5 Days of BMW ownership... interesting!

Deleted User 234324

Deleted User 234324

Deleted User 234324

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Had my E46 convertible now since wednesday, and an interesting experience it has been.

Not sure if its me or the car but it likes a bit of the right foot action when moving from a standstill up hills, the ST could happily pull itself up at idle speed in 1st. I guess thats down to the very high low down torque.

Corners at speed are fun though, had the tyres screaming bloody mary a few times now.

Ohh and every chav in torbay seems to want to race me!
 
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MadMossy said:
Not sure if its me or the car but it likes a bit of the right foot action when moving from a standstill up hills, the ST could happily pull itself up at idle speed in 1st. I guess thats down to the very high low down torque
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It sounds more likely that something is wrong with it. Lack of urge is not something you should be experiencing. That said, what exactly are you expecting, that you can lift off the throttle when on a reasonable hill and have the car... pull itself up like an auto? :confused:

had the tyres screaming bloody mary a few times now.
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Are they rubbish tyres or are you really pushing it hard?
 
No just things like pulling away from a standstill on a hill, if don't use the gas at all to start off the car will judder/kangaroo as if its going to stall, tiny bit of pressure on the gas though and it pulls away fine. The ST would very very slowly creep forward until I gave it some gas.

Unfortunately it wasnt something I could test when I took the car for a test drive as Gloucester seems to lack those things called hills.

As for the tyres I was giving it a bit of beans :P
 
I don't think the engine has the same sort of low down torque the ST's engine has, is being able to pull away just using the clutch really a big issue?
 
Sorry I dont understand, are you saying you could pull away on a hill without accelerating before :confused:

Secondly Gloucester is in the middle of the Cotswolds, famed for...hills. How comprehensive was this test drive :confused:

I'm struggling to work out what your expectations are here.
 
[TW]Fox;16881705 said:
Sorry I dont understand, are you saying you could pull away on a hill without accelerating before :confused:

Secondly Gloucester is in the middle of the Cotswolds, famed for...hills. How comprehensive was this test drive :confused:

I'm struggling to work out what your expectations are here.
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Think he means using the bite point of the clutch. Like with diesels you can pull away from traffic lights just using the clutch, but with a petrol you wouid need to do bite point+ gas
 
depends entirely on the torque the engine produces at idle, rather than the type of fuel it uses, no?

Regardless, it can't be much of a hill if you can pull away with no throttle regardless of car. I'm not sure the 300NM of torque available at idle in the M5 would be up for it on anything other than the most weedy hill (incidentally about the same torque as the 3l 6 cylinder makes at peak)

Also, surely in the ST, the turbo isn't going to be doing anything at idle so it's going to have sod all torque!
 
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PeterNem said:
Also, surely in the ST, the turbo isn't going to be doing anything at idle so it's going to have sod all torque!
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Exactly, how is a Focus ST going to pull itself up a hill at idle, at idle its a wheezy, underpowered N/A 5 pot because the turbo is not doing anything.
 
My truck will pull away, even fully freighted, at idle & the turbo is not doing anything...... ?

The "Gatehouse" to our yard at work is on quite a steep hill, regardless, the truck will pull away with no throttle.

It does seem wrong, but Scania assure us this is the best way to keep clutch wear to a minimum.

I'm wondering if the OP is simply not used to the throttle / clutch yet on the BMW, that said, I can imagine it wanting a bit - however light - of throttle on a hill.

Thread confuses, then again, Its Sunday and I've had a few.... :o
 
It depends entirely on gearing as well as torque and where it's delivered..!

R420, your lorry has about 49 gears and probably maxes out at what 7mph in 1st? :p As well as peak torque being delivered rather low. Not really a fair comparison :p


That said, ANY car will be able to move off happily just by gently letting the clutch out, but it'd take a rather big old engine to do it on anything more than a slight incline as Mr Nem said
 
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Sorry if i've confused people, when i mean hill i actually mean a slight incline, not a 45 degree hill.

But as someone mentioned its probably just because im not yet used to the BMW's clutch/throttle.

The torque curve on the ST is pretty steep, at idle ~1000rpm it still produces quiet a bit of torque, torque peaks at 1600 rpm and is then pretty steady all way to the red line.

Where as the BMW is pretty steady increase all the upto 3000 rpm where it peaks.

So a tiny bit of gas on the ST will take up anything pretty much, the BMW will need a bit more umph, turbo in the ST doesnt really kick in till 4000 rpm, at 2500 it only runs at quarter boost, at 4k it goes all out in 3rd or higher, 1st or 2nd you don't really get much use of the turbo at all, unless you nail it.
 
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PeterNem said:
Regardless, it can't be much of a hill if you can pull away with no throttle regardless of car.
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I can pull away on very steep hills, any hill to be honest with my 320D with just the clutch, and have done it fully loaded. Pretty sure the turbo ain't doing much at what, 800rpm? lol.
 
I think maybe you need better clutch control :p I've creeped up Muswell hill and Highgate hill for example with just the clutch in traffic. Though i do appreciate out in the sticks hills might be a different thing :)
 
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Howard said:
R420, your lorry has about 49 gears and probably maxes out at what 7mph in 1st? :p As well as peak torque being delivered rather low. Not really a fair comparison :p
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Sure, I appreciate that, in actual fact, it has 12 forward gears, pulls off generally in 2nd or 3rd and will happily do so at tickover on a hill as I say.

Many won't though, automatic DAF's especially, you have to give them plenty of gas to go off the line...

What I perhaps should say is recently as part of our "driver efficiency" we have been instructed to pull away without throttle as the driveline is more than upto it and it saves clutch wear and fuel, the general perception of most drivers is that this is wrong and you need gas, in actual fact you don't and the same should apply for a similar vehicle with a relatively large engine for the size of vehicle that it is , such as the OP's.

That all said, I'm still not sure what engine the OP has in his BM..... :o
 
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