety available in my "Bar"

I'm afraid your car really really doesn't handle like its on rails.. maybe compared to a stock A4 or a lexus yes... but not compared to a real BMW. Using the analogy above. If your wife was a bit of a porker and tended to sweat and smell and people pointed it out and then another dude rocked up with a wife so fat that the sky went dark and people started talking whale,, you would still have a fat wife, just not AS fat as the shamu that just arrived. Your wife/car is fat... sorry to be the one to break it to you but she is
The KAK handling of the E90 is news dude... every early review of the E90's (Including the new M) were very complimentary about quality of build and engines (besides that little 4-cylinder mistake) but all went on to question the bangle bungle styling and the slightly washy handling. Great compared to other Marques but still not great compared to earlier Bimmers.

You have a nice car bro.. but it's simply not as good on the bends as the E46 equivalent.. FACT!!

Have I driven an E90? Yes I have. I paid a deposit for the new M3 and when it arrived I took one look at it and left it in the showroom for someone else to buy. I also drove a 335 for a week (and a weekend) at the insistence of a friend at Auto Atlantic (when they first arrived a few years back) As he said "I know you don't like the styling but once you drive it you will be sold"

Well... the 335 engine is truly incredible.. really it is.. but the interior is very very boring.. to the point of looking cheap, and the handling is VERY wooly when compared to an E46 330 or even a 325, not to even mention an M3, the car just doesn't feel as connected as an E46, probably due to the increased weight, size and safety features still riding on the same size wheels... And I had a good long test session with the new M3 and it REALLY didn't impress me.. sound is muted, interior is very plain and the handling is kind of vague.... just not as sharp as the E46.. also it doesn't get on the power as quickly which shows in its much slower 0-100 times out of the box.

Dude, you just killed my inner child!!! Even without sport suspension and 16" mags my e90 handles great :dunno: Compared to 95% of all the cars on sale today.
But maybe its just the ganja speaking :mmm:

Agreed compared to most other cars it does.. but you also have a fat wife.. sorry dude compared to an E46, E36 or E30 it's still wooly and overweight (and underpowered)

BTW - your inner child died when you caught mommy doing dad a favor in that Santa outift.. sorry but it's time the world knows :dropjaw:

Bimmer's 3-series was more performance oriented and now it's more businessman oriented.. so for stop start comfy driving great.. but for someone who can push the car's limits it's not that amazing anymore...

If you find the handling of the new 3-series to be good you probably don't have the driving skills to test its limits.. once again I'm not insulting you, just stating my opinion..

If you want to know what it REALLY feels like to corner on rails let me take you for a spin.. if after that you STILL think your car handles well I'll eat Yolanda's shorts

You werent breast-fed as a baby, were you? :clap:
But you are right... I def do not have the skill, or the balls to drive on that limit. I also do not agree that the e90 handles like it is on rails. The G-s it can pull isn't allot, but turn-in is alot better than the aforementioned A4, which I did own. My future plan is to buy a e46 330i as a toy, but until then this is the best you can pick up in a show room at the moment, new, agree?
And BTW, ALL cars have become heavy, not just the 3-series... It is natural progression... :thinker:

 

[Matt Q]

You werent breast-fed as a baby, were you? :clap:

Shit! You got me... I wasn't

Luckily my wife is generous and blessed with a set of Cape Town's finsest plastic surgery modifications so I'm making up for lost time :thumbsup: