Where did the extra 50bhp come from?

[MitchT]

After all this talk about replacing my car... and asking lots of questions about BMW 8s, M3s and Lotus Elises... and agreeing in principle to sell my 318is to my brother... it feels to have gained about 50bhp! During a drive over to Harrogate from Bingley on Saturday night it felt particularly lively. At one point I pulled out to overtake the first of two '40-in-a-60' merchants. The idea was to pick one off, pull over and and then get the other after checking again, but it was accelerating so fast I got them both on one go! There felt like much more torque and a much crisper response than usual. It was cold and the air was quite dry, which I know can be good for adding poke, but on this occasion my 318is felt almost half way to being an M3! Could it be that it doesn't want to go and is trying to convince me to hang on to it? I must admit, I really will be sad to see it go. if I could keep it and buy my next car I would.

[E46CSL+E92M3]

Mitch, i had this once with an old S1 RST..... i had just sold it in principle also to make way for a three door cosworth, the last few weeks i had it, it went great...... then blew up, the moral of the story is, let it go now before it blows!

Best of luck.

Ross

[RichBurley]

Cold air, almost certainly. Do you currently have an after market system, with a duff cold air feed? If so, then it might seem strangled in summer, and work much much better by comparison when the air gets cold. Just a thought...

Edited by RichBurley on Tuesday 2nd October 09:04

[clonmult]

RichBurley said:

Cold air, almost certainly. Do you currently have an after system, with a duff cold air feed? If so, then it might seem strangled in summer, and work much much better by comparison when the air gets cold. Just a thought...

Thats more likely - cooler, slightly damp air, and the car definitely pulls better.

My 318iS pulls a fair bit stronger (wouldn't say 50bhp though!) - comparing driving it back home in the early hours of the morning to say, what it was like when we had the occasional hot spell, its totally night and day.

Still reckon it'll need a remap though.

[900T-R]

You do know that engines always go like the clappers right before they blow up?

[peaktorque]

I bet as it was it was a cold night you didn't have the power sapping Air-con. on .

[MitchT]

RichBurley said:

Do you currently have an after market system, with a duff cold air feed?

Car is 100% standard.

clonmult said:

Thats more likely - cooler, slightly damp air, and the car definitely pulls better.

I was always under the impression that it was cold, crisp, dry air that engines loved best.

peaktorque said:

I bet as it was it was a cold night you didn't have the power sapping Air-con. on .

I've experimented with air con on/off and the difference is barely noticable.