mavericck

The gas mileage actually improved according that report.

picus

MPG has increased. The car was running very lean stock - he said it wasn't a big increase, but noticable on an entire tank.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

ksfrogman - nice 330i What rims do you have? (Not in your mods list as far as I can tell )

ksfrogman

Thanks! I didn't realize my sig got truncated due to size limit, so I readjusted it. Those are Japanese Work VS-XX wheels. I first saw them on an e46 M3 and fell in love with them. Then I noticed them on a friend's S2000, and had to get them. So my headlights are from Spain, the tail lights from Italy, the GruppeM and wheels from Japan, my custom roundels from Taiwan. lol.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

LOL, thanks for the update. Great setup. Any balance/alignment issues?

SteVTEC

apples to oranges.

The 335TT has significantly less lag than any of those other engines. It's also using direct injection which allows for a much higher compression ratio and superior part-load off-boost efficiency that blows the old engines out of the water. It's also using 10 years more advanced turbo technology with much better metallurgic properties that BMW claims can handle significantly higher temperatures. This allows for a leaner mixture to be used for another bump in efficiency. Other turbo engines have to run much richer mixtures to keep EGTs lower in the name of turbo longevity.

If you want to compare apples to apples, put in bigger and laggier turbos equal to the ones 10 years ago, and then enrich the mixture a bit so that efficiency is about the same as 10 years ago, then this engine could easily be cranking out 350-400 hp, all other factors being equal. The point of the engine is not all-out peak horsepower.

Saying there is no huge step in technology is simply ignoring all of the virtues of this engine.

SteVTEC

total rubbish. The power is nowhere near 350hp, and even shiv at vishnu tuning agreed with me on that.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30728

I can't believe how gullible sooooo many people are on these forums, as if because something was printed in a car rag, it therefore must be true. The automobile mag article was riddled with errors, and the author clearly had no clue what he was even talking about.

A legit 350hp LS1 6MT dynos at 310 rwhp all day long. The average dynos for the 335i 6MT are 275-280 rwhp, 30+ rwhp below where a 350hp LS1 dynos at. Maybe the engine is a tad under-rated and really has 310-315hp, but it's nowhere close to 350, and this really isn't much if any different than how a lot of other BMW engines are rated that I've seen a fair number of stock dynos for.

And this explains why an IS350 automatic is pretty much equalling the time of 335i manuals. And after you subtract out the 2-3 mph advantage that the magazine 335i time has because they use actual trap vs averaged trap at real tracks, even the trap speeds are the same.

The lack of credibility, especially now in the automotive press, is just disgusting to me.

Shawnmack

I can remember 5 years ago that BMW said that superchargers and turbos was a CHEAP WAY for auto manufactures to generate extra HP. Can somebody explain that?

jrock65

Well, they've said that it's cheaper to make a 3.0L Twin Turbo 6 cylinder than a 4.0L V8.

Their 3.0L I6 TT makes similar hp and torque as their 4.0L V8.

It's also lighter and gets better mpg than a 4.0L V8.

SteVTEC

That's just marketing spin, and they'll say whatever they have to to keep selling cars. Any engineer will be able to tell you that there is no one "superior" or better way to do anything. All the ways of accomplishing something have various tradeoffs. This is no different than Honda getting all high and mighty for sticking with their high-revving NA VTEC engines saying they don't need turbos. And of course now they have the turbo RDX, and are talking all about how that engine is "more intelligent" than a 3.5L V6 is.

Marketing people make me want to vomit.

ff_

+1

Damn, that's so true. But hey, if the majority of people fall for the marketing fluff (ahem...brand snobs), then you can't really blame them for using those tactics. I guess I've always been a huge pessimist when it comes to anything I hear from the automakers mouths. I've learned to doubt first, and then form my own opinions through personal experience and through a collection of the things I hear in the real world.

joyriide11

I have no doubt in my mind some automakers have car mags in their back pockets. Mag writers also need to spice things up just to keep things exciting, to sell more mags.

Its best to join a forum and read threads from actual owners than it is to pick up a mag and use it as the guide to your next purchase...

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

you will go far as long as doubt doesn't become cynicism...

ff_

I've been known the cross that boundary on a few occasions

LexFather

I know you know you stuff, so I'll agree with you.