RE: E46 328ci

[Dan Woodman <danwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Car & Driver (not always the MOST technically-accurate source) published an
article called "Chips Ahoy!" in their October 1999 issue about back-to-back
comparisons of chips.  They put the standard car on a chassis dyno,
installed a chip (or variety of them, depending on the car), and ran the car
on the chassis dyno again.

One of the cars was a 1999 328i (E46), with the Dinan chip.  Their
conclusion, "when we put the BMW on the dyno rollers, it didn't show any
horsepower improvement."  The top speed governor was removed (145 instead of
134), but any improvement came in the mid-range.  Apparently, Car & Driver
measured a .4 sec improvement in the 50-70 passing time.  

Based on this, I've decided against getting the Dinan setup for my E46 328i.
I don't consider a half-second 50-70 time improvement to be worth the money,
but that's my own opinion, not anybody elses.

You might want to check out the article on http://www.caranddriver.com.  It
appears to be thoroughly documented...

- - dw


- -----Original Message-----
From: Shane Sparkman [mailto:s_spark@domain.elided]
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 1999 7:36 PM
To: bmw-digest@domain.elided
Subject: Re: E46 328ci


I just bought the new 328ci and I am interested in getting the Dinan
chip(download) installed.  I'm wondering if this alone will make a
difference.  I have an automatic/steptronic transmission.  The cost of
the Dinan chip is  $499 plus labor.  Is this worth the additional 10
horsepower that it gives and the removal of top speed monitor of 124mph?

I would appreciate any opinions on this.
Shane
00 328ci

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