RE: New tri-turbo BMW 550d to get 381hp, 516lb ft

[E38Ross]

Welshbeef said:

Sorry got that wrong.
Bentley Mulsanne 6.75ltr v8 twin turbo
505bhp at 4,200rpm
Max torque 752ftlbf
Nearly three tonnes
8 speed
Will do 186mph
0-60 in 5 seconds.
Price £202k


Very diesel like delivery. Red line at 4,500 rpm

So how would that car compare to the peak torques revs is meaningless and you need revs to make power. Well this car does big power low revs huge towlrque low revs.

Cone on post up

It produces low power for its torque figure because it doesn't rev highly! For instance, even the mclaren f1 produces more power with less torque because it revs higher.

[Pentoman]

Didn't even read the article or thread. Jumped to page 10 to see how bad the arguing had got. It's about as expected.

Guess I should contribute something. Doesn't seem like a particularly bad car.

[thinfourth2]

Mr.Jimbo said:

I'm still imagining what an AWD M550Dx or whatever they'll call it would be like at the traffic light GP, Mental! Imagine with a DSG box, that would be awesome.

It would be even faster then my old caterham

But somehow i belive it might be less fun

[E38Ross]

Pentoman said:

Didn't even read the article or thread. Jumped to page 10 to see how bad the arguing had got. It's about as expected.

Guess I should contribute something. Doesn't seem like a particularly bad car.

Agree, its a good car.

For the person who said I can't understand why people would buy this, think of it from another perspective. If this costs similar to a 550i, why would some people buy a 550i when this offers similar power without a need for regular trips to the pumps.

I'll personally prefer the v8 petrol because of largely subjective matters, but I certainly wouldn't be disappointed with this having previously experienced bmws straight six diesels.

[Dagnut]

Kong said:

I agree, it's always the same ste on these threads. Fact is these days low Co2 and high MPG are at the heart of everything. If you don't like it then buy an M5 instead while they are still legal.

I hate to mention the word 'remap' but if you're serious about performance then it's worth considering. In this car i expect we're looking at nearly 450bhp and 600 lb/ft which makes it a nutty mobile, especially when it will (i'd expect) also do 50mpg+.

50mpg? what does a current 535d do?

[E38Ross]

thinfourth2 said:

It would be even faster then my old caterham

But somehow i belive it might be less fun

Rofl, you really know how to compare apples with oranges don't you! Why on earth would you compare a big executive saloon to a Caterham? I wonder if any person ever has gone into the market looking for a powerful big saloon car and bought a Caterham instead.

[ikarl]

E38Ross said:

thinfourth2 said:

It would be even faster then my old caterham

But somehow i belive it might be less fun

Rofl, you really know how to compare apples with oranges don't you! Why on earth would you compare a big executive saloon to a Caterham? I wonder if any person ever has gone into the market looking for a powerful big saloon car and bought a Caterham instead.

I believe it was done in response to the 'traffic light Grand Prix' point.....did you not bother reading that?

[Welshbeef]

E38Ross said:

It produces low power for its torque figure because it doesn't rev highly! For instance, even the mclaren f1 produces more power with less torque because it revs higher.

But the diesel haters say you run our of revs and it doesn't produce enough power. Well 505bhp that enough for nearly every occasion.

What you are saying is if it rev more it would produce more power. However if an engine produces way more than enough power at 4,200rpm why would you need more revs? And in answering that you also answer the diesel low rev range issue that diesel haters have. (although as the current 535d revs to 5,500 rpm I'd imagine the 550d may be the same or more if so there are not that many petrols which rev beyond 6k revs.

[E38Ross]

ikarl said:

E38Ross said:

thinfourth2 said:

It would be even faster then my old caterham

But somehow i belive it might be less fun

Rofl, you really know how to compare apples with oranges don't you! Why on earth would you compare a big executive saloon to a Caterham? I wonder if any person ever has gone into the market looking for a powerful big saloon car and bought a Caterham instead.

I believe it was done in response to the 'traffic light Grand Prix' point.....did you not bother reading that?

Yes I did, but fail to see, in that case, why he bothered to mention the fun factor then. In fact, why not say a rolls Royce phantoms faster to 100 than a Caterham, but it's less fun. That means the caterham is better, ya know.

[Kong]

Dagnut said:

Kong said:

I agree, it's always the same ste on these threads. Fact is these days low Co2 and high MPG are at the heart of everything. If you don't like it then buy an M5 instead while they are still legal.

I hate to mention the word 'remap' but if you're serious about performance then it's worth considering. In this car i expect we're looking at nearly 450bhp and 600 lb/ft which makes it a nutty mobile, especially when it will (i'd expect) also do 50mpg+.

50mpg? what does a current 535d do?

Not sure but the current fastest BMW diesel, the 640d does 59mpg extra urban and 51mpg combined. I doubt this will be too much worse.

[Welshbeef]

Kong said:

Not sure but the current fastest BMW diesel, the 640d does 59mpg extra urban and 51mpg combined. I doubt this will be too much worse.

Really that is thanks to the wonderful 8 speed box uber low revs at m way

[Zwolf]

Kong said:

Dagnut said:

Kong said:

I agree, it's always the same ste on these threads. Fact is these days low Co2 and high MPG are at the heart of everything. If you don't like it then buy an M5 instead while they are still legal.

I hate to mention the word 'remap' but if you're serious about performance then it's worth considering. In this car i expect we're looking at nearly 450bhp and 600 lb/ft which makes it a nutty mobile, especially when it will (i'd expect) also do 50mpg+.

50mpg? what does a current 535d do?

Not sure but the current fastest BMW diesel, the 640d does 59mpg extra urban and 51mpg combined. I doubt this will be too much worse.

I think Dagnut meant what do they actually return, rather than what the official figures. The first 535d had an official figure of 38mpg or thereabouts. Yet in reality, most owners report 28mpg is more accurate and didn't represent the expected gain over the petrols they'd traded in, so quite a few went back to petrol power the next time around.

Although I gather the LIC E6xs with the revised 35d engine were much better in that respect, but still a way off claimed figures. Maybe as people actually do use the performance of them, rather than drive them like they would a 520d.

[Welshbeef]

Zwolf said:

I think Dagnut meant what do they actually return, rather than what the official figures. The first 535d had an official figure of 38mpg or thereabouts. Yet in reality, most owners report 28mpg is more accurate and didn't represent the expected gain over the petrols they'd traded in, so quite a few went back to petrol power the next time around.

Although I gather the LIC E6xs with the revised 35d engine were much better in that respect, but still a way off claimed figures. Maybe as people actually do use the performance of them, rather than drive them like they would a 520d.

But if you use lots of the petrol equivalent performance then you'd get even less.


All I can do is refer to my 330d and that does hit it's claimed combined plus the extra urban is hit very often on my drives and unless on a business drive site to site and I'm early I'd put cruise on at 60mph on mway but that is very rare.

[Trommel]

Welshbeef said:

Really that is thanks to the wonderful 8 speed box uber low revs at m way

Not just the motorway - a diesel Range Rover is in 8th by about 40mph, and a 9-speed is coming.

[Cheib]

Trommel said:

Welshbeef said:

Really that is thanks to the wonderful 8 speed box uber low revs at m way

Not just the motorway - a diesel Range Rover is in 8th by about 40mph, and a 9-speed is coming.

The new auto makes a huge difference. My E70 X5 SD has the old six speed....it's ridiculous that the engine is doing 2500 rpm at motorway speeds with all the torque it has.

Whilst these diesels blow petrol cars out of the water for mpg at motorway speeds it's much,much close in urban traffic.

[Welshbeef]

Trommel said:

Welshbeef said:

Really that is thanks to the wonderful 8 speed box uber low revs at m way

Not just the motorway - a diesel Range Rover is in 8th by about 40mph, and a 9-speed is coming.

Isn't there also a new gearbox being developed that allows it to coast - bit like the latest truck engines so coasting which is engine shut down saving fuel but also super long geared as in overdrive for when you want economy but also super quick at locking up in the gears.


Around town I cannot see a huge diff in absolute £ spent on fuel but ecerywere else oh yea.

[Zwolf]

Welshbeef said:

Isn't there also a new gearbox being developed that allows it to coast

The PDK 'box in the 991 does that, which is why it's official figures are markedly better than the manual. However, in practice there's little to stop people coasting in manuals either, or dropping a TC auto into neutral...

[Welshbeef]

Zwolf said:

Welshbeef said:

Isn't there also a new gearbox being developed that allows it to coast

The PDK 'box in the 991 does that, which is why it's official figures are markedly better than the manual. However, in practice there's little to stop people coasting in manuals either, or dropping a TC auto into neutral...

Fully agree on the manual ability to coast - but the new gearox would be doing this o and off on the mway, I'd not bother to put it in neutral then back into 6th manual gear constantly that should be a robotised task.


have never put my car from D to N while the car is moving didnt think it was possible but again it would be a lot of additional in ad out over & over spending a lot of time

[The Stiglet]

Welshbeef said:

Zwolf said:

Welshbeef said:

Isn't there also a new gearbox being developed that allows it to coast

The PDK 'box in the 991 does that, which is why it's official figures are markedly better than the manual. However, in practice there's little to stop people coasting in manuals either, or dropping a TC auto into neutral...

Fully agree on the manual ability to coast - but the new gearox would be doing this o and off on the mway, I'd not bother to put it in neutral then back into 6th manual gear constantly that should be a robotised task.


have never put my car from D to N while the car is moving didnt think it was possible but again it would be a lot of additional in ad out over & over spending a lot of time

And how tight would you have to be to do that?! Very improbable verging on urban myth.

[Grovsie26]

Welshbeef FTW!