Anyone here played with the pedal mapping for better shifting? Sprint boosters?

I find the throttle lag annoying - it's also more noticeable on naturally aspirated V8s (540, 545, 550) which have weaker low-end torque. A paradox here is that diesels E60 has no noticeable throttle lag despite introducing a theoretical turbo lag, due to a different torque curve in low RPMs.

It's not so much the problem of taking off in 2nd gear when in D mode by default. What is more annoying is overtaking or accelerating from circa 40mph. You have to kick the throttle VERY deep to force the hesitating transmission to downshift from 5/6th gear to 3rd gear. No accelerating until you hit that spot and once you do, the car takes off like a rocket - too aggressive and often harsh. The lag frame is unnatural, acceleration is not smooth and probably embarrassing with passengers in the car. Doesn't happen always, but often.

I understand the reasons behind this new mapping introduced after E39 and E46 but at least it should be tweaked on 540/545/550 or other higher performance models for more enthusiastic customers. You're not buying a 300 horsepower car if your driving skills are like your grandmother's. No need for safe and constumption-wise throttle.

Everything is fine and mapping is great in DS mode but still, has anyone played with pedal-to-transmission mapping in D mode besides Sprint booster? I also heard it damages TPS after a while.

 

I just drive in DS most of the time unless I'm on the highway. There's always that lag in D but that's what we got DS for! If need be while im on the highway I'll throw the shifter over to DS and drop the gear down manually myself.

 

Sprint Booster v.2 with the Green light setting fixed my lag. The red light setting felt a little too touchy for my daily driver.

 

More noticeable than what?
Weaker low-end torque than what?

Not my experience - yes, improved by the fact that I have a manual transmission. My car pulls just fine off idle up to redline. The throttle mapping sucks on these cars from the factory, one of the reasons I very much like the Dinan software - it makes the throttle response linear and much easier to modulate.

Can't comment on your transmission issues.

 

Than on super/turbocharged petrol engines, or diesels, from my experience. Supercharged petrols and turbo-diesels torque blast at ±1700 RPM, while naturally aspirated engines deliver torque and performance in the upper 3000 RPMs.

Of course manual transmission is totally different in this regard.

But throttle mapping and auto-transmission shifts are related. The transmission doesn't downshift smoothly 1 gear down because the throttle jumps from (for example) 30% to 60% right away. As there is this hole, transmission downshifts 2 gears and the acceleration is neither useful nor comfortable in normal city driving.

How does DINAN software mod work? U buy some kit and upload it to your ECU on your own?

 

I agree with you on your other comments.

You know I didn't notice that you are in Euro-land. There might be an alternate product available. The Dinan software requires a dealer install.

They used to offer re-programmed transmission chips/software, which worked to more aggressively tune the automatic shifting - it doesn't look like that's the case any more.

 

Yep, Dinan is unfortunately not present in Europe as far as I know (if they are, they don't have anything for my particular 540i european LCI model anyway).