A lot has been discussed about this before right across the board including the petrol engines.

I am trying to find out specifically from 530D owners if they observe the following.

When in D mode driving along at town driving speeds, lift off the gas as you would if you were say waiting to make a turn or slowing down behind a slower car waiting for a gap to pass. The hit the gas as if you have now seen your chance to make your move.

Do you notice a huge delay between hitting the gas and the car responding? A delay big enough to think holly $hit am I going to make the gap?? The car seems to do nothing for a while and then surges ahead as the revs get above about 2000 rpm and turbo does it's bit.

This problem has been reported to BMW and they are looking at the issue to see if there is a solution. What I am trying to determine is if the problem is unique to here where our 3.0D's are detuned to 150Kw and we are at 1500m altitude or does the problem exist with every 530D regardless of country.

In D mode the revs are very sensitive to throttle position and so they drop very quickly when you lift off the gas, in DS mode the revs seem to be more damped and they dont drop as fast so the lag is only slightly less noticeable.

Our 3.0D X5 does not exhibit this behaviour.

Looking forward to your comments.

Streak

I don't have the slushmatic, but there is a pronounced surge of torque at 2000 rpm. fllor it at 1000, and not a lot happens for a little while, and then it's "oh my god, hang on".

Thanks for the reply BB530D.
I wonder why there is only one reply and from you who does not have steptronic!!

Either all the other 530D owners dont have the problem described or they are all away for Xmas holidays!!

Streak

Or we are on a different clock or we have better things to do on Christmas eve.

What you are describing sounds like regular turbo lag.

Get a tuning box and drive it in S mode and you'll be burning rubber as much as you can afford.

Or get the 535.

Or learn to drive.

Or wait til BMW come up with a cure for impatience.
:teehee:

Testy, testy Golfnut!!
At the rate the message was moving down the list it needed a gentle bump.

Yes I assumed it was turbo lag but did not expect it to be as severe as it is.

I have the Schnitzer ECU, only tuning option available here and it the lag is better in S mode but still there.

Would love the 535D but will not be available in this country.

I thought I knew how to drive, 10 years of M3 ownership with no electronics taught me that. The E60 Auto is a lot more forgiving.

All of us are so pationate about our E60's that 24 hours seems an eternity!!

Merry Xmas

Streak

Clearly golfnut has never been to SA - or he would realise they are on the same time zone!
Hi Streak , my car does not respond slowly, I think there may be a fault with yours.
Why are they detuned?
Get the dealer to check it out - or perhaps loan you a similar model for30 minutes. Good luck
Happy Christmas to all !

"Clearly golfnut has never been to SA - or he would realise they are on the same time zone!"

ROFLMAO

Thanks for the input Stu.
Our conditons here are not very turbo friendly. High temps. and high altitude. There were huge problems in the 320D when it came out and changes had to be made to prevent turbo failure.

This is why they have detuned (lower compression ratio I think) the 530D and why we will not get the 535D.

Also the lowest sulphur diesel we can get here is .05% and it's not available everywhere.

Hopefully BMW can come up with a fix. I love driving the car everyday it's just this lag issue which is very irritating.

Seasons Greetings.

Streak

Or organise a meet and greet and drive a few other cars..

On the other hand, that might not be the safest thing to do in SA.

Thanks Flowerfred. We dont have a large enough population of 530D owners to make this a possibility.

I would however like to know what your findings are with respect to the lag problem.

ISUK, Skaffa, OREO and others please let us have your comments.

Streak

Streak