How Can I Achieve Mid-Range Blast Off?

[CBLW]

Hi all,

So I've noticed an interesting phenomenon with my car. When I first bought it, a couple of my friends originally said to me, "Oh, the 135i... that's an awesome 0-60 car." Now I really didn't think anything of their comments at the time, because I just figured that they'd heard about the 1'ers insane 0-60 time, and were paying me compliments...

Now I'm not so sure.

While I absolutely LOVE burning people off stop lights from a standstill (I've honestly never been beaten off a light in my "one month of 1" ownership thus far), and I've read extensively about the car's "kick down" power on the OTHER end of the spectrum (though I've honestly never tried it, and I'm still not entirely certain how to achieve it), I AM curious about the 1's Mid-Range engine performance...

The car is clearly very powerful, and don't get me wrong, I NEVER have any trouble passing folks on the highway, or leading a pack of cars when I want to, but... I often find that if I'm doing about 60 or 70, and I want to really put the peddle to the medal and waste another car, I don't often get the same level of performance out of my car. Sure, it still leaps, and it reaches a high speed quickly, but the car isn't exploding the way that it does from a standstill.

Were my friends criticizing the car? Is the 1'er known as only a "0-60" novelty car? Is this simply a matter of not knowing how to properly handle my car yet? Can someone please teach me how to achieve greater mid-range highway burst?

Oh, and I drive an automatic with sport. Thanks!

[Gray135i]

I know in a manual you just downshift to 3rd and pray for no police as you romp on it.

[akak1997]

I don't have an auto 135 but the Z4 is an auto. There's a "button" at the bottom of the gas pedal. you push your gas pedal all the way to the floor and if you give it a bit more to overcome the "button"'s resistant, it'll downshift to the best gear for insane acceleration. hold it there until redline and like Gray135i said, hope to god there are no cops around. Oh, and hit the Sport button as well, but I'm sure you already did that.

[CBLW]

akak1997, will the button release immediately when I left my foot? My concern would be taking off like a rocketship and not being able to slow back down. lol Also, when you say "Sport button," I assume that you just mean push the car into sport mode, yes?

[akak1997]

all that button does is to force a downshift to the proper gear. if you let go of the gas, it'll just start cruising. and yes, I meant the sport mode button. Oh, and make sure you've enough gas, I can see the gas needle move when I'm WOT and running 2nd and 3rd all the way to redline.

[CBLW]

I almost wonder if this is what I've BEEN doing from a standstill to get the insane 0-60 times... Maybe I just never knew! If I can achieve the same performance while driving on the highway, then that would be sweeeeeet.

[subscience]

Another option would be to add in an aftermarket ECU tune.

[holo777]

How long have you had your car? It may be software induced lag your feeling on the highway. If you hit the kickdown point it should take care of it when RPMs come up.

[CBLW]

First off, thanks for the suggestion, but no way am I modding. I'm 27 years old and plan to get married sometime soon. I need this car to be worth something when I sell it :wink:

Also, FYI... I drive an American car, and at lunch, when I went outside, I got down on my hands and knees and tried to find this "kick down" button, I definitely saw nothing. Are we sure this button exists on American 1's?

[mistermojorizin]

Originally Posted by holo777

How long have you had your car? It may be software induced lag your feeling on the highway. If you hit the kickdown point it should take care of it when RPMs come up.

a year ago i tested a step 335i and a step 650i back to back - way before the lag. when the 650 would kickdown it was a kick in the pants. less than my C5 vette of course, but similar. When the 335 would kick down it would accelerate smoothly (i.e. slowly).

[CBLW]

...so you're suggesting the 1'er performs similarly to your latter example?

[gargoyal]

Warning: this post is based on butt dyno results, so take it with a grain of salt.

When I want to jump for 60-100 quickly (like passing on the freeway, I keep my RPM around 2500- 2800 (I do use 5th gear. I know a lot of people don’t). I also work my gas pedal, I don’t floor it. There is something about the stock tune where the throttle lags more when you floor it. There seems to be a sweet spot that if you push it fast, but not too fast, you will fly. It feels that the stock tune only wants you to accelerate so fast. If you try to go above what it wants. The ECU it seems the wait 0.5 secs before doing anything.

Note: staying at higher RPMS makes the car quicker and more responsive (IMO), but your MPG will suck.

[CBLW]

"Note: staying at higher RPMS makes the car quicker and more responsive (IMO), but your MPG will suck."

You mean, over time, your car will literally become quicker and more responsive?

[gargoyal]

Originally Posted by CBLW

"Note: staying at higher RPMS makes the car quicker and more responsive (IMO), but your MPG will suck."

You mean, over time, your car will literally become quicker and more responsive?

no, the stock tune appears to be more responsive when you open the throttle at 2500-2700 RPM vs 2000 RPM .

here is a baseline dyno:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14530&highlight=baseline+dyno

the torque is peaked but there is a lot of HP to be had. also the throttle seems to act different when you floor it.

After looking at the dyno I am going to play around 3000-3200 and see if im quicker (60MPH in 4th or 3rd gear ?) and up my shift point to 5400 ish . I just finished break in and its time to start pushing

[mistermojorizin]

Originally Posted by CBLW

...so you're suggesting the 1'er performs similarly to your latter example?

my point is that, while the 29.2 lag added to the problem, the cars didn't have that v8 explosiveness even b4 29.2.


also, as to using 5th gear for 60-100 blasts - I have an escort g-timer which can measure acceleration g-forces (it's like a computerized butt dyno). in the 60-100 range, the g-timer reads acceleration g's of almost 2wice as much in 3rd gear as opposed to 5th gear. Its something like .17g of pull in 5th and .33g of pull in 3rd.

4th pulls at about .25g.

[CBLW]

gargoyal, keep in mind, for point of comparison -- I drive an automatic so the gears are less relevant for me. I just need to learn my car's behavior I guess.

[mistermojorizin]

Originally Posted by gargoyal

also the throttle seems to act different when you floor it.

could this be perception? because it takes so little time to floor it, that you notice the car is not reacting. Whereas if you apply throttle gradually, you're foot is moving slower so it seems the car is reacting quicker. But in reality, from the time you first touch the throttle to the time you achieve maximum acceleration g's, the same amount of time passes.

i've been playing with this for a while.

[CBLW]

I still want to know if anyone else with an American automatic 135i has a "kick down" button. I don't see mine.

[mistermojorizin]

when you floor the throttle it kicks down. the kickdown switch is the lowest position of the throttle. (kick down just means shift to a lower gear, thus raising the rpms). If you don't floor it, it won't kick down.

or you can downshift using manual mode.

[jrc]

Originally Posted by CBLW

I still want to know if anyone else with an American automatic 135i has a "kick down" button. I don't see mine.

post of the day

[WhiteOne]

With the Step tranny you just floor it.(pedal to the metal) Mash it all the way down, till you feel the button under the pedal move and then just let the tranny do the shifting. Just point and shoot.

[gargoyal]

Originally Posted by mistermojorizin

could this be perception? because it takes so little time to floor it, that you notice the car is not reacting. Whereas if you apply throttle gradually, you're foot is moving slower so it seems the car is reacting quicker. But in reality, from the time you first touch the throttle to the time you achieve maximum acceleration g's, the same amount of time passes.

i've been playing with this for a while.

note my warning on my previous post.

Warning: this post is based on butt dyno results, so take it with a grain of salt.”

It is very possible, but I don’t think so. the rpms more right away when I push at the gas with the "right" level of force. when I floor it it seem to wait before reacting.