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Powerman, you sound more knowledgeable than me, however, my understanding of the 135i's "E-LSD" is this:
As you are exiting a corner, at the point where you would want to apply maximum power to the road, a car with a LSD senses which wheel has the most power and applies this power to that wheel. With centrifugal force forcing the car out away from the curve, the inner wheel typically has less traction and thus a LSD applies more power to the outer wheel. The 135i on the other hand, with it's "E-LSD", applies its power differently. Instead of simply varying the amount of power applied to each wheel, it brakes the inner wheel in order to apply more power to the outer wheel. I'm not sure whether this results in power loss as far as how much power is applied to the ground, but, the fact remains, that if a wheel which is sitting on the ground is being "braked" then the car must not be exiting the corner as efficiently as it would if more power were simply being applied to the outer wheel. On the plus side, given that the "E-LSD" would typically brake the inner wheel, it could perhaps result in an even tighter turning radius. By this I mean that because one wheel is braked the car could potentially pivot around the rear inner wheel much like a tractor with right and left side brakes. (ok probably not, it would be cool though)
All this being said, I could easily be wrong. I'm a 19 year old Geology/Political Science major who grew up on a farm so the workings of the "E-LSD" on the 135i are hardly my specialty.
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