Am I the only one pissed at how slow the M20 is... Seriously

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

If i had an m5, i would debadge it.

Why? Nobody notices these older models anyway. I was at a gas station one day and an E39 M5 pulled in. The driver said mine must be re-badged as his was the first M5 (I'm not the only one who has experienced this). I said nothing but let the engine sound change his mind.

[ILoveMPower]

Why? Nobody notices these older models anyway. I was at a gas station one day and an E39 M5 pulled in. The driver said mine must be re-badged as his was the first M5 (I'm not the only one who has experienced this). I said nothing but let the engine sound change his mind.

Now thats what I like to hear, teach those E39 guys to keep their junk cars to themselves! :P

[Old F4 Pilot]

21mpg on my last tank here. 80% city, 20% highway. Not too bad for city driving.

After reading all of the responses on this thread I must have the best 1989, 12/88 manufacture date, E34, M20, 525i auto ever built! I get 22+ mpg city and 27.5mpg hwy and that is with spirited driving, (very seldom under 75mph). Sure the E34 is a heavy car, damn near 2 tons of high-quality German steel, and only 168hp, but I think that your problem may be with an automatic transmission that shifts between 4500 & 5000 rpm, as mine does. The tranny is set to shift at, or near to the torque peak of the engine for maximum fuel efficiency and smoothness. I found out early on that to gain maximum performance out of the M20, E34, you need to manually shift the trans. I shift mine at 6200 rpm and the performance difference is astounding! If you want to pass anyone at 60~65 mph, you have to manually downshift. I hold 3rd gear to about 5000~5500 rpm and that's good for about 100 mph! My car has the 4.27:1 differential and in D, or overdrive, 3000rpm is about 80 mph. Bottom line, the M20 engine starts to "come on the cam" as you pass about 3800 rpm, up to 5800~6200 rpm. And by the way guy's, I have 316,000+ miles on my M20, E34 and it's ALL ORIGINAL! I have the Energizer Bunny, it keeps going and going and going..........

[stu1]

Man, is that the highest mileage here I wonder?

[DaveVoorhis]

The tranny is set to shift at, or near to the torque peak of the engine for maximum fuel efficiency and smoothness.

Is that with the kickdown switch engaged? When I had an M20 525i, it shifted rather conservatively with the throttle floored but the kickdown not engaged. Engage the kickdown switch, and it shifted at redline all the way up.

[Alexlind123]

And by the way guy's, I have 316,000+ miles on my M20, E34 and it's ALL ORIGINAL!

Heh...i would like to see your thrust arm bushings.

[SC David]

Is that with the kickdown switch engaged? When I had an M20 525i, it shifted rather conservatively with the throttle floored but the kickdown not engaged. Engage the kickdown switch, and it shifted at redline all the way up.

That's how my car is. I rarely use the kickdown function. Only for emergency manuevers. Just plain flooring it will get it to near redline. I don't like using the kickdown function though...the car feels too stressed out once it passes 5.5k rpms. On spirited drives I prefer to keep it in 2nd gear, which it uses all the way up to about 55mph. For around town driving, the car almost never needs to go above 4k rpms, unless I'm trying to accellerate more quickly than normal. But when I keep it above 3k rpms on spirited drives, it feels like an entirely different car. Plus the sound is AMAZING when you're getting near redline. It always reminds me of the sound in the videos of E34 M5's on the Nurburgring or other tracks.

[mamilapon]

That poor engine is going to have a hard life!!!lol

[DaveVoorhis]

That poor engine is going to have a hard life!!!lol

That's what an engine is for. Fix it, drive it, break it, repeat ad infinitum.

[genphreak]

Best way to make sure it is not AFM+ICV+O2 sensor etc is to rip that ol' motronic out and put in a MegaSquirt. Defiantely you will see an extra 10% in liveliness, better consumption without a doubt and you will be able to meter and adjust it. All of us will be doing this before as we realise how much more we are paying in fuel bills these days...

And if 10% is not enough, you cna then add a turbo VERY cheaply as it all the electronics are there and ready for the change. Its cheap to do too, prolly about as much as a new AFM, O2 sensor and a set of useless new tail lights.

Nick