vkick

I wouldn't call this a real race, but after yesterday night, I was impress with a bimmer's handling since I never experienced all the bimmer hype.

So the light turned green on this two lane 35 mph speed limit road, where I was positioned on the left lane. I gently gassed my TL with the assistant of gravity to push me to the speed limit. As I was approaching an intersection, which ends the downhill run; I noticed a 2004-2006 5-series. The 5-series wanted to make a right into the right hand lane. I flew by him.

Soon the 5-series caught up to me, and we were about neck and neck. as we were approaching a 25 mph left turn. I would usually take that turn about 40 - 45 mph at night for fun. There was no other cars in sight. We both sped up as we entered the turn. I was taking the turn about 40 mph, but the bimmer continued to accelerate through and out of the turn. It was gone.

I was impressed on how the 5-series took the turn because one time my friends and I had a friendly mountain racing day, and one of my friends invited his co-worker with a 2003 M3. The M3 was just not able to keep up with me on the twisty turns. He took all the straights fast, but when it came to the turns, he was just too slow.

erick3

was it lowered? maybe aftermarket coilovers...
what series number was it? 550...comes with some adaptive blah blah suspension like on the supercharged range rovers (sorry, all i could think of!)

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

lol on the street I think it's more about how brave you are.

berite100

your co-worker with the m3 needs to learn how to drive. or give up that car and get a minivan.

vkick

it was definitely NOT a 550. He did have some black aftermarket rims, but they were small, so I'm assuming it was a 525. The rest of the car looked and sounded stock.

Syed

525 shouldn't be a problem at all. 530 is a good competitor for the TL. I guess the driver had better traction. On twisties i have taken my TL to about 60mp/h to the limit and it handles pretty well but one little bump can screw me over. My tires are stock but almost new, i hardly drive it. You should be able to do better on twisties and if he takes off it should be easy to catch up to him. Most ppl are scared to catch up to a BMW because of its rep but i say do it. I have barely caught up to a 530 but its doable, anything after that don't even try unless you are loaded.

Costco

There's no hype. I wouldn't be surprised if that 5-series was bone stock. Adaptive suspension or not, BMWs are made to handle amazingly from the factory. Even the old E34 5-series had good handling. Unless you're on Ksports or something, I doubt a TL can outhandle an E46 M3... the guy probably just wanted to be careful with his car.

dr_brains510

my 07 TLS w/ 19s and low profiles handles curves up to 45-50 mph very smoothly....even beat a 545i w/ my car being stock...w/ a couple of mods...shouldn't be hard to keep up w/ or if not take a 550 (i'm being delusional but hey, anything can happen)

damnboy37

A 5 series (including M5s) cannot outhandle M3s.

damnboy37

at a 5 series going around corners faster than ,out of all 3 series, an M.


You are being delusional, but there are cars out there that are faster than Bimmers.

stylesinfinite

Definitely not hype. my friends 93 bmw 7 series handles amazingly and that's 10 years older than my car. Amazing driving machines, RWD is the shizzles.. only thing is they suck in snow and it rarely snows.. bimmer ftw

Syed

there is a reason why it costs so much more than an Acura.

BMW>Acura

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

nono, you should make that as BMW >>>>>> Acura...... in terms of price

Go90go

Yes, the reason is they cram so many electronics in there that after hitting a speed bump half the wires short. I hit a pothole in my old 3 series and the door panel popped off.

~Cheers~

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

^ that's funny yet sad hahaha

sifuacura

iTrader: (1)

remember kids, A comes before B =)

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

^ excellent point

FiveLiterCheater

The funny thing is the 3G TL-S can put .91G on the skidpad.

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

^ wasn't it 0.93?? still impressive IMO!

bibledriver

M3 would smoke a TL on turns. Bad driver. TL and 5 series I am sure is a good match. And you would have to purchase a pricey 5 series to compete with the TL, including finish.

dr_brains510

so the higher the skid pad number, the better it handles?

Go90go

Yes. There was a Civic that some magazine modded that was able to grab 1.01G on the skidpad, IIRC. They had it next to an article about a Viper grabbing .93G.

~Cheers~

540idinan

bmw FTMFW!! sorry it slipped but im trading to a 3g tl pretty soon

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

wow 1.01G on a civic? whoa impressive haha, do you have the link to it?

yea, skidpad number implies how much grip a car can generate (or its tires?) when running around a circle. Of course it's only one measure of handling, so IMO laptime is the best indication of the performance of a car.

dr_brains510

i was reading some car and driver articles and i saw that the TLS got higher skid pad numbers than the new G35, IS350, 335 even the SRT-8. That's pretty good for a FWD car.

F23A4

I am not sure about the .93 but Road & Track did record a .91. Skidpad has a bit more to do with tire adhesion than overall handling abilities. I lean towards slalom speeds for a good sense of a car's overall handling abilities.

Acura TL-S (also featuring the G35S vs IS350)
^^ The TL-S posted an impressive .91g with a 66.0 mph slalom speed. Notably, the IS350 only posted a .84g but slaloms at 66.7mph.

BMW 545i (featuring the M45 and GS430)
^^ The 545i posted a .89g with a 66.1 mph slalom speed

tomz_TL

I think it's pretty simple: rear wheel drive = better handling, all else being equal.

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

It was C&D that got the 0.93g.
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...re+page-5.html

0.91 or 0.93, that's still something to be happy about I guess.

The comment above is true for racing cars and high end sports cars/supercars.

FiveLiterCheater

I wonder what a TL with beefed up RSB and coilovers would pull?

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

just get some slick tires :P

bryant18787

dr.brains510 your being very delusional if you think a TL can take BMW 550i. My moms just got one with smg tranny aero package ect..... fully loaded 71,000 that thing flys especially wtih the sport button on

bryant18787

previously owned a 2005 530i and the 2008 550i is a totally a differn't car not even close to the 530i

dr_brains510

hey man a guy can dream can't he...i haven't encountered anyone with a 550i to race but like I said, I took my friends 545i stock vs stock and that is a beast (v8, 325hp i think)...but I know the 550i is WAY faster...maybe with the right mods, I might be in its vicinity...prolly even like a fender back...to bad I'm auto...btw, u should've had ur parents get the m6...my friend just got one with 5000 miles with $2000 down for $87000. He's paying like $1700 monthly. Now that I won't even mess with.

Costco

Its exactly that, skidpads measure the ultimate grip of the tires before breaking loose. Slamoms are determined by pretty much everything, how quickly and well a car can change direction, its roll control, tire grip, etc.

FiveLiterCheater

dr_brains510

^^ i know

540idinan

Im sorry, but there is no way that you beat a 545i in an automatic TL. Are you type s? If so, it would be a drivers race against a 540i, heavily favoring the 5. A 545i or 550i would completely walk you. A fair race in the 5 series for an automatic TL would be a 530i.
If there is any speculation that a 540i would pull on a TL or even TL-s, and want some friendly testing, PM me.

F23A4

Having driven a 545i (and 550i), it would obliterate any automatic TL...Type S or otherwise. Period. Now a well driven 6MT TL-S vs 545i would make for a very interesting race.

01clsstock

i raced a 545 from a roll he had 2 passengers i had 1. He pulled on me but it was pretty close i have i/h/e/p

540idinan

What are you driving? There's no shame in loosing to a 545i, their in a whole different league with a base price tag in the mid 50s.