[DeTomaso] NPC: automotive journalism and manual transmissions
Rob Dumoulin
rob at dumoulins.net
Mon Feb 24 19:41:53 EST 2014
Garth, I can say this because I am a 25-year (3 and 7 series) BMW lover.
I agree with the auto comparison, but have to chime in that the fact that
even if you have a turbo 6 cylinder, you have a dog by this forum's
comparison. I looked at one as another project car and came to the
conclusion that the only way I would buy a 328 is if I did this to it:
http://www.e36v8.com/
Just sayin :)
Rob DuMoulin
904.476.8744
rob at dumoulins.net
www.kbsi.co
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rob-dumoulin/0/1b6/58
On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 6:41 PM, Garth Rodericks
<garth_rodericks at yahoo.com>wrote:
> That BMW auto might have felt nice on a test drive, but having
> purchased a 2011 328i with the auto (a concession to the wife), I can
> tell you for a fact it SUCKS!!!! I'm really sorry I bought this car!
> I loved my 5-speed 328i that preceeded this one. But the 2011 has not
> lived up to any of my expectations. It's a beautiful car, handles
> great, and stops on a dime. But, it is not a pleasure to drive! The
> throttle response delay in the drive by wire system is unacceptable and
> actually makes the car dangerous - you step on the gas to take off from
> a stop and nothing happens so you keep pushing the gas further, then
> the engine suddenly responds and the car lurches off the line - as my
> wife puts it, it's very "jerky" to drive. And the automatic
> transmission holds every gear several seconds too long, regardless of
> whether you're pressing the gas down to accelerate hard or just
> cruising at 30mph, or your in 'standard' or 'sport' mode! And, in
> 'sport' mode, the throttle input rate is different - the same throttle
> input should yield the same rpm from the engine, regardless of whether
> in 'standard' or 'sport' mode! Another dangerous situation as when it
> sport mode, applying a modest amount of gas causes the engine to
> respond like you've floored the accelerator - firmware updates have
> abated some of this issue, but not all of it.
> Anyway, there's nothing the dealer can or will do about it. It's not
> throwing any error codes, so there's nothing they can fix. And they
> won't replace the transmission as "it's the number one complaint
> received about the cars," and they can't do any ECU tuning to correct
> these issues either. The newer 328's and 335's now have a different
> transmission which doesn't seem to exhibit these issues on the loaner
> cars the dealer gives me when I take mine in. Sure wish I purchased the
> standard transmission!
> This is my 2nd and likely LAST BMW. And hopefully I won't own it much
> longer. Maybe it's time to find a nice used E46 M3, as I'll never by
> another new one.
> -Garth
> --- Original Message ---
> When I bought my 6 speed 2011 335is the dealer only had the
> dual-clutch auto on the lot for a test drive. It was actually very nice,
> I can see my next sporty-ish car having something like that and
> being perfectly happy.
>
> Since I buy new vehicles every 15 years or so, I've got time to see
> how it shakes out.
>
> I was bummed when Dan Neil's writing was not available in the
> LA Times any more, I do occasionally hunt out his stuff for a
> good read.
>
> --mike
>
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>
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-------------- next part --------------
Garth, I can say this because I am a 25-year (3 and 7 series) BMW
lover.
I agree with the auto comparison, but have to chime in that the fact
that even if you have a turbo 6 cylinder, you have a dog by this
forum's comparison. I looked at one as another project car and came to
the conclusion that the only way I would buy a 328 is if I did this to
it:
[1]http://www.e36v8.com/
Just sayin :)
Rob DuMoulin
904.476.8744
[2]rob at dumoulins.net
[3]www.kbsi.co
[4]http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rob-dumoulin/0/1b6/58
On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 6:41 PM, Garth Rodericks
<[5]garth_rodericks at yahoo.com> wrote:
That BMW auto might have felt nice on a test drive, but having
purchased a 2011 328i with the auto (a concession to the wife), I
can
tell you for a fact it SUCKS!!!! I'm really sorry I bought this
car!
I loved my 5-speed 328i that preceeded this one. But the 2011
has not
lived up to any of my expectations. It's a beautiful car,
handles
great, and stops on a dime. But, it is not a pleasure to drive!
The
throttle response delay in the drive by wire system is
unacceptable and
actually makes the car dangerous - you step on the gas to take
off from
a stop and nothing happens so you keep pushing the gas further,
then
the engine suddenly responds and the car lurches off the line -
as my
wife puts it, it's very "jerky" to drive. And the automatic
transmission holds every gear several seconds too long,
regardless of
whether you're pressing the gas down to accelerate hard or just
cruising at 30mph, or your in 'standard' or 'sport' mode! And,
in
'sport' mode, the throttle input rate is different - the same
throttle
input should yield the same rpm from the engine, regardless of
whether
in 'standard' or 'sport' mode! Another dangerous situation as
when it
sport mode, applying a modest amount of gas causes the engine to
respond like you've floored the accelerator - firmware updates
have
abated some of this issue, but not all of it.
Anyway, there's nothing the dealer can or will do about it. It's
not
throwing any error codes, so there's nothing they can fix. And
they
won't replace the transmission as "it's the number one complaint
received about the cars," and they can't do any ECU tuning to
correct
these issues either. The newer 328's and 335's now have a
different
transmission which doesn't seem to exhibit these issues on the
loaner
cars the dealer gives me when I take mine in. Sure wish I
purchased the
standard transmission!
This is my 2nd and likely LAST BMW. And hopefully I won't own it
much
longer. Maybe it's time to find a nice used E46 M3, as I'll
never by
another new one.
-Garth
--- Original Message ---
When I bought my 6 speed 2011 335is the dealer only had the
dual-clutch auto on the lot for a test drive. It was actually very
nice,
I can see my next sporty-ish car having something like that and
being perfectly happy.
Since I buy new vehicles every 15 years or so, I've got time to see
how it shakes out.
I was bummed when Dan Neil's writing was not available in the
LA Times any more, I do occasionally hunt out his stuff for a
good read.
--mike
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Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
DeTomaso mailing list
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References
1. http://www.e36v8.com/
2. mailto:rob at dumoulins.net
3. http://www.kbsi.co/
4. http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rob-dumoulin/0/1b6/58
5. mailto:garth_rodericks at yahoo.com
6. mailto:DeTomaso at poca.com
7. http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com
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