Anyone notice hot weather = cooler engine?

[Swift135]

I took my car out today and the ambient temp was 40.5 deg, I have a performance steering wheel so I had the temps screen up. During my 1 hour drive, some traffic stop/start and some cruising up to 80km/h the oil temp never got above 103 deg and the coolant temp was about 78deg. Normally when driving in temps mid to high 20's the coolant temp hovers between 90-101 and the oil temp is around 112-115. I presumed the car picked up on the high ambient temps and cranked the water pump up and opened up the oil coolers to make sure there was no danger to the engine. Anyone else had a similar experience?

[d3syd]

Wow interesting observation. That's real cool (pun intended).

[kingtut1970]

Yep i confirm that - I dont have a performance steering wheel but keep an eye on my temp guage and saw today that the temp didnt get up to what it normally gets and surprisingly enough the car performed equally well in the humidity and heat some good engineering right there

[Breville]

I had a similar conversation with Andrew at SBM after my track day. My temps never got above 120 and normally run at 110ish around town. Track day was 30 odd.

[Alext]

I would like to say how suprised I am to find that the 135i appears to be only hampered to a relatively small degree by high ambient temperatures, compared to other turbocharged cars.

In some recent 38oC, high humidty weather I expected the car to be a bit of a dog, but it was still quite spirited.

[m7ammed]

Hello guys , I'm from Saudi Arabia and it gets as hot and even hotter here so this is reassuring to read that the 135i is performing well in hot weather in normal driving conditions. How about when the car is being pushed?

[aus135i]

Very good post, makes me love the 135 even more now :wub:

[takahashi]

Good post... now I find a reason to spend money on the steering wheel. Thanks Swift haha.

[Breville]

Originally Posted by adood84

Hello guys , I'm from Saudi Arabia and it gets as hot and even hotter here so this is reassuring to read that the 135i is performing well in hot weather in normal driving conditions. How about when the car is being pushed?

I did my track day in fairly hot temps and did 10 or so laps per session with no noticeable reduction in performance. Others have far more track time in the 135 than I and can probably comment too.