E39 525 TDS TOURING (1997): Scarse acceleration

yeeeees, there is a bit of a lack of power in my old 520 too it hardly moves at all when cold still I love it and have adapted to the more "economical" style of driving

If you want to go fast, start with a 535

The Mondeo is lighter and has a four cylinder engine which might well be tuned to produce more torque at low revs.

It is geared for exceptional economy in the high gears - not performance.

BMW sixes are designed to rev, so drop a couple of gears - you'll find it really starts pulling at about 3000 rpm and will be happy right the way up to the red line. Many four cylinder engines are rough and noisy if you do this...

Agreed. Give it some revs, then it will go!

Your comparing a gasoline engine to a diesel one. Not entirely fair at low revs.

The turbo kicks in at about 2,000 RPMs. If you want quick acceleration, try to shift a bit later, so that the next gear engages at 2,000 or over. Don't be afraid to let it roar; the 6 cylinder diesel sounds great.

This is a small diesel engine with a turbo in a fairly large car.

The turbo will not operate much below 2,000 rpm, so compared with a 2.0 16V Ford the following effects will be noticeable: -

Heavier car. Diesel not petrol. Turbo not operational at low rev's. Higher gearing (Fords are notoriously undergeared).

So IMHO this is correct operation.

If you want to accelerate quicker change down (e.g. to third).

Next time ge the auto where this will happen automatically.

Hi Alberto,

I purchased a 1998 model 525TDS in 2001 with 60,000Km, it now has

195,000Km. This engine came before the much higher powered 2.5 and 3 litre engines. The 2.5 TDS has 144bhp, the multi-valve, common rail injenction 2.5 has over 160bhp and more torque further up the rev range. The TDS is only 2 valve per cylinder so will not respond higher up the rev range as the newer cars do. I brought the car for comfort, longevity and good highway fuel consumption..which so far it has delivered!

In my experience the car is noisy and slow when cold, I soon learned it was not a good idea to try joining a fast road before the engine has warmed up. A work collegue has the newer engine which is much faster but he has had a lot of problems with it..the TDS has been around in the E34 model before and is much steadier and more durable by all accounts. I believe there are aftermarket 'chipping' available but in my opinion its best to use a car as it was meant to be used...I even swapped the 17 inch wheels for the orginally specified 15",,which probably tells you a lot about the way I drive!

good luck

David

So what do you do? Sit on the M25 slip road with the engine running for 20 minutes?

Oh, hold on, that's actually possible, if not inevitable, on most M25 slip roads.