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      01-10-2019, 11:16 AM   #38
RM7
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Drives: Camaro SS 1LE
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Quote:
Originally Posted by N54Yankee View Post
Interesting that you hamper the N20 car with an auto but give your choice a stick. I'll take a row your own box with the N20 to make it a more fair comparison.
With the conundrum you pose I would choose the turbo 4 car. Lighter power plant for less weight on the nose, more hp and that lovely TQ at lower rpm and over a wider part of graph therefore more usable. It also comes on quicker to get one out of those tight switchback turns you put us on. It doesn't have to spin as fast to make even more useable power.
For a more nostalgic leisurely drive I would take the E30.
That said, neither of those cars would be high on my list of BMW's to run on a curvy back country road. I prefer V8's or FI I6's. The only 4 cyl engines I've owned ride on two wheels.
Adding fuel to the fire, the response in sport or sport+ on the N20 is fine, I liked that engine when using that setting, and that's not about the turbo, just the throttle response and mapping. Again, massive difference to my WRX that used the same size engine and turbo, because the WRX was piping a bunch of exhaust all over the place to eventually reach the turbo, rather than just tapping right off the valves like the N20. The N20 is engineered to give early and flat torque, the EJ205 was not. Running the air conditioner in the 205 sometimes would cause the car to have to have terrible lugging in 2nd gear around uphill mountain curves. Shifting to first is usually unheard of for such turns, but at 2000 rpm, you couldn't climb out of 2nd. Going back to the throttle mapping and response, after driving in all different modes and looking at what the RPM and gears were, I attribute the response more to this than any "turbo lag" issue.
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Current: 2018 Camaro SS 1LE, 2023 Colorado ZR2. Former: BMW 428i Gran Coupe.
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