The old one was about 220 posts in one day. Oh, and did you all see how the Tundra guys disappeared w/o a trace? I hope they are not stuck in the mud playing derby hockey with their 4x4s )
I am sticking with 93 too, although I do have the choice of putting in 91. Unless the almighty Shipo says 91 is better, I'm sticking with 93 based on the board's feedback.
As far as the DSC, I have not turned it off yet. To be honest with you, with all my hard driving, I have not been able to slide the car or spin the wheels yet. The DSC only came up a couple of times when I hit huge bumps in turns. My 325i SP's handling seems to be so capable that I have not had the guts to push it to the limits yet. I know, even with my go-carts racing experience. I thought I was going to push it hard on my favorite curve during my morning commute today. There was not a single car around and I got into the turn at a very good clip and felt I could floor it and it would hold up However, I was almost mesmerized by the exhilaration of being there in the middle of the turn pulling a couple of G's in this wild cat and I wanted that moment to last forever so I never did it. Shtroumpf Muscle felt solid, balanced, predictable and somehow sitting very low and mean on the road. It let out a beautiful growl on the way out of the turn and wanted to go back and do it again. One day at a time.
Just drove my friend's 325. It had a serious veer to the right. checked his tires and the right was 2 psi lower . i tried to even them out and he will report back to me. On my car, however, I have already done this. THe steering still feels looser to the left.
BTW, his builld date was pre-1/15/01 and mine is post. It was very difficult to notice an overall steering difference. Braveheart, are you still gonna get the fix.
Finally, anyone notice a slight rattle from rear door area. On left side mine is tight as a drum, but i hear something from the right.
I just typed up the first word to reserve the round number as soon as I saw 3999. Then I went back and edited the message. I could still go back and add some BMW-related stuff if that makes you feel better ) Man, I feel it's going to be a fierce battle for 5000. Should we start preparations for this exciting event: you know, set up a prize fund, invite sponsors and a marching band )
We are going backward deleting messages and stuff. At least deepdarkblule won't be complaining that we are posting non-BMW messages. It's not over yet. I got my knight's fighting armor from the closet and ready to do battle. Got the balls, buddy? yeee-haaaaa
...I applied for the BMW Platinum Visa card. Anyone else have one? Do the look cool? I don't really plan on using it since I already have a Visa with Navy Federal Credit Union and BMW can't come close to the interest rate I get on it. I just want it cause it says BMW.
I am planning on getting the retrofit - BMWNA should be contacting me some time in June. Hey, have you been hitting any potholes? Wondering if you might have an alignment problem.
I am not planning on carrying a balance on it but I'd like to get it for my next Bimmer if it gives you a discount on a new car. How does that work - I never found any info about a discount on the BMWNA web site?!
Check with your dealer, but with the deals BMW has on 330i's right now (and not on 325's for some reason), I think you could lease a 330i for the same amount of money, and you'd have a 330i...
Also, don't put anything down on a lease. Just make sure it has GAP insurance and you're covered. If you want to reduce your payments, put the cash in a money market account and send $100 or so into your checking each month. If you put a down payment on a lease and the car is totaled during the lease, that money is likely gone forever.
dealer "visually" checked the alignment, whatever that means. i think it means i was there for the 1200 mi free chechup and they were lazy. when i have time i'll have them do it again, but it's not a harsh pull so i'm not sure that's it.
I like the lights too but still keep thinking "smaller 5-series". It's also interesting how the front forms two wedges - one in the hood and one in the grill. Seems like triangular shapes are getting very popular. It's probably pathetic but last night I was stretching close to my car after a jog and started looking at it... Next thing I know is I was sitting on the curb and looking at it for at least 15 min. I can't find an angle that looks unappealing. The shape and lines are so modern yet classic that I'm sure years down the road I'd still be sitting on the curb occasionally and still staring at it and loving it...
Free checkup at 1,200?!? I'd completely forgotten about this one? Was it worth it? Do they just kick the tires and say it's all right or they actually take it inside and carefully inspect it?
they kick the tires ,put the wrong psi in "35 all around" and see if it still has oil. also got the infamous grease mark on the door, which in my impetuousness rubbed into what is now a permanent smudge. thus pretty worthless
I do like the lines of our car and am not crazy about body colored molding.
Heck, you are the most prolific poster, hands down, so it works out. I'm just tryin' to be funny. You and denright are dukin' in out, and it's entertaining (but not as much fun as beating on vtech was).
Yep, this sounds like a "happy hour" that I will be skipping. I can check the oil myself and I'm sure I'll do a better job with the tire pressure. I'm probably a slob by most owners' standards but I'm not planning on waxing the car more than once, maybe twice a year. I want to enjoy it for long but I want to have a life too. I laugh when people worry about waxing before they have even taken delivery of the car... Well, I may be biased by I got to like the way the black side moldings sit on the Orient Blue exterior. Not too much of a contrast yet still sporty. What color is your 325i? Looked at the 2002 330i again. I may warm up to it more over time but I think the overall impression is it's a little too avant-garde looking for my taste. Put it this way: I know for sure I will not be jealous of it every time I see one.
I seem to remember hearing on KGO with Dr Bill something that new cars today can safely use 87 octane. I cannot recall the facts he presented but anyway I found this article on gas octane levels that seem to support his stance.
The octane required by an engine depends on (1) its compression ratio and (2) its timing curve. Octane is a measure of the ignition point of the fuel relative to that of n-Octane. Typically all gasoline fuels have an ignition temperature less than that of n-Octane.
Ignition of the fuel is a result of adiabatic heating of the air/fuel charge during the compression strokle and a timed ignition spark. Typically the park fires some degrees before the top dead center of the piston to allow for complete ignition of the fuel charge by the time the piston is propelled downward during the combustion stroke. The rate of flame spread is determined by the energy required to ignite the wair/fuel mixture. This is a function of the fuel's ignition point, as measured by its octane number. Higher compression ratios (the A4 is in excess of 10:1) are used to improve the thermodynamic efficiency of the engine and are used to enhance the power per unit displacement. If fuel is used with too low an octane number the rate of flame spread will be increased and the charge will be fully ignited prematurely. Low octane can also cause flash-over, where the fuel ignites at mutiple locations within the cylinder (I believe this is caused by the expansion from the portion of the burning charge compressing some of the unirgnited charge to its autioignition point). Thus you have ignition at multiple points within a cylinder. A "knock" or "ping" occurs when the wavefronts from these multiple volumes of burning fule intersect. These wavefronts con concentrate a great deal of energy, and over time due some serious damage, like hole a piston.
Modern engines cope with this by including knock sensors inthe engine management system. These a small sensors that listen for knock and retard the timing incrementally until; the knock disappears. The downside of this is that power is lost by retarding the spark. This is why Audi states that an engine will run on 87 octane gas but you should use 91 octane for optimum performance.
As for the "myth of high octane gas performance", no engineer who got through high school chemistry would ever make such a rash statement. You probably heard this one from the "Consumer Distorts" "big bad companies trying to rip off poor little me" school of journalism. Higher octane numbers represent a fuel mixture's autoignition temperature. Chemically, autoignition temperature is a function of molecular weight -- the number of carbon atoms in the aliphatic chains that make up the hydrocarbon mix that is gasoline. Energy from the combustion of gasoline is derived from the oxidation of carbon. The more carbons in the molecule, the more energy is liberated when these carbons are oxidized. So thermodynamically, the higher the octane, the greater the energy. Where higher octane gas is not beneficial is when it is used in an engine not designed to make use of it. I could pump all the high test in the world into an aircooled VW engine with a 7.5:1 compression ratio and not get more than about 50 HP out of it. I would however increase the unburned hydrocarbons spewing out its tailpipe.
Speaking a Senior Chemical Engineer with 25 years of experience in the field, trust what you read inside the filler door on your Audi. It was put there on the recommendation of the engineeers who designed the engine, over something you read in a magazine. It was probably written by someone who never even took high school chemistry.
Thanks guys for the kind words - yes I am in heaven. Brave1Heart the Canadian basic features package and the option packages are different than the American ones. We tend to get less thrown in but the base price and the packages are slightly less (when the dollar is converted). You can see this if you price one on the BMW.ca site.
The recent changes to the base 330i included only the addition of the sport suspension and the SP package dropped by $700Cdn. It did not include the HK upgrade.
Alpine325i I did not ask for the clown noise to blink it just came that way. It must be a default setting for CDN models now - but I like it. I can't see it impacting the diagnostics as per the Fanatics board suggests or every E46 in Canada would have this problem and the mechanics would revolt.
Wow, I leave work, do some exercise and fetch the kids, BOOM 60 messages, I guess we made 4000 and then some.
A little more on octane: The three series has a fairly smart ignition system that can advance the timing to take SOME advantage of fuel with a rating higher than 91. However, the only way to take full advantage is to have an engine with a higher compression ratio (say 11.0:1 or better). Personally, I am sticking with 91.
Running an E46 on fuel lower than 91 will NOT increase thermal efficiency it will DECREASE it. While 89 might burn a little hotter than 91, because of its (relative) instability, the ignition timing must be retarded (for the safety of the engine) so much that you wind up with a cooler overall burn, not real good for overall engine efficiency.
Octane and altitude; as you climb in altitude, the need for octane is reduced due to the lighter atmospheric pressure. Less absolute pressure in the cylinder, less need for highly stable fuel. However, here again, there are exceptions to the rule. If you have an engine that has been "Breathed On" (ie. Turbocharged or Supercharged) the blower makes up for the lack of air density, those cars NEED high-octane fuel even at 12,000 feet. I used to drive a limited production Chrysler LeBaron GTC with an intercooled 2.2 liter four banger, I think it was rated somewhere just below 200hp at sea level. When I drove it over Loveland or Independence pass in Colorado, I was fine going west as long as I filled up before I got to Denver. On the way east, I usually fueled around Grand Junction and Premium was like 86 or 87! The computer was constantly cutting in, opening the waste gate and retarding the timing just as the turbo was coming up to full boil.
Clunky shifter and hesitation: While I might characterize my shifter as stiff, I would never say it was noisy or clunky, I would have it looked at if I were you.
The only time I have noticed hesitation, I was unknowingly on a less than optimal traction surface (sand, gravel, ice...) and let the clutch out. Instant hesitation, the traction control comes on so fast that it seems like the engine itself is having a problem. If you know for sure that the traction control light on the dash is A) working and not flashing during your hesitation, have it looked at.
Why I own a 3 Series over a 5 Series: The armrest in the five would get in the way of my elbow while shifting into 2nd and 4th gears. In the 3 Series, the armrest has a notch cut out that allows the elbow to pass without hitting it. As Brave1heart said it, the armrest in the 328i saved me $10,000. ;-)
Alpine325i, "Are you going with me" WOW I forgot about that song, I will have to dig that CD out tonight and give it a spin.
I am glad that somebody had finally joined this discussion that has some real knowledge about Octane. Thanks for the info. Having said that, you have me confused by the following statement:
"So thermodynamically, the higher the octane, the greater the energy." Is that because higher compression engines can generate enough heat through said compression and early spark to actually take advantage of the carbon atoms available?
Diesel fuel has a low octane rating something like 62, yet it has both a greater weight by volume and greater power per given unit of weight. This seems at first blush to contradict what you have said, what have I done wrong?
Thanks for the comments on the SP tires. I think I've figured out what to do though. You see, it isn't the SP WHEELS I don't like the looks of -- it's the extra width of the tires. But it occurs to me that with a life of 15,000 miles or so on a HP tire, I will only have to live with them for 9 or 10 months or so at my rate of driving. Then, I can replace them with the size tires on the 330i non-SP: 205x50x17x7. (The 325i non-SP is also 205mm wide.) This should give me the narrower look tire I like on the larger wheel I like.
I see tire rack has Dunlop SP8000s in this size for $156. That will probably be my first replacement tire.
Also, I withdraw my recommendation of the bmwplanet site. Great format but the posts are lame.
Go back to the drawing board with them. Your payment should be just under $500 for that 325. My 330i lease payment is $565 with tax (36 month - 15k miles) for a car that stickered for just about $42,000 (Put 2,500 down - total drive off). You should be able to get the car for $1,500 over invoice. Money factor on the 325 is .0030 and the resd. is 61% for 12k miles per year /36 months.
I was waiting next to a Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited at a traffic light on my way home tonight. We were both waiting to take a 90-degree left turn which was actually very wide (2 lanes). We got green and the Jeep took off on the outside lane at full acceleration. Oh-oh, I thought as I saw the SUV's rear left tire lift off about a foot off the ground in front of me. The Jeep almost tipped over before it finally came back to a balanced position at long last. What a sight - some Jeep clowns think they can drive these dinosaurs like a 3-series. They still they don't get it.
It sounds like a good plan. The SP8000 is a great tire too - I think those will be my next set. I am planning on getting almost 30K out of my Contis, though. You can probably burn them pretty well in 15-20K miles if you really don't want them, though - should be fun. I agree on bmwplanet.com. As I've mentioned in the past, technology alone is nothing without the people.
Shipo, here's what's interesting about compression ratios: my Jetta VR6's Owner's Manual recommends premium fuel (octane level between 91 and 96) for max performance. That engine's compression is 10:1. The 325i's is 10.5:1 and the 330i's 10.2:1 - both higher than the VR6's. I am sure they have more sophisticated engine management systems than a '97 Jetta. I agree that there should be SOME gain in performance using 93 over 91. I'd gladly pay a buck a tank extra to get better performance.
I think this clown may be a troll - notice he has not posted anything else and he didn't get a lot of responses either. Even if he's for real, he sounds like a spoiled brat that gets in trouble all the time. Sorry, no compassion from me.
When all else fails, RTFM. I just got mine out and it says:
"Recommended fuel: premium with a minimum octane rating of 91 AKI (Anti Knock Index).
BMW engines are equipped with knock sensors that will adapt automatically to different octane ratings, provided that the minimum octane requirement (87 AKI) is met.
Fuels with higher octane ratings will provide enhanced performance and lower fuel consumption, while the use of fuels with lower octane ratings will have the opposite effect."
Basically this means:
1) The use of fuel with a rating less than 91 is recommended only when higher grades are unavailable. 2) The use of at least 91 for day-to-day operation will provide standard performance. 3) The use of fuel with a rating greater than 91 will provide some performance benefit. (I assume that there is some upper limit to this)
Apparently the BMW ignition system HAS enough flexibility to advance the ignition timing to garner some benefit from higher-octane fuels. Come to think of it, I have been buying Premium for so many years (my last 5 cars dating back to 1985) that I do not actually know the octane rating of our local Premium here in northern New Jersey. I guess that I have just assumed that it was 91, I will check tomorrow.
Good summary - our team effort paid off. NJ grades should be the same as MA (same altitude) - I was in NJ just two days ago and I filled up with premium (93). BTW, premium is defined as any fuel with AKI between 91 and 96. 93 works for me.
I picked up my 325 after 11 weeks on order. when I talked to the salesman about the octane, he told me 89 was fine and there was no need for 91. as a side note,in south carolina, we have no front license plate and I opted for the front strip instead. it looks great. after owning American cars for 16 years this car is an absolute dream. the posts have been great and I have 1 question. when I lock or unlock the doors can the key be programed to flash lights so I confirm the doors actually have been locked. thanks in advance
Good summary - our team effort paid off. NJ grades should be the same as MA (same altitude) - I was in NJ just two days ago and I filled up with premium (93). BTW, premium is defined as any fuel with AKI between 91 and 96. 93 works for me.
My dealer called yesterday to say my 325i is in and awaiting delivery! I was not going to be able to make the 2 1/2 hour drive to pick it up until Friday and the dealer needed it off the lot by Thursday to count it in May's business so he is delivering it to me in the morning! How is that for service? I don't think I will be able to sleep tonight.
I decided not to engage in todays "all over the place" debate on octane etc. I just got home to find that at least one other person does understand what it all means. Anyone still thinking that there is any logic in running a reasonably modern car engine (that's every BMW) on lower than 91 octane (unless it's not available in which case large logic does exist) should go back and read Shipo's explanation. Bravo, Shipo ! Sorry, Brave, I just realised you had earlier posted some good info on that too.
When you see an owners manual talking about 96 oct, it's talking about RON octane (I might have that round the wrong way). Just like the difference between SAE and DIN horsepower, us Europeans identify octane by a different measure. 96 euro translates to about 91 US. Have you ever seen gas higher than 93 any-where in USA ??? Actually, the 76 station in Agoura Hills, 70 miles from me on the way to L.A. does sell 100+ octane racing fuel. It's currently at around $4.65 gallon !! I was passing by a few years ago when I had my 97 M3 and put about half tank in (I'm not the cheap type, but the pump was up to over $40 for less than 9 gallons!). It did feel noticeably quicker, but not really that much.
Yes, the car can be programmed so it will confirm locking and unlocking by a brief blinking of the turn signals and a brief siren signal. Mine is a 325i just like yours. I purchased the BMW alarm and the car came with the above setup but I think it is possible because of the alarm, not due to key memory options. Yet another reason to get the alarm. The siren sound is very brief and refined and says the car is sophisticated before you even open the door.
My local BMW dealer has an ad in todays paper for exact same 325 as you noted. Payment is $399, 36 month, $3300 down, 10k miles. Ad says deal is "offered to qualified customers by BMW Financial Services NA". Hope this comparison helps.
The manual explicitly says that premium fuel is 91-96 AKI (U.S. system). They also mention that 87 AKI = 91 RON. You'll be safe driving your Bimmer with 96 but most service stations do not carry it because there is not enough demand for it. Highest from the popular gas stations that I've seen is Sunoco at 94.
After lurking in here a long time, I finally pulled to trigger and bought a 2001 Alpine White 325IA with SP, PP, CD, Black Leather and Step (I know but I drive So. Cal traffic all day). I posted last weekend about the deal, and it came down just as arranged $1,200.00 over invoice and the dealer gets 1% over buy rate on the finance (I get 7.5%). My dealer has been awesome!! They are trading for the car with a dealer in the Bay area. Interestingly enough, they said that because it is an out of the area trade, the car needs to be shipped to VPC and then re-shipped to my dealer for me to pick up they say it will take less than a week. It's not that bad because the VPC is in Oxnard, CA (in between me in So. California and the car in No. California) The dealer offered to split the transport cost (approx. $500.00) with me. I am a happy camper. I am coming out of a 2000 Z3 2.3 stick W/Dinan upgrades. It will be interesting to see how they compare. More info to come. I'm already hating a 1 week wait. How did you guys do it waiting for a MFG. ordered car? I don't drive fast, I fly low!! Twoof1
Big move, congrats. The week will go by fast. The 7 week wait didn't bother me - I was very happy driving my Jetta VR6 and just knowing that my BMW was going to be here at some point soon. I started getting very excited as soon as the 325i arrived in NJ - i.e. about a week before pickup. The night before delivery I was so excited, I couldn't sit still. I can see you are getting there too. Can you tell us a bit more about your experience with Dinan when get a chance, please? Any drawbacks, any regrets? What did you have done and how was the difference in performance? And BTW, wondering why you are getting rid of a very recent BMW that should be a lot of fun to drive.
Comments
As far as the DSC, I have not turned it off yet. To be honest with you, with all my hard driving, I have not been able to slide the car or spin the wheels yet. The DSC only came up a couple of times when I hit huge bumps in turns. My 325i SP's handling seems to be so capable that I have not had the guts to push it to the limits yet. I know, even with my go-carts racing experience. I thought I was going to push it hard on my favorite curve during my morning commute today. There was not a single car around and I got into the turn at a very good clip and felt I could floor it and it would hold up However, I was almost mesmerized by the exhilaration of being there in the middle of the turn pulling a couple of G's in this wild cat and I wanted that moment to last forever so I never did it. Shtroumpf Muscle felt solid, balanced, predictable and somehow sitting very low and mean on the road. It let out a beautiful growl on the way out of the turn and wanted to go back and do it again. One day at a time.
BTW, his builld date was pre-1/15/01 and mine is post. It was very difficult to notice an overall steering difference. Braveheart, are you still gonna get the fix.
Finally, anyone notice a slight rattle from rear door area. On left side mine is tight as a drum, but i hear something from the right.
2001 BMW 325I - Total package 30,810 (base + luxury package + automatic + cd). This price is $1,000 off MSRP.
terms: $1,700 down, 36 mos, $564/month
...OR...$0 down, 36 mos, $625/month
What does everyone think of these terms? should I put money down? Thanks so much for any help you can give.
LMFAO
I am so bad.
Hey, have you been hitting any potholes? Wondering if you might have an alignment problem.
Also, don't put anything down on a lease. Just make sure it has GAP insurance and you're covered. If you want to reduce your payments, put the cash in a money market account and send $100 or so into your checking each month. If you put a down payment on a lease and the car is totaled during the lease, that money is likely gone forever.
if 2002 pic is acurate i like the lites
Free checkup at 1,200?!? I'd completely forgotten about this one? Was it worth it? Do they just kick the tires and say it's all right or they actually take it inside and carefully inspect it?
I do like the lines of our car and am not crazy about body colored molding.
Well, I may be biased by I got to like the way the black side moldings sit on the Orient Blue exterior. Not too much of a contrast yet still sporty. What color is your 325i?
Looked at the 2002 330i again. I may warm up to it more over time but I think the overall impression is it's a little too avant-garde looking for my taste. Put it this way: I know for sure I will not be jealous of it every time I see one.
The octane required by an engine depends on (1) its compression ratio and (2) its timing curve. Octane is a measure of the ignition point of the fuel relative to that of n-Octane. Typically all gasoline fuels have an ignition temperature less than that of n-Octane.
Ignition of the fuel is a result of adiabatic heating of the air/fuel charge during the compression strokle and a timed ignition spark. Typically the park fires some degrees before the top dead center of the piston to allow for complete ignition of the fuel charge by the time the piston is propelled downward during the combustion stroke. The rate of flame spread is determined by the energy required to ignite the wair/fuel mixture. This is a function of the fuel's ignition point, as measured by its octane number. Higher compression ratios (the A4 is in excess of 10:1) are used to improve the thermodynamic efficiency of the engine and are used to enhance the power per unit displacement. If fuel is used with too low an octane number the rate of flame spread will be increased and the charge will be fully ignited prematurely. Low octane can also cause flash-over, where the fuel ignites at mutiple locations within the cylinder (I believe this is caused by the expansion from the portion of the burning charge compressing some of the unirgnited charge to its autioignition point). Thus you have ignition at multiple points within a cylinder. A "knock" or "ping" occurs when the wavefronts from these multiple volumes of burning fule intersect. These wavefronts con concentrate a great deal of energy, and over time due some serious damage, like hole a piston.
Modern engines cope with this by including knock sensors inthe engine management system. These a small sensors that listen for knock and retard the timing incrementally until; the knock disappears. The downside of this is that power is lost by retarding the spark. This is why Audi states that an engine will run on 87 octane gas but you should use 91 octane for optimum performance.
As for the "myth of high octane gas performance", no engineer who got through high school chemistry would ever make such a rash statement. You probably heard this one from the "Consumer Distorts" "big bad companies trying to rip off poor little me" school of journalism. Higher octane numbers represent a fuel mixture's autoignition temperature. Chemically, autoignition temperature is a function of molecular weight -- the number of carbon atoms in the aliphatic chains that make up the hydrocarbon mix that is gasoline. Energy from the combustion of gasoline is derived from the oxidation of carbon. The more carbons in the molecule, the more energy is liberated when these carbons are oxidized. So thermodynamically, the higher the octane, the greater the energy. Where higher octane gas is not beneficial is when it is used in an engine not designed to make use of it. I could pump all the high test in the world into an aircooled VW engine with a 7.5:1 compression ratio and not get more than about 50 HP out of it. I would however increase the unburned hydrocarbons spewing out its tailpipe.
Speaking a Senior Chemical Engineer with 25 years of experience in the field, trust what you read inside the filler door on your Audi. It was put there on the recommendation of the engineeers who designed the engine, over something you read in a magazine. It was probably written by someone who never even took high school chemistry.
The recent changes to the base 330i included only the addition of the sport suspension and the SP package dropped by $700Cdn. It did not include the HK upgrade.
Alpine325i I did not ask for the clown noise to blink it just came that way. It must be a default setting for CDN models now - but I like it. I can't see it impacting the diagnostics as per the Fanatics board suggests or every E46 in Canada would have this problem and the mechanics would revolt.
Thanks again for the kind words.
Bob
A little more on octane:
The three series has a fairly smart ignition system that can advance the timing to take SOME advantage of fuel with a rating higher than 91. However, the only way to take full advantage is to have an engine with a higher compression ratio (say 11.0:1 or better). Personally, I am sticking with 91.
Running an E46 on fuel lower than 91 will NOT increase thermal efficiency it will DECREASE it. While 89 might burn a little hotter than 91, because of its (relative) instability, the ignition timing must be retarded (for the safety of the engine) so much that you wind up with a cooler overall burn, not real good for overall engine efficiency.
Octane and altitude; as you climb in altitude, the need for octane is reduced due to the lighter atmospheric pressure. Less absolute pressure in the cylinder, less need for highly stable fuel. However, here again, there are exceptions to the rule. If you have an engine that has been "Breathed On" (ie. Turbocharged or Supercharged) the blower makes up for the lack of air density, those cars NEED high-octane fuel even at 12,000 feet. I used to drive a limited production Chrysler LeBaron GTC with an intercooled 2.2 liter four banger, I think it was rated somewhere just below 200hp at sea level. When I drove it over Loveland or Independence pass in Colorado, I was fine going west as long as I filled up before I got to Denver. On the way east, I usually fueled around Grand Junction and Premium was like 86 or 87! The computer was constantly cutting in, opening the waste gate and retarding the timing just as the turbo was coming up to full boil.
Clunky shifter and hesitation:
While I might characterize my shifter as stiff, I would never say it was noisy or clunky, I would have it looked at if I were you.
The only time I have noticed hesitation, I was unknowingly on a less than optimal traction surface (sand, gravel, ice...) and let the clutch out. Instant hesitation, the traction control comes on so fast that it seems like the engine itself is having a problem. If you know for sure that the traction control light on the dash is A) working and
Why I own a 3 Series over a 5 Series:
The armrest in the five would get in the way of my elbow while shifting into 2nd and 4th gears. In the 3 Series, the armrest has a notch cut out that allows the elbow to pass without hitting it. As Brave1heart said it, the armrest in the 328i saved me $10,000. ;-)
Alpine325i, "Are you going with me" WOW I forgot about that song, I will have to dig that CD out tonight and give it a spin.
Best Regards,
Shipo
"So thermodynamically, the higher the octane, the greater the energy." Is that because higher compression engines can generate enough heat through said compression and early spark to actually take advantage of the carbon atoms available?
Diesel fuel has a low octane rating something like 62, yet it has both a greater weight by volume and greater power per given unit of weight. This seems at first blush to contradict what you have said, what have I done wrong?
Best Regards,
Shipo
I see tire rack has Dunlop SP8000s in this size for $156. That will probably be my first replacement tire.
Also, I withdraw my recommendation of the bmwplanet site. Great format but the posts are lame.
I agree on bmwplanet.com. As I've mentioned in the past, technology alone is nothing without the people.
"Recommended fuel: premium with a minimum octane rating of 91 AKI (Anti Knock Index).
BMW engines are equipped with knock sensors that will adapt automatically to different octane ratings, provided that the minimum octane requirement (87 AKI) is met.
Fuels with higher octane ratings will provide enhanced performance and lower fuel consumption, while the use of fuels with lower octane ratings will have the opposite effect."
Basically this means:
1) The use of fuel with a rating less than 91 is recommended only when higher grades are unavailable.
2) The use of at least 91 for day-to-day operation will provide standard performance.
3) The use of fuel with a rating greater than 91 will provide some performance benefit. (I assume that there is some upper limit to this)
Apparently the BMW ignition system HAS enough flexibility to advance the ignition timing to garner some benefit from higher-octane fuels. Come to think of it, I have been buying Premium for so many years (my last 5 cars dating back to 1985) that I do not actually know the octane rating of our local Premium here in northern New Jersey. I guess that I have just assumed that it was 91, I will check tomorrow.
Best Regards,
Shipo
after owning American cars for 16 years this car is an absolute dream.
the posts have been great and I have 1 question. when I lock or unlock the doors can the key be programed to flash lights so I confirm the doors actually have been locked. thanks in advance
Bravo, Shipo !
Sorry, Brave, I just realised you had earlier posted some good info on that too.
The changes though minor are really refreshing. I find it hard to believe that if you had not purchased yet you wouldn't wait for an 02.
I've made my decision - 2002 330i SP roof topaz blue.
Regards,
Ross
Yes, the car can be programmed so it will confirm locking and unlocking by a brief blinking of the turn signals and a brief siren signal.
Mine is a 325i just like yours. I purchased the BMW alarm and the car came with the above setup but I think it is possible because of the alarm, not due to key memory options. Yet another reason to get the alarm. The siren sound is very brief and refined and says the car is sophisticated before you even open the door.
I don't drive fast, I fly low!!
Twoof1
Can you tell us a bit more about your experience with Dinan when get a chance, please? Any drawbacks, any regrets? What did you have done and how was the difference in performance? And BTW, wondering why you are getting rid of a very recent BMW that should be a lot of fun to drive.