Hi All, I'm new to the club and to Bimmers. I recently purchades a 2001 325xi with 18,000 miles. It's a wonderful car, but I am curious if there are any useful engine perfomance upgrades out there that club members recommend? My everyday driver is a Porsche 911 Carrera 4 (AWD) and while the 325xi is a great car, I'd like it to have a little more "get-up-and-go." Are there any useful chips or other engine upgrades that anyone would recommend or should I just leave it stock and use the 911 when I need some fun? Thanks! Brian
Chuck, I haven't done a BMW school yet, but I've been doing Porche Club of America driver's ed events for 10 years.
and +1. For "get up and go" you want torque, the more the merrier. Speaking as a fellow 325xi owner, it does not have buckets of torque, it will never have buckets of torque, and there is no bargain route to gain even modest dollops of torque. There are exactly three things you can cram under the hood of a 325xi to produce significant increases in torque: 1) some kind of forced induction, 2) a different motor, or 3) a great big wad of cash. (OK, so there's really only one thing.) That said...this is a very fun car. Learn the engine's torque curve, learn to keep it "on the boil" in the right rev range and you will find yourself--like me--routinely leaving more powerful cars in your wake, because your toolkit includes your brain instead of just your right foot. "Performance chips" for the M54 engines in the E46 325's and 330's are a waste of money IMO and that of many others. According to BMW tuner par excellence Steve Dinan himself: Emphasis mine. You need to change more than just engine maps to produce gains you can feel as well as measure. 18,000 miles--that's not a typo?! Lucky you! Now go make up for the prior owner's benign neglect and get out there and drive the wheels off it. I've logged nearly 12 times that and it's still a blast, every day.
Sorry CR, in my haste to reply to your post, my mind read CRKreiger as "Chuck." NotTheStig - Thanks for the info! That's what I thought. I figure sooner or later I'll need to drop in an M3 engine. I've seen a few ads for $300 chips claiming an extra 15 H.P., but I had my doubts. Heck, K&N claims ~8 extra H.P. just for their high-flow air filter. The stock car already has great torque and I already leave most other cars behind at the light. But it would be nice to have an extra 20 H.P. or so. I'd settle for a 6th speed on the stock car too. And yes, the 18,000 original miles was not a typo! Believe it or not, a little old lady owned the car before me. According to the Carfax, she only drove it 2,000 miles in the past 3 years! I already put more than that on it in 2 months.
Don't sweat it. I won't even give you much crap for spelling it wrong. The difference is that the chip stands a good chance of making that extra 15 with a few minor driveability or economy compromises. The K&N claims UP TO 8 hp. Please note that "up to" includes zero. A chip from a reputable tuner will work. The K&N is smoke & mirrors marketing.
Hello! Having an 05 330xi myself, I am very interested with the options available for our cars as well... That said, I have heard that you can overpower the all-wheel drive in the car, causing problms. I do have the dinan filter and chip, I notice some gains in power and throttle response, but I would not do it again. If anyone has any extra information on the all-wheel drive capabilities with power, please let me know. I wish you luck in whatever you decide to do, it is a great car to drive. William
