BMW 330i Speed Limited?

competentone · 09-02-2006, 07:58 AM

Some friends of mine took delivery of a new BMW 330i in Germany. They put 2000 miles on it there (some of it on the Autobahn

) and are now waiting while the car goes through customs here.

One of the things they said is being done to it during importation, is that it's being speed limited to a 128 mph top speed. They're under the impression that this is a U.S. legal requirement. The top speed of the car as they took delivery of it in Germany was supposed to be 155 mph (which they did not try to test on the Autobahn).

Is there really any legal requirement involved here? I hadn't heard of any such laws? Does anyone have knowledge about this? I'm assuming any limit is just a computer programming issue; are there restrictions to a consumer re-programming the car back to its original specs?

Thanks in advance for input.

David · David's Garage

I don't know of any US law limiting top speed. I vaguely remember hearing BMW set the top speed for different options. If they didn't get the sport option, they may not get full top speed.

VaSteve · 09-02-2006, 09:56 AM

if you buy a car here for "European Delivery", you are getting a US spec car. They are limted to 129 mph. The 155 mph limit is a gentlemen's agreement between BMW and MB.

Unless thet bought it from a dealer there and are trying to Federalize it (they are mostly the same unlike the 911s from back in the day) it's a US car.

Yellowbird RS · 09-02-2006, 11:52 AM

mine is limited @ 250 kms/h and is a mexican specs.

dd74 · 09-02-2006, 12:25 PM

Well, every test of the 330i that I've read in the car magazines always has the top speed at an "electronically limited" 155 mph. That includes U.S. cars imported to wherever BMWs American headquarters are. It seems as if, for example with a 6-speed 330i, that the testers, when they go through the gears, have taken the car far beyond 129 miles an hour in 4th or 5th gear.

Moses · 09-02-2006, 01:22 PM

My Mercedes top speed is 198, but was set to 158 for US delivery. It a simple thing to reflash the ECU to euro specs, but I have no desire to drive north of 158 MPH.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Moses
I have no desire to drive north of 158 MPH.

are you sure your name really isn't Mosesina?

svandamme · svandamme's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by VaSteve
if you buy a car here for "European Delivery", you are getting a US spec car. They are limted to 129 mph. The 155 mph limit is a gentlemen's agreement between BMW and MB.

actually , it's a gentlemen's agreement that all car manufacturers in Germany made, with the treehugging Green Party.

Porsche is the only one that didn't join in that agreement
(real car companies, i'm not talking about tuners, or specialty companies that produce 10 cars a year)

and yeah , easely fixed with an patch..

Moses · 09-02-2006, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by nostatic
are you sure your name really isn't Mosesina?

Thanks, Todd.

Now where in the world can I drive 198 MPH?

svandamme · svandamme's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Moses
Thanks, Todd.

Now where in the world can I drive 198 MPH?

that's not hard, most highways will do if the car can deliver...

wether or not you'll have a drivers licence the next day is another question ...

dd74 · 09-02-2006, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moses
My Mercedes top speed is 198, but was set to 158 for US delivery. It a simple thing to reflash the ECU to euro specs, but I have no desire to drive north of 158 MPH.

Wow! What Mercedes is that?

Moses · 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dd74
Wow! What Mercedes is that?

E55 AMG V8 Kompressor 469 HP 516 ft-lb torque. 0-60 4.3 seconds (measured). That's from a stock E55. Change the supercharger pulley and the ECU and it gets scarier! Oh, how I love that car!

http://www.dragtimes.com/Mercedes-Benz--E55-AMG-Drag-Racing.html

Here's a video of an E55 with a pulley and ECU update running a 10.95 second quarter mile;

http://www.dragtimes.com/2005-Mercedes-Benz-E55-AMG-Videos-5127.html

dd74 · 09-02-2006, 07:20 PM

Yup! I know the car well from all I've read about them. A guy shows up at Willow Springs with one. He races the advanced group, and I haven't yet seen anyone pass him - not the Vipers or Nextel Cup cars.

Moses · 09-02-2006, 07:25 PM

I'm not sure how well the car would handle on a road course, but the straight line acceleration is, well...violent.

If I turn off traction control and hit the gas, the rear wheels spin until I let off the accelerator. If I hit the gas in second gear at 35 MPH, I get wheelspin. Fun car.

dd74 · 09-02-2006, 07:27 PM

I've often entertained looking into the smallest AMG Mercedes. That looks like fun in a nice manageable size.

fastpat · 09-03-2006, 02:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moses
My Mercedes top speed is 198, but was set to 158 for US delivery. It a simple thing to reflash the ECU to euro specs, but I have no desire to drive north of 158 MPH.

My wife's 540i Touring will do about 163 or so, about 2 mph faster than the sedan. It's electronically limited to 155, which I've yet to test. I was tempted to take it to Dinan's since I lived close by them, to have the limit removed from the ECU, but never got around to it.

jdm61 · 09-03-2006, 05:58 AM

When the "gentleman's agreement' was first put in place, a Mercedes tuner in Orlando (can't remember the name right now, but they are one of the better known ones) was building a V12 coupe in the 600hp range using a tuned version of the factory engine management system. The killed the 155mph speed governor but discovered that there was a hard speed limiter of some kind in the software that wouldn't let them go above like 185 if I recall correctly. This was a car that they were expecting to go over 200. This has been a number of years ago and Im sure that they figured it out, but it was puzzling them at the time as they hadn't been able to crack the code.

wludavid · wludavid's Garage

US-spec e46's (which is what you get if you're an American buyer taking Euro delivery) are speed-limited to 126 (or is it 129) except for the M3 and the 330i ZHP which are limited to 155.

Moses · 09-03-2006, 08:16 AM

Here's a picture of a de-limited E55 making a speed run...AT NIGHT! No, it's not me.

TerryH · TerryH's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by fastpat
My wife's 540i Touring will do about 163 or so, about 2 mph faster than the sedan. It's electronically limited to 155, which I've yet to test. I was tempted to take it to Dinan's since I lived close by them, to have the limit removed from the ECU, but never got around to it.

Yeah, the TV show Test Drive had Hans Stuck driving a 500 hp BMW M6 on the autobahn. He ran it up to 195 before he hit traffic and locked up wheels. It was mentioned that while the euro version will easily top 200 mph, the US version was limited to 155.