Disappointed (only a little) with my new M3

[CSanto]

Originally Posted by M5essex

Basically guys, we need to mod our f8x's to realise their full potential. Or we get an m5/6... We all know how well our m3/4 handle, turn in and general behave but we want the pull of a 550+hp beast at our disposal. I'd love to keep my f80 but swap the f10 m5 engine in its body

This would be so perfect lol.

I feel what OP is saying about lackluster straight line acceleration.

Unrelated note: once you drive truly fast cars you get spoiled

[Wills2]

I turned left out of the gym today up a 1/2 mile of hill, this thing just rocketed up it on partial throttle 3-4k rpm through the gears 100mph in no time, sweeping bend at the top, feel the rear settle as you turn in and rest on all that mechanical grip, on to the throttle and power through....

Love it.

[gtsussex]

Originally Posted by Wills2

I turned left out of the gym today up a 1/2 mile of hill, this thing just rocketed up it on partial throttle 3-4k rpm through the gears 100mph in no time, sweeping bend at the top, feel the rear settle as you turn in and rest on all that mechanical grip, on to the throttle and power through....

Love it.

[PeteRock]

I just rolled on third gear from 30mph until it hit redline. I can confirm this car is extremely fast

II think the problem OP has is that you might not be using the entire rev range

[M5essex]

RWD.... I hope you gave your car a hard break in period to set the tone for the future.... Those who nanny their car in the initial and early stages are said to have slower, less urgent cars... My car had a varied and quite aggressive break in and I have to report now that I'm impressed with the performance and she feels quick. Yes it could still do with another 80hp and 140nm of tq but she's still bloody rapid. Even compared to the turbo s!
Get out there and stick it in sport+ every time you drive her and wake up that ecu so it learns you want a quicker car. It will adapt to your driving style and will remember for future

[TommyGuk]

Originally Posted by M5essex

RWD.... I hope you gave your car a hard break in period to set the tone for the future.... Those who nanny their car in the initial and early stages are said to have slower, less urgent cars... My car had a varied and quite aggressive break in and I have to report now that I'm impressed with the performance and she feels quick.

Out of interest as I'm about to do this (September), how would you describe a hard and quite aggressive break in?

Warming up and revving over the recommend 4k revs every now and again?
Keeping it in sport+?

[Ade_7]

Originally Posted by TommyGuk

Out of interest as I'm about to do this (September), how would you describe a hard and quite aggressive break in?

Warming up and revving over the recommend 4k revs every now and again?
Keeping it in sport+?

I was told 5k rpm?? I just let it warm up (until the rev limit lights go up to full range) then would mix hard acceleration in different gears with normal driving but still trying to vary the gears and load applied.

It seems to have worked ok. Mine feels pretty lively most of the time

[TommyGuk]

Yes sorry Ade, you're right it's 5k. Thanks for the tips!

[notused]

Originally Posted by M5essex

RWD.... I hope you gave your car a hard break in period to set the tone for the future.... Those who nanny their car in the initial and early stages are said to have slower, less urgent cars... My car had a varied and quite aggressive break in and I have to report now that I'm impressed with the performance and she feels quick. Yes it could still do with another 80hp and 140nm of tq but she's still bloody rapid. Even compared to the turbo s!
Get out there and stick it in sport+ every time you drive her and wake up that ecu so it learns you want a quicker car. It will adapt to your driving style and will remember for future

I most certainly did even though I'm generally a careful guy. I thought limits during run in were 5.5k RPM and 106mph so i drove in Sport for the first 1200 miles and thoroughly used the power to get me to those limits and occasionally beyond. After RIS, I've been caning it and am at 2100 miles now in 6 weeks with overall 18mpg.

[M5essex]

Originally Posted by TommyGuk

Out of interest as I'm about to do this (September), how would you describe a hard and quite aggressive break in?

Warming up and revving over the recommend 4k revs every now and again?
Keeping it in sport+?

well the first 50-100 miles of its life are very important. don't sit at constant revs or try not to sit in a traffic jam when leaving the dealer... there are lots of theories on this, but what they call the 'Alpine' break in seems to work and produces a car that burns/uses less oil and returns a bedded in and quick future car.

imagine you are on an alpine pass up to Vienna straight out of the dealer forecourt....... get the engine up to temp and then use every gear, vary the revs, give the engine load without labouring it too much up and down those luscious winding and sometimes steep narrow mountain passes.... don't be afraid of going over 5k revs. take it to red line every now and then.. you wont hurt the engine. you need to bed the piston rings in and this is important with any new engine whether a RR jet engine or our cars.... have a read of this extract I just took off Shell's website...

If your engine has recently been overhauled, or is new, then you should "Break-In" your engine using straight mineral oils.

When a cylinder is new the inner wall surface is not smooth as might be imagined. The objective of the break-in procedure is to rub off any high spots, both on the cylinder wall and the piston rings, so that the rings can create a tight gas seal for normal operation. This requires the piston ring to break through the oil film and allow a certain amount of metal-to-metal contact between the components. Once this matching has occurred the break-in is considered to be complete and very little contact will occur thereafter.

The anomaly is obviously that the lubricating oil is there to prevent metal-to-metal contact, but the process described requires that we rupture the oil film. Two actions that can critically impair this film rupture and therefore prevent adequate break-in; low power settings and the use of improper lubricating oils.

With the exception of some turbocharged engines (check the documents mentioned above), break-in should be conducted using straight oils. The first risk with using Ashless Dispersant oils used during break-in is that the higher film-strength will prevent the piston ring from rupturing the oil film and therefore the necessary abrasion on the cylinder wall will not occur.

Secondly, the frictional process creates unusually high surface temperatures on the cylinder wall and this can cause the additives in the Ashless Dispersant oils to form a glaze in the honing groves on the surface of the cylinder wall. When a cylinder is manufactured, a cross-hatch hone is used to score a diamond pattern into the surface of the liner; this is necessary to allow an oil film to be held on the surface of the cylinder wall and lubricate the piston during operation.

If this glazing of these honing grooves occurs before the break-in period is complete then the piston ring will not seal properly, and the cylinder wall will no longer have the surface groves necessary to carry lubricant, and the combination will result in a poor gas seal and high oil consumption. The only way to remove such a glaze is by re-honing the cylinder wall - meaning expensive and avoidable additional maintenance.

However, successful break-in not only means the use of a straight oil of the correct grade but also the use of high power settings. High power settings mean high combustion pressures which, due to the piston ring design, forces the piston ring out to rupture the oil film. This is the key to the break-in process.



so just like we have a 1200 break in period with an abrasive temporary oil, it is crucial to use High Power Settings and bed the rings and create a better seal, meaning less oil consumption and a more powerful and efficient engine

my first M car back in the late 90's had not been broken in well and was a motorway car, so used about a litre of oil every 2,000 miles. the 335i I bought new in 2008/9 I meticulously followed the guidelines of not exceeding certain revs in the first 1000 miles blah blah... and that car also used about 0.5- 1 litre of oil every 1500- 2000 miles. so ever since with my e92 M3, M5, M135 and this F80, I have somewhat ignored the break in limits and driven it hard (always fully warmed up) from the start and not once have I every had to top up with oil outside of usual services.

my Porsche has no break in period rules either and again, ive not had to top up once with oil in 18 months- and it's monstrously quick too

[TommyGuk]

Thank you so much for that mate, I will definitely be following your guide lines when I break the car in. Straight from the dealers and into the country lanes to run through the gears correctly.

Much appreciated

[M5essex]

Originally Posted by TommyGuk

Thank you so much for that mate, I will definitely be following your guide lines when I break the car in. Straight from the dealers and into the country lanes to run through the gears correctly.

Much appreciated

No worries mate. remember brand new tyres are slippery too so make sure they are warmed up before honing it new brakes also need a bedding in process to make them work better and stop squeal, but that's a whole new set of fun and games

good luck and hope your wait doesn't drag too much and you get to enjoy some September warm, dry days when you collect

[gtsussex]

Yup, I'm with Damo on this one and did exactly the same on breaking my M3 in (as I've done with all the cars). None of mine have used oil excessively and run just perfectly!

[dopper99]

Originally Posted by gtsussex

Yup, I'm with Damo on this one and did exactly the same on breaking my M3 in (as I've done with all the cars). None of mine have used oil excessively and run just perfectly!

Yes, I can vouch for that Guy.

[gtsussex]

Originally Posted by dopper99

Yes, I can vouch for that Guy.

Must take you out for a DSC off trip when next down your way Andy

[dopper99]

Originally Posted by gtsussex

Must take you out for a DSC off trip when next down your way Andy

I'll bring my sick bag.

[rjwojcik]

Originally Posted by M5essex

Hi Guy, sounds like an excuse for a mini meet if you're heading over to the delights of Essex and Bas Vegas! I've had a look at GAD tuning too as they can safely get 500hp and a whack more torque from their tune. can I ask how much you've been quoted? Pm if you prefer.

re your exhaust mod are you going for the open back box route and remove baffle and cover up the perforations...?

O dear... Let me know how you guys get on, wouldn't mind feeling the results if you do go ahead.

[dopper99]

Going back to the OP's original comment about the M5 E60 feeling faster after 90mph......

I came across these two vids below, M4 and M5 E60 on the same Youtube channel, both cars from a standstill.

Here are the times took from the end of each vid....

M4
0-100 (62mph): 4.1s
0-150 (93mph): 7.8s
0-200 (124mph): 13.5s
0-250 (155mph): 24.5s

M5 E60
0-100 (62mph): 5.2s
0-150 (93mph): 9.1s
0-200 (124mph): 14.7s
0-250 (155mph): 23.4s


But if you take the difference between the times (to rule out the dodgy launch by the M5), notice there is near as no difference between the two cars at 93-124mph....... although the M5 does trounce the M4 after 124mph, but who cares about that!

M4
62mph-93mph: 3.7s
93mph-124mph: 5.7s
124mph-155mph: 11.0s


M5 E60
62mph-93mph: 3.9s
93mph-124mph: 5.6s
124mph-155mph: 8.7s

[notused]

Quick update: I am piling on the miles (3000 in two months, all for pleasure) and the car is improving on two counts:

1) Exhaust sound. After RIS I switched to D2 as my default DCT mode and the farts are just amazing. I couldn't hear them in D3 as it was holding the gear longer, which I had intentionally set for running in.

2) Drove down the A50 yesterday switching from M6 to M1 (motorways) to avoid traffic and I was thoroughly impressed with the car. OK, it wasn't three lanes and there were no other decent cars about but the midrange acceleration was fantastic. Then meeting an M135 on the M1 really highlighted the vast difference in acceleration.

Hitting the autobahns next couple of days to see how it behaves over there.

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by RWDpetrol

Hitting the autobahns next couple of days to see how it behaves over there.

I'm off to Cologne next week, I've spied a delimited section on the way in so I'll be seeing what it can do if the conditions are right.

[notused]

Originally Posted by Wills2

I'm off to Cologne next week, I've spied a delimited section on the way in so I'll be seeing what it can do if the conditions are right.

Yes, there's a new bit of road between Aachen and Cologne, which should do nicely. Although several years old it still didn't appear on the satnav in my 2015 X6.

So no chance of hypermiling to Cologne for you.

[gtsussex]

Originally Posted by RWDpetrol

Yes, there's a new bit of road between Aachen and Cologne, which should do nicely. Although several years old it still didn't appear on the satnav in my 2015 X6.

So no chance of hypermiling to Cologne for you.

Funnily enough I'm doing that trip in 3 weeks. Stopping off on Aachen on way back to see AC Schnitzer.