Hey, fellas!

Just read an article in Automobile about Dinan M5. The guy hacked the engine management system (and a couple of other things) to extract another 76 ponies for a total of 470. This is 470 naturally aspirated horses (not bad). He also shortened the final drive in the car.

The end result is a daily driver that does 0-60 in 4.1 sec and 1/4 mile in 12.3. Very impressive. The only downside is that this package runs ~ $35 - 36K.

Since there are numerous forced induction GS's running around (from stage 2+ S/C for GS400 to new GS300 SRT turbos to upcoming TT for GS430 to good old 2JZ-GTE singles), I am surprized I never saw an article with instrumented testing done on them.

Just wondering how GS would compare to Dinan's BMWs. Does anyone know if modded GS has been tested by a reputable magazine? (other than Peter Farrels IS300)

 

SRT has a 12 sec GS400... well that was a couple of years ago... It's probably going to be quicker now after Mo finished whatever topsecret thing he is doing to the car.

 

You're right... I have seen it on SRT's website. But was it tested independently by a Car Magazine? I am not sure.

I am puzzled how well bimmers get things done efficiently. For example, 470hp is supercar (production) territory, but nowhere near the 800hp SuperCharged GS400, and yet the 1/4 mile times are very close (12.3 to 12.something). May be it's the gearing and the manual tranny....

It is just that for all the turbo talk, I have never seen a Lexus whip a BMW in a comparison. It would be a nice thing, though...

I have some suspension mods which I truly enjoy, but I suspect that if I drive a BMW, I will like it even more. If it wasn't for the insurance premium, I would have went with the new M3.

I guess it is time to compare with my friend's 540 sport Auto and see how I fare.

 

Vlad! Where's my nav DVD-video connector box!?