Miata Mailing List: December 1998, Message #2320

    (sorry about the previous mime encoded message.  I just upgraded my home
system and reinstalled everything.  Missed that check box.  I should know
better. )


    Got a chance to swap cars for test drives this week.  A friend of mine
just purchased a red 1998 BMW M3.  After 5,000 miles on the clock he brought
it in and had it 'upgraded' with a Dinan package that includes a 6.5psi
supercharger, bigger injectors, modified ecu, Koni adjustable shocks, bigger
sway bars, bigger exhaust, strut tower braces and probably a few other
things I didn't notice.  The end result is a 3,200 lb sedan with 350 hp and
349 ft-lb of torque.

    This car was incredible.  I admittedly don't have a lot of experience
driving semi-exotic' high performance cars, but I just didn't expect that a
car could be this good.  It is solid as a tank.  I took it though a older
residential section with uneven pavement, train tracks, and potholes and the
ride was way better than any american luxury car I've ever driven.  (and I'm
told it rode even better before the suspension changes)

    I really expected the supercharger to ruin the car, especially with the
noise I've associated with superchargers.  The unit is extremely quiet, and
from the inside of the car you really have to listen to hear it, even at
high rpm.  It isn't intercooled; the way the inside of the engine
compartment looked, there probably isn't enough room.  At the very least it
would have added considerable complexity and expense.
    The unit looks like BMW installed it from the factory.  The only thing
that looked out of place was a cutout section in the top of the fan shroud
that exposed the blades.  (Not the place where you want to let your fingers
or necktie wander near.)  I'm not sure what the cutout accomplishes, perhaps
it allows circulation around the radiator?  The intake is located behind the
drivers headlight, so it isn't an induction issue.

    So whats it like to do 0-60 in 4.2seconds?  Suprisingly comfortable.
Take a sweeping corner at 130?  The supportive seats keep your butt in
place, the car stays flat and if not for the sideways G forces, grandma
probably wouldn't notice.  Quarter mile in the 13's?  Jams you back like
taking off in a jetliner.

    The only nit I found about the whole package was a dead spot near idle.
I killed the engine twice from a dead stop.  (To restart you have to turn
the car back to off, then recrank it) After you learn to raise the revs
slightly from a start the fun begins.  My first few blocks were gentle low
rev shifts.  This car drives around town like a kitten.  When you want
power, you press harder.  The powerband builds smoothly to redline, but by
the time your revs get past 4000 the tach needle is moving pretty quick.   I
hit the fuel cutoff quite a few times (in quite a few gears).   Unlike the
stock Miata fuel cutoff, the shutoff is very smooth.  The engine just sits
there and runs.  You know to shift because the acceleration has stopped.
The car is top speed limited by redline and gearing around 151 mph.

    The inevitable comparison with the Miata followed and ended rather
quickly when the aproximately $50,000 difference in price, 10 year
difference in build date and 150,000 miles on the drivetrain came up.   It
was like comparing a go cart to a learjet.  Pretty pointless.

    Brian Dore'
    Lafayette, LA