BMW 330d

Sssshhhh........

Neighbour of mine has had one for years - a 2001 auto. Sounds lovely once you ignore the dieselly clatter at idle.

Anyway - 287lbs of torque as standard, wonder what they will tweak to.

That'll go quite well.

Get a manual if you can- the auto boxes are known to go pop largely without warning..

Otherwise do it.

Tim.

Ok, noted.

Wanted a manual really anyway.

You're not helping. ;-)

Any idea what sort of average, as in, actually worked out rather than relying on a fuel computer, MPG they're getting from it?

Aye... the Passat was / is 273 lb/ft, and that went well enough.

Chap at work has one, remapped, on about 140k, with the tiptronic box. Apparently the tiptronic thing is useless, so it's just used as an auto. He seems very pleased with it - reportedly gets high 30's average, but in my experience he drives like a complete tosser everywhere, so I don't know how representative that would be.

Chuff. Mondeo only has 244 lb/ft and eats front tyres.

Very relevant to me. ;-)

Cheers.

Aye... that'll be down to it having an inferior front suspension setup, meaning torque steer is eating into the tyres.

Mine still has the original P6000 on the offside and its nowhere near worn out, despite my best efforts over the 10k covered since I bought it.

I only replaced the nearside due to a puncture.

"JackH" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Uh-huh...

So this is some parallel universe where they don't both use Mac struts, then?

No such thing on a BMW. Steptronic is the so called manual option on their torque convertor autos. SMG is their synchromesh auto - and I don't think it was an option on the 330d.

But you're right about the Steptronic being a waste of time - apart from making the gear selector less cluttered.

fairy muff. I know nothing about them - said bloke at work used the phrases 'tiptronic' and 'bag of s**te', along with 'goes like f@@k'. I quite fancy one, but suspect that they aren't terribly DIY-able. (?)

My complaint about Steptronic is it's meant to give manual selection - but overrides that if you go below or above the preset engine rev limits. And will only allow a start from rest in first or second. Third is much more use on a slippery surface. With a real manual you can labour the engine to your heart's content - or spend all all day on the limiter in any gear. If that's your wish. As you could on the older selector system before Steptronic. But for normal driving the Steptronic offers nothing over the auto selection as that's so good. So you tend to play with it when you first get it - like any toy - then forget about it.

It's not just about the struts though, is it... the front end suspension set up is a lot more involved on the Passat and the A4 / A6, meaning torque steer is virtually eliminated.

Works very well too, it's just more expensive / more of a PITA when it wears and needs new arms / bushes etc.

It can be useful for overtaking. If you see an opportunity coming up, it enables you to select a suitable gear beforehand so there is no delay when you put your foot down. Mike. .

The passat has a 4-link setup, which means that the wheel is constrained from moving forwards under acceleration (hence the resistance to torque steer) but it means that the camber of the wheel doesn't alter properly with suspension travel, hence the relatively poor grip/handling and bump-susceptibility (none-of which you believe in...) when compared to standard strut&wishbone based suspension.

In fact the passat suspension has a lot more in common with that of serious off-roaders than with properly designed road cars! :-p

I've got no reason to lie about it - it's not the 'bestest car in the world', but in my experience of it to date, it's not a bad one and one which doesn't perform as badly handling / suspension wise, as you continually like to imply.

SteveH didn't seem to have any problems with the handling on his B5 either, bar mentioning it felt a bit wallowy at times which was my experience with the B5 I had as well - the B5.5 Sport on the other hand has traction control and stiffer suspension which in turn has made for a car which IME, handles very well for a barge on all but the choppiest of back roads.

Perhaps you need to learn how to throw a car around properly rather than seemingly driving like a hamfisted tard and then blaming the car for your own piss poor skills, as I've only managed to get the front end to let go on this good and proper by taking the complete piss, i.e: lurching it violently into a roundabout by running widewith the traction control off and then yanking the steering whilst nailing the throttle.

Don't forget the equal length driveshafts, due to the longitudinal mounting of the engine and box. That resolves a whole multitude of sins.

The blue and white propellor badge on the bonnet ;-)