E46 6 Cylinder Drivers

[Sabretooth tiger]

opcorn:

 

[Rommies]

From what I have heard from okes driving a 325i or 328i is that the 6 pot is really reliable. Fuel consumption is not too bad for town driving. And yet its a family car!

Coisman's car sounds very nice! Wish my GTi could sound like that haha...but all cars has their own unique tone.

Regards to driving a GTi, Yes the torque is very lekker. At 3100 rpm I have about 387Nm at my disposal. The car changes gears below 2000rpm all the time with more than enough power to drive around comfortably.
This wouldn't be possible if it wasn't F.I...so you can't really compare the e46/e90 325/328 (I'm sure the new F30 323/325/328 is a different story as they are now also 4 pot F.I)

I also drive quite a lot with Peertjies in his e46 318i (2.0l 4pot)...he was always complaining about the "low down torque.." He did the CDV (Clutch delay valve) modification where Andy helped him. And it really made a difference in driving. No power improvement, but the car feels smoother when you pull away and when you change gears.

All I can say is...that the 325/328i is an awesome car.

My dad owned a red e36 325is...he had 3 spoke rims on which he imported from Italy (light weight)...and had a "black widow chip" installed. (Don't know if he had any other mods done to the car) He had the car tuned by some oke that was quite famous locally for tuning and racing BMW's? Maybe someone can shed some light as it was before my time.

We still have a footage of my Dad (on video tape) dicing a Maserati (turbo something) they were neck on neck 250+ haha on the highway. (And my dad had a passenger with him). Only on up hills the Maserati pulled him quite a bit but when it gets downhill /straighten up he reeled in quite comfortably.
This was waaay back in the day though.

I could just fall in love when my Dad & Friends tells story like this and then actually seeing it on video tape! Epic! BMW FTW!
I sommer get tears in my eyes haha raise:

Anyway....just my 2.2c

 

[GoCart]

And a 325i won't:

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That is a true 237km/h in that pic.

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Foooook!!!!

 

[SP33DYV]

Cois, waar's jou video? :thinking:

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Morne, The video is 31 seconds in total, as I was waiting for another car to drive at the STOP street before I went, and is in HD, and thus 65mb in total. I'm not uploading that. I will see if I have a video editor or something at home on my pc, and then I will edit and post it.

I launced at 15 seconds on the video, and by 22 second I already hit 100 on the speedo, and that was with hitting rev limitter in 2nd gear before I changed gear, because like I ALREADY said,

"...Bare in mind, I have my right arm supposed to be in a sling from a dislocated shoulder 3 weeks back, holding the phone, and the steering wheel, and my left snapping the gears, all while trying to keep my eye on the road and the rev counter, and on the phone camera to see if all is going ok... :fencelook: "

...or like I ALREADY said,

"...I think with some proper help or someone or something else doing the monitorring of my performance it might be more acurate... :dunno: "

So yea, I can't see the point of your post?!?!? :tease:

Please post said video.

 

[Yuben]

Guys lets be realistic. There's no way 325i is gonna rocket to 100 in 7.2s. That would make it as fast as the E36 328 which also topped out at 234km/h.
And I speak from experience having owned a 2002 325i.

The 330i is in a different league. The pre face lift rocketed to 100 in 6.7s and was one of the first non M cars to reach a limited 250km/h. The facelift reached 255km/h, the same as the 97 M3 and compared well to the 253km/h top end achieved by the 2dr M3.

So u see, there is daylight between the 330i and 328i, even before considering the 325i

 

[Kish2604]

There is a lots of daylight between the 325/328/330i... Just ask the new spec Audi TT that got reeled in passed last nite after he blew past me and flashed his lights as he was doing so... Sorry for you TT...

The 330 is a really amazing package.. Power when you need it and comfortable cruiser all the time...

 

[Sankekur]

Be careful to so easily disregard the 328i so quickly, there is not so much daylight between the 330i and 328i as you might think, I have compared my 330i to an e46 328i and it is only at around 160km/h that there is a noticeable difference between the 330i and the 328i, now keep in mind that the e36 weighs less than the e46........

I don't understand how the f/l and pre-f/l could have different top speeds, apart from a couple of cosmetic things they are identical......

 

[Yuben]

Sank, yes the E36 is close to a 330i, but not close enough.
The reason why the face lift 330i has a higher top speed is due to gearing. The pre face lift tested had a 5 speed box whereas the face lift 330i was a 6 speed.

 

[Bmw.wp]

I am happy with the power and the fuel consumption of my E46 330i, even when loaded. :joy:

 

[Sankekur]

Just keep in mind that not all manual f/l's are 6 speed the 6 speeds only came from march or april 2003....that being said I still don't see how the speed can be faster than the 5 speed as the 5 speed reaches its limiter (speed) in 5th and the 5th gear on the 6 speed has an identical ratio. Also the final drives on both are the same the motors are the same so the actual reached top speed will depend on the variance of the limiter.

Out of interest the theoretical top speed of both 5 and 6 speed 330i's in 5th is around 264km/h, and that is pretty much out of the reach of the 330i with or without a limiter, the 6th gear is there as an overdrive, meant to better fuel consumption.

 

[speeddemon]

Just keep in mind that not all manual f/l's are 6 speed the 6 speeds only came from march or april 2003....that being said I still don't see how the speed can be faster than the 5 speed as the 5 speed reaches its limiter (speed) in 5th and the 5th gear on the 6 speed has an identical ratio. Also the final drives on both are the same the motors are the same so the actual reached top speed will depend on the variance of the limiter.

Out of interest the theoretical top speed of both 5 and 6 speed 330i's in 5th is around 264km/h, and that is pretty much out of the reach of the 330i with or without a limiter, the 6th gear is there as an overdrive, meant to better fuel consumption.

True story....:thumbs:

 

[Yuben]

noted. But also remember that all these cars are limited to 250km/h. The road tests are isolated and cannot be generalized that all 6 speeds will reach 255, etc.
Some of the cars just "cheat" and sneak in slightly higher than 250 top end during the road tests which is calculated on a 2 way average for top speed

 

[SP33DYV]

IIRC The 6-speed 330i was limited at 255km/h and not the normal 250km/h.
http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=34790
Why are we discussing the same thing over and over? :thinking:

 

[Sankekur]

Because no one ever searches before posting.

The top speed limiter on both 5 and 6 speed versions are the same, 250km/h, all BMW's with top speed limiters are limited to 250km/h, I don't know of any limited to 255km/h. The 6 speed gearbox was never intended to be for performance the 6 speed is not a "better" car than the 5 speed....it is the same car with more gears. The 330i ZHP is a "better" version of the 330i.

(How well the top speed limiters work is debatable though)

 

[Fordkoppie]

The only BMW I have ever driven that is limited to a true 250 is the 540i6.

All the other M cars did between 258 and 262 on the GPS before hitting the limiter including a certain e46 330i I know:fencelook:

 

[Yuben]

Because no one ever searches before posting.

The top speed limiter on both 5 and 6 speed versions are the same, 250km/h, all BMW's with top speed limiters are limited to 250km/h, I don't know of any limited to 255km/h. The 6 speed gearbox was never intended to be for performance the 6 speed is not a "better" car than the 5 speed....it is the same car with more gears. The 330i ZHP is a "better" version of the 330i.

(How well the top speed limiters work is debatable though)

Sank, no research required. I just quoted the top speeds as tested by CAR. And it is factual that the 6 speed reached a 2 way average top end of 255 km/h. Nowhere was j it mentioned the 6 speed is superior to the 5 speed.