Hi there,

I just recently bought 530i (2008 model. 272HP, M aerodynamics and sport suspension). Its stated acceleration from 0-100km was 6.3/6.4 sec.
But i couldn't do any better than 7.8 sec and averaged 8 sec in a straight and dry lane (closed all windows, engaged kickdown and sport mode).
The car is new (3500km mileage), changed motor oil after reaching 3000km (Castrol EDGE).
The car is prepackaged to be used in countries with low quality fuel (could this be the reason?), but I use the best fuel available here locally (which is really good).

I am not an expert in the field, but I wanted to know from you folks about the reasons for such a problem and ways to fix the issue...

 

I've found my 0-60 times are much improved if I shift vs. letting the automatic do it for me, even in Sport mode.

 

You won't be doing the 0-100kmh technique that the drivers that record the published times do. They don't care about the car and mistreat it, you care about your car I assume, so you'll never match the times.

 

Tried shifting manually - the acceleration almost didn't change. With DSC and DTC deactivated the most I could reach is 7.6 sec. There were me and my friend in the car (170 kilos in combo).
By the way I called up my friend who has 08 530xi to ask him what his acceleration is. He tried couple of times and was also unable to be faster than 8 sec in 0-100 acc.
Could the reason be that both of our cars were prepackaged for countries with poor fuel quality, so the engines were intently "de-tuned" or something else???

The reason why I started all this acceleration inquiry is the fact that I was really humiliated by how easily/effortlessly new Nissan Maxima 3.5 outrun me couple of days ago. It's a bit frustrating that when you buy a new car knowing it should give at least 6.5 sec and when the real test comes you just suck up.

 

If there's a "low fuel quality" option from the factory, then there are two ways (that I am aware of) that the option could have been implemented:

1) different software coding that runs retarded ignition timing maps (likely, since it's cheap to implement)
2) lower cylinder compression (unlikely due to cost of different pistons and/or heads and/or crankshaft).

Based on the physics law of "there's no such thing as a free lunch," either of these changes would result in lower engine output, so yes, you'd be down a bit on power and might not meet specs that are based on a "normal" engine.

For what it's worth....

 

Welcome - maybe your clock was slow! Give your 530 some break-in time and your acceleration times should improve.