Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral Abysmal 0-60 Time

Ok, so I was bored last night and I've been wondering on what my beemer can do 0-60 wise.

I went on the by-pass heading to upton from bidston (so it was legal ) and got Izzy to time it for me.

The first attempt was 14.53, 2nd was 12.55, 3rd was 14.76, 4th was 16.36, 5th was 15.52 and the final attempt was 13.36. So 12.55 secs being my fastest time, I thought that was rather crap.

I think the car can do better if it had a better driver lol. When I was doing it, I had some problems with gear changes which I'm still unsure of how to overcome. So I was after a bit of advice.

It's what probably slows me down the most.
I can't seem to change and the exact time to get enough power into the next gear. The first few attempts I tried changing at about 5500 and I just kept loosing power as with most BMWs you do have to change quite early to prevent power loss in the higher revs. So then I started changing at about 4500 which got the power to continue smoothly.

The other thing with the gear changes is that I cant just go straight to the next gear, I have to take it out of gear into neutral and then put it into gear, I know that probably doesn't make sense as thats how you actually change gear, but I can't explain it any better lol. Any ideas on how to get around that?

If your serious you need to find your powerband (BMW forums should be able to help). Theres no point staying in a gear after its peak.

Sounds like a problem with your gearbox (syncromesh) if it wont go into gear.

What is the book time on your Beemer? 12secs is apauling your right, but it might be about right (I dont it tho)

A quick look found 12.7 secs for the 316i compact so with mine carrying more weight, It's about right unfortunately. It goes into gear, just not as quick or smooth as other cars I've driven. Aparantly, it's meant to have that "notchy" feel. Even other people have said to me, it's difficult to change gear quickly.

Can't seem to find any info on the e36 316i powerband.

As it's currently standard, I'm obviously looking to improve these times, so I'm after the cheapest and easiest way of increasing bhp.

Get a new car mate, that ones spending all the money in your wallet before you get the chance to open it

Power band is around 6400rpm

Practice matey thats all you need and YES your time should be quicker but dont forget your cars older then when it came out so the book fig want be the same as yours is now.

Was going to pop into the rock lastnight seen you there all alone at about 11pm.

Joe, Finding the optimum change point is hard as u need to find a medium between torque in 1st,and the torque you'd get if u changed into second. U want to rev it high in the lower gear but dont go too high as torque drops off at high revs.but u also have to get high enough so that ur in the strong torque section in the next gear when the clutch is re-engaged (pedal up)
12.55 is a good time IMO for a car THAT heavy with such little power,my old 1.4 scort done terrible 14 second 0-60,and a 1/4 mile of 19.5sec at 70MPH

You need to change at approx 6,500 or when you just enter the redline. Petrol engines have more BHP than torque typically so the higer the revs the better (Within Reason)......

On your gearchange your either panicing (Trying too hard) or you have a lazy clutch or faulty gearbox.

My old impreza done 0-60 in 3.9 Seconds and a quarter mile at 12.9 Seconds

Many a time i wouyld miss a gear when on the strip or testing my 0-60 times down to trying too damb hard

if ur going to trax they have a 0 to 60 timing thing there.i got 6.7 in my 2.0 corsa before i started the rebuild with the new mods an nos then it was silly quick.i managed to keep up with a pulsar gti.r which was tuned up to 270bhp i was about 10ft behind him from a standing start upto 100mph an that was with out the nos.god dam it i need another fast car

also you have to take into account wind/hills on this 0-60 time.

the best way imho oppionion is to get a good 0-60ft time, this will take loads off your time.

try and get a legal place to tst some other cars ie corsa 1.4, xr2i, and the likes as you will get a rough idea how quick your motor is.

for a 12.5 it is not bad for the age of the car

for some engines the redline is a safe rev limit for the internal parts of the engine, through time these rev limits change as in a xr2 cvh engine the safe redline is 5800rpm while the standard rpm redline is 6300rpm iirc. but this does depend on the condition of the engine.

So thats why it needs a clutch No wonder its making a funny noise, the poor little engine is shouting in protest!!

TBH I think they are pretty fair times, its quite a big car, and the 1.6 will struggle to get it all moving from a standing start

Plus, as Im sure others will confirm, BMW's really dont like being thrown through the gears quickly

Dont forget you should find out what the maximum power output at what revs is for your car.

For instance, everyone always says "redline it" or take it 6500, but for example in my RT (manual) I get maximum BHP @ 5750rpm. Going to 6500rpm would make no difference, in fact if anything it would slow the car down.

Do you have an air filter on Joe? This is one of the easiest ways to potentially increase brake and should make the engine more responsive and a bit faster no matter what if you get a decent brand performance air filter.

....or I can offer a free air box drilling option

lol, my mate done that in his 1.2 Clio, it sounded awful. I often mistook it for a dyson vacuum cleaner.

Its french - are you sure it wasnt actually Dyson powered

At the end of the day its a free mod, if you dont like it, you can always get another air box from a scrapper, put tape over the holes, or go and buy a cone filter :rolleyes:

It was a 2002 1.2 16v Extreme so i presume at that age it is a multipoint injection.

My car doesn't seems to sound any different.