Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Yep definetely. Fair enough they cost a shit load nowadays but one day they will be affordable. In the US they are unbelievably cheap.

Dad's is an 09 335i coupe with the M sport package and the 7 speed dual clutch paddle shift transmission.

The thing handles like you wouldn't believe and in complete stock form can pretty much smoke anything off the line (without even using the launch control).

From factory they are heavily detuned running lowish boost. The most I have seen on E90post is close to 300rwkw out of the factory twin turbos and 11 second pasess.

Absolutely fantastic engine the N54.

Yes but they also make mince meat of their diff's, massive issues in that area.

They are NOT cheap to tune/chip due to the ECU used, nor is a proper fix for the diff if you do start modifying it.

Not really a "tuners" car IMO. Anything that uses the Bosch ECU's isn't simply due to the excessive costs.

Dropped hard in price though, friend of mine lost 45-50k on his in 18months, brought it new lol

I didn't think the tunes were that bad given what kind of car it is. Vishnu Procede seems to be the pick and really wakes the car up. Or if you don't want to have warranty issues, you can go one of the BMW Performance tuning packages.

Yeah the diff is the worst part about it when you start pushing big power, however there are aftermarket options available so it aint really a biggy.

Dad bought his as a demo with hardly any km's, saved like 30k lol.

cars that rowan is waiting on a price plummet to tune:

Lexus SC430 - the Z40 soarer, whipple supercharger on a vvtL-i 4.3ltr V8.

dont care what you say. they look BAWSSS.

p21.jpg

Lexus LS400 - UCF21 celsior, again... a supercharger kit / 2JZgte swap and you're set.

ucf21_dumped_no005.jpg

vlene-ex-ucf20g-fimg.jpg?w=468

personally i don't like the idea of the XR6T being the next "tuner" car...

"tuner" cars need to have some sort of a "cool"... and i hate to say it but the XR6T is just /not/ that "cool"

even euro fans can admit that a 9sec street legal GTR is cool...

...you'll never get a euro fan saying that falcons are "cool" though..

It looks like it's turning out to be the Evo 8, 9, 10.

Powerful RWD are getting VERY thin on the ground after 2001. I wouldn't think a BMW in Australia would become a tuners car. Maybe a flash and exhaust but that's about it. Too expensive and they tend to have all sorts of problems after a few years (when they are finally affordable for the tuner).

Well so what are we discussing here? I thought we were talking about the cars of todays era, that one day will be popular to modify when their price goes down.

Skylines were hardly cheap when they first came out ($60,000+ for a GTST, $100,000+ for a GTR).

Also modern cars don't need you to 20 mods just to get 50% more power over factory. A slight flash tune, exhaust and intake upgrade is usually all that is needed out of any modern V8 or turbocharged car.

Personally, "tuners" cars aside, i'm looking forward to second hand supercars prices coming down in 10 or so years time. Something like a 05 F430 or a 03 Murcielago dropping to around $100,000-$150,000 will make them very realistic to own.

Agreed!

I like the darkish (black, silver, grey) hue's on them. Or white. Not a fan of all the "flash" colours on them. Sure they look good in photos, but to actually drive around in a lime green Murcielago i'd feel like a toss.

Also modern cars don't need you to 20 mods just to get 50% more power over factory. A slight flash tune, exhaust and intake upgrade is usually all that is needed out of any modern V8 or turbocharged car.

What N/A V8 will give you 50% more power with just those mods?

I think PM-R33 was more talking about BMW 335i/135i or Golf Gti/Golf R, etc. Indeed these do get big power increases (although 50% may be a stretch). Perhaps a BMW might become a tuners car but when I touched on the expense of these I was not really talking about the 2nd hand purchase price rather I was touching on the costs of aftermarket parts and the lack of affordable true performance upgrades (and issues of HEAT!) and repair costs of broken components....plus do they even come with manual locally??? Although with time a bigger market will cause costs to decrease. German cars aren't exactly known for giving away parts though (I should say this goes for the entire German manufactured industry....they love consumable parts!!!). Perhaps it is a case of "build it and they will come" like the USA market, or chicken and the egg.

I'll stick with my opinion that it will be Evo (8/9/10), Falcon XR6 Turbo and derivatives and add WRX Sti (these need mods like a hooker needs money) and Golf Gti/R. Essentially anything with a turbo it seems :)

Yes, I know the Gold Gti is German but the manual option pips the BMW auto-only affair for the tuner market.

oohh....and for the rich who may dream of owning an "affordable" Lamborghini ....well that seems to be an oxymoron. I'm pretty sure they will have supercharged M3's and a chipped C63 as more affordable tuner cars.

Edited by simpletool
Personally, "tuners" cars aside, i'm looking forward to second hand supercars prices coming down in 10 or so years time. Something like a 05 F430 or a 03 Murcielago dropping to around $100,000-$150,000 will make them very realistic to own.

A friend bought a F360 in London for something like 50,000 pounds last year. I wouldn't say it is affordable though, the running costs and depreciation if you actually drive it outweigh servicing the debt on the purchase price. As for waiting another few years I think you'd find the upkeep ridiculous. Like running 10 x cheap R32 GTRs.

Edited by simpletool

What N/A V8 will give you 50% more power with just those mods?

I didn't really mean it literally, just trying to make a point. Yes 50% was a bit of an exageration for most cars. However some get close, 335i from around 188rwkw stock to 270rwkw can be achieved with basic intake/tune mods (on E85 or with water meth 290-300rwkw) BF XR6T is similar with even bigger increases. But yeah, I more so ment with modern cars a bit of a tune and exhaust/intake mod is all you ever need to do as the power increase is substantial and for most people more than enough to use in a nice comfortable package.

...rather I was touching on the costs of aftermarket parts and the lack of affordable true performance upgrades (and issues of HEAT!) and repair costs of broken components....plus do they even come with manual locally???

Yeah you can get manual locally however most are the normal paddle shift autos, however the 7 speed dual clutch is what most people want (but is a large cost). It really is fantastic though.

See with the afterkmarket parts thing I don't think it is all that bad. Sure in Australia the prices are extreme, but that is because there isn't a big enough market. You look at prices in the US/UK or Europe and it aint really that different to parts for a new Commodore/Falcon here. Also these type of cars are new, so parts will always be expensive and not much choice relative to parts for a 20 year old car. Think about the R35 GTR, parts are very expensive for it at the moment, yet I bet when the R32 GTR was new, parts for that would have cost even more so.

Also with the heat thing BMW Performance actually make a performance package which includes a bunch of cooling gear and retune to get more power very safely. Esentially that is the difference between the 2011 model 335i N54 and the 2007-2009 model 335i. The 2011 has this package on it. (The 2010 model single turbo N55 engine has been dropped and they have gone back to the N54 - long story lol).

oohh....and for the rich who may dream of owning an "affordable" Lamborghini ....well that seems to be an oxymoron. I'm pretty sure they will have supercharged M3's and a chipped C63 as more affordable tuner cars.

Oh definetely, there really is a bunch of great cars made over the last 5-10 years that I am looking forward to coming down in cost and having a good choice from.

  • 2 weeks later...

On a recent trip to USA I noticed a lot of the toyota related "Scion" cars modified

troy-5axis-scion-tc-014.jpg

I also see that one of the hsots of USA top gear is driving one of these on the drift circuits (nice to see an s13 cleaning up there)

Problem I have with XR6T's and LS1's is the handling YUCK! Once you start driving a skyline its very hard to go back steering and handling wise!

Have you driven the Evo 7/8/9? I've heard a similar story about Evo vs Skyline...but haven't driven an Evo yet.

Although, I vote for the XR6T due to price/performance ratio...(it should be cheaper soon)

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Update 3: Hi all It's been a while. Quite a lot of things happened in the meantime, among other things the car is (almost) back together and ready to be started again. Things that I fixed or changed: Full turbo removal, fitting back the OEM turbo oil hardlines. Had to do quite a bit of research and parts shopping to get every last piece that I need and make it work with the GT2860 turbos, but it does work and is not hard to do. Proves that the previous owner(s) just did not want to. While I was there I set the preload for the wastegates to 0,9bar to hopefully make it easier for the tuner to hit the 370hp I need for the legal inspections that will follow later on. Boost can always go up if necessary. Fitted a AN10 line from the catch can to the intake hose to make the catchcan and hopefully the cam covers a slight vacuum to have less restrictive oil returns from the head and not have mud build up as harshly in the lines and catch can. Removed the entire front interior just shy of the dashboard itself to clean up some of the absolutely horrendous wiring, (hopefully) fix the bumpy tacho and put in LED bulbs while I was there. Also put in bulbs where there was none before, like the airbag one. I also used that chance to remove the LED rpm gauge on the steering column, which was also wired in absolute horror show fashion. Moved the 4in1 Prosport gauge from sitting in front of the OEM oil pressure gauge to the center console vents, I used a 3D printed vent piece to hold that gauge there. The HKB steering wheel boss was likely on incorrectly as I sometimes noticed the indicator reset being uneven for left vs. right. In the meantime also installed an airbag delete resistor, as one should. Installed Cube Speed premium short shifter. Feels pretty nice, hope it'll work great too when I actually get to drive. Also put on a fancy Dragon Ball shift knob, cause why not. My buddy was kind enough to weld the rust hole in the back, it was basically rusted through in the lowermost corner of the passenger side trunk area where the wheel arch, trunk panel and rear quarter all meet. Obviously there is still a lot of crustiness in various areas but as long as it's not rusted out I'll just treat and isolate the corrosion and pretend it's not there. Also had to put down a new ground wire for the rear subframe as the original one was BARELY there. Probably a bit controversial depending on who you ask about this... but I ended up just covering the crack in the side of the engine block, the one above the oil feed, with JB Weld. I used a generous amount and roughed up the whole area with a Dremel before, so I hope this will hold the coolant where it should be for the foreseeable future. Did a cam cover gasket job as the half moons were a bit leaky, and there too one could see the people who worked on this car before me were absolute tools. The same half moons were probably used like 3 times without even cleaning the old RTV off. Dremeled out the inside of the flange where the turbine housing mates onto the exhaust manifolds so the diameter matches, as the OEM exhaust manifolds are even narrower than the turbine housings as we all know. Even if this doesn't do much, I had them out anyways, so can't harm. Ideally one would port-match both the turbo and the manifold to the gasket size but I really didn't feel up to disassembling the turbine housings. Wrapped turbo outlet dumps in heat wrap band. Will do the frontpipe again as well as now the oil leak which promted me to tear apart half the engine in the first place is hopefully fixed. Fitted an ATI super damper to get rid of the worn old harmonic balancer. Surely one of the easiest and most worth to do mods. But torquing that ARP bolt to spec was a bitch without being able to lock the flywheel. Did some minor adjustments in the ECU tables to change some things I didn't like, like the launch control that was ALWAYS active. Treated rusty spots and surface corrosion on places I could get to and on many spots under the car, not pretty or ideal but good enough for now. Removed the N1 rear spats and the carbon surrounding for the tailpipe to put them back on with new adhesive as the old one was lifting in many spots, not pretty. Took out the passenger rear lamp housing... what do you know. Amateur work screwed me again here as they were glued in hard and removing it took a lot of force, so I broke one of the housing bolts off. And when removing the adhesive from the chassis the paint came right off too. Thankfully all the damaged area won't be visible later, but whoever did the very limited bodywork on this car needs to have their limbs chopped off piece by piece.   Quite a list if I do say so myself, but a lot of time was spent just discovering new shit that is wrong with the car and finding a solution or parts to fix it. My last problem that I now have the headache of dealing with is that the exhaust studs on the turbo outlets are M10x1.25 threaded, but the previous owner already put on regular M10 nuts so the threads are... weird. I only found this out the hard way. So now I will just try if I can in any way fit the front pipe regardless, if not I'll have to redo the studs with the turbos installed. Lesson learned for the future: Redo ALL studs you put your hands on, especially if they are old and the previous owners were inept maniacs. Thanks for reading if you did, will update when the engine runs again. Hope nothing breaks or leaks and I can do a test drive.
    • No those pads are DBA too  but they have colors too. I look at the and imo the green "street" are the best.
    • I’m not sure what happened I told them about sonic tunes free OTS tune and the next the I know .. I was booted..   To funny 
    • Yea - I mean I've seen my fuel pump which is decades old and uh, while I'm not saying this with real knowledge... but I sure get the ick at using anything in the fuel system that produced the state of that pump. Many years ago I went through multiple pumps (and strainers) before I dropped the tank to clean it out with extreme violence. I'm talking the car would do maybe 50km before coming to a halt, which resulted in me cleaning out the filter with some brake cleaner and going on my way. None of my stuff ever looked like what came out of your fuel tank. I don't think I'd be happy with it unless every single component was replaced (or at least checked/cleaned/confirmed to be clean here).
    • I'm not going to recommend an EBC pad. I don't like them. Just about anything else would suit me better. I've been using Intima pads for a while now.
×
×
  • Create New...