5 Days of BMW ownership... interesting!

No the ST clutch was rock solid. Simple test on the ST to see if the clutch was slipping was to put it into 6th @ 30mph and floor it.

If the rpm increased rapidly and speed didnt then the clutch is knackered, if you accelerate then its good. It was also relatively low mileage so was unlikely to be knackered at 38k miles, the BMW on the otherhand is at 117k.

Even then its not really a measure of a clutches wear, a colleague of mine drives an Astra with 268k on the clock, still original engine and clutch!.
 
Idling up hills?

*sniff sniff* Smells like clutch slipping. Cy@ the dealership getting a new clutch in 40k miles.

Learn to use your accelerator in combination with your clutch, if I want to pull away in my S2000 or even in my old Focus 1.8 from a standstill on the flat I would seriously need to slip the clutch to get it rolling without stalling or jumping around. God forbid even trying on a hill.

Edit - Just because your clutch does not slip at 6th from 30mph does NOT mean you are not slipping it intentionally with clutch control (or lack thereof). I would like to see the result of you effectively dumping the clutch on a hill at idle.
 
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Mine will happily do this in most gears if you slip it for long enough :p

Doing this in first through third is how I drive in traffic jams.
 
Since this has gone way off topic..

With my first car, a clapped out old VW Polo. You could jump in the car, put it in first, then with no foot on the clutch, just turn the key and it would start moving forwards :D
 
The Fabia will move off in 1st with no throttle.

The Leon will not - it'll stall.

Leon has 70bhp more. Both are diesel engines.

I think you're reading into this far too much. :p
 
bledd. said:
Since this has gone way off topic..

With my first car, a clapped out old VW Polo. You could jump in the car, put it in first, then with no foot on the clutch, just turn the key and it would start moving forwards :D
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surely any car will do that?

Also, did you know you can shove a Fiat seicento sporting into first with the engine running and clutch engaged and it will roll forward? After making a nasty noise of course
 
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Yeah it seems most cars can do this, it just depends entirely on the bottom end torque available, some cars have plenty of torque but its not available until midway up the rev range (like the bmw 330), where as my previous ST could pull along happily without gas up an incline in 2nd gear because most of the torque is available at idle.
 
DannyDan said:
Not difficult in a diesel
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Well, yes it is, given that you need circa 1500rpm to do 50mph in a 330d surely? I'm pretty sure it's doing about 2000-2200rpm in top gear at 70mph therefore it's hardly going to only need 750rpm to do 50mph is it?

And a petrol one will do the same 'through the gears' thing as the diesel one.
 
DannyDan said:
Not difficult in a diesel, just let it pull forward and move up through the gears. I can't imagine it going terribly well in a petrol though.
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What so you could drive a diesel in town without ever touching the gas peddle, no wonder they are so economical :eek:
 
Right, in an attempt to put some sense into this rather bizarre thread I actually tried this in my 530i on the way home.

The result is that by slipping the clutch a bit yes it will pull away, up hill, without using any throttle whatsoever. I think the fact that despite owning the car for years and years yet not knowing whether it would do this or not kinda demonstrates how useless this feature is. To pull away on a hill smoothly, normally and properly it requires only a bit of throttle. I never had any issues, never had to give it any beans at all, I just... drove off normally. It's just totally natural. Therefore:

a) I still don't understand why you are trying to do what you are trying to do
b) If you are having to give the car enough throttle to pull away that its noticeable enough to post on the internet about it, I suspect there is something wrong with the car.
 
IAmATeaf said:
What so you could drive a diesel in town without ever touching the gas peddle, no wonder they are so economical :eek:
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I used to drive my old Leon around cities pretty much like this, it didnt need throttle while crawling around in traffic...
 
IAmATeaf said:
What so you could drive a diesel in town without ever touching the gas peddle, no wonder they are so economical :eek:
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The throttle is always wide open on a diesel anyway, it's completely different to a gasoline.

If the revs drop above idle in a diesel it will simply inject more fuel. A gasoline will have some funky idle air control valve trying to increase the idle speed which is slower to respond and doesn't significantly increase the engine's output.

The ability for a car to drive away from idle is more governed by the idle control system employed rather than the engine itself.
 
Well I've just tried this in my Accord which idles at around 750rpm. On a slight incline I could get the car to move and continue up the slope but it needed a lot of a lot of playing around with the clutch. Apply gas to get the revs to around 1100 and my car would move quite easily up the slope without much clutch play. My younger son found it amusing and asked me what I was doing driving like an old man :)
 
IAmATeaf said:
Well I've just tried this in my Accord which idles at around 750rpm. On a slight incline I could get the car to move and continue up the slope but it needed a lot of a lot of playing around with the clutch. Apply gas to get the revs to around 1100 and my car would move quite easily up the slope without much clutch play. My younger son found it amusing and asked me what I was doing driving like an old man :)
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On account of you driving an Accord?
 
I used to try this when I was learning to drive, then I realised that the accelerator pedal could be of great use when wanting to move away. I also decided that if this was too difficult I would buy an Automatic.
 
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