Quote:
Originally Posted by RaceR
Yeah.. I was not that impressed with the fuel efficiency.. It was OK for a car of that age, weight and size.
Highways in my area are 50mpg. Most normal roads are 30-38mpg.. So not an issue with the gearing.
I would preferred to have some of the gears tighter. Especially 2nd and 3rd gear. The high poweband was quite narrow. Sometimes 1. gear would not go far enough, and 2nd gear would lack some juice because I was down at 3500-4000rpm at times.
BMWs fuel efficiency vs power makes them quite attractive. Not that BMW are better than their other german rivals on the typical engines here. But BMW sure knows how to make good engines. Its not just about looking at HP vs milage..
Here is a great chart to study which engines have recieved the "engine of the year awards". BMW have won a lot of titles!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interna...ne_of_the_Year |
50mpg? :O Are you still talking about the Spyder? I can get 55mpg if I'm driving 25mph lol, but at 50mph that goes down to 40.
Yea I think the 5 speed gearbox is the car's biggest fault. The gears are not tight enough, 2nd feels really weak because you have a ~3.2 => ~1.9 = 40% rpm drop, 2nd to third is a 30% drop. The 6 speed is much better even with the 4.5 final drive, closer ratios and 9% lower rpm in 6th gear. 3000rpm vs. 3300 is a big deal in a noisy car like this.
BMW definitely makes great engines, but they come at BMW prices :/