Raced a 330Ci Today...

[MrElussive]

Hey,

I know that street racing isn't approved by everyone as it is breaking the law and you are endangering your own life as well as others on the road (if that's the case). But today I had an opportunity that I have been waiting for, for quite a while, and I just could not pass it up. Also, I know that being on a BMW forum, the members aren't going to like the ending of my story, but hopefully you all like me enough not to be angry at me after you read. So here it is...

So I am driving on this road, 9W, which I use pretty much every day. It is a 40 zone, parts of it is 2 lanes, other parts are just one lane (on each side, of course), and there are some traffic lights. Now I was doing my normal 48mph speed on this road and there is a 2004 BMW 330Ci in the left lane (I am in the right lane) and we are both being followed by a pack of soccer mom's in their unnecessarily large SUV's. I have my windows down and my sunroof open (A/C off) as it is a really nice -and unusual- 60-65 degree day today in NJ. The 330Ci and I are both approaching this traffic light and it suddenly turns yellow, then red. We both stop for it, both of us in the front of each lane, accompanied by the group of SUV's behind us. Now I am head-to-head with a 04 330Ci and I am thinking, "Oh man what a GREAT opportunity, I HOPE this guy is paying attention and wants to race!!" But the guy never looks over at me to confirm a race or anything of that sort, so I am just sitting there waiting for the light to turn green, kinda disappointed that I am going to miss this opportunity that I have been hoping for. Finally, the light turns green and I hear/see the 330Ci roar away from the light. Now I am caught totally off-guard and I get absolutely no launch at all so at first I am thinking "Okay, I'll just let him go" but then all of a sudden, I felt the undeniable urge to try to race this guy anyways. I mean, I am acelerating in 1st gear normally and I am at 20mph and this guy is at 40mph already. At my late decision to race, I upshift to 2nd at 4,000rpm and dumped the clutch, which the car expressed its unhappiness with an uncomfortable jerk. I don't know why the hell I let the clutch out so fast at only 4K rpm but it doesn't matter...as soon as 2nd hooked up I just punch it. I go to 60mph (2nd's redline) and 330Ci is still over 10 car-lengths away from me and he is still racing.
Enter 3rd gear.
I shift to 3rd mad fast (at redline this time, heh) and drop the clutch, accompanied by the expected wheelspin -which traction control finally worked to my advantage and didn't do anything-, and I just flat out punch it. 1st and 2nd gears were just to get me up to speed...now I am in 3rd and I am accelerating HARD. I look carefully at the 330Ci and I see that I am reeling him in REAL fast, and I look down at my tach and see I'm almost at redline in 3rd gear...when I get to redline and shift to 4th I am really scared because I'm going 85+mph in a 40 zone, but I am also side-by-side with this 330Ci so I figure I can't back down now. Now I enter 4th and punch it and I just completely walk away from this 330Ci...the car didn't even hang with me, it was just fluid ownage as I passed him, shifting from 3rd to 4th. Finally, I back down at almost 100mph and I slam on the brakes back to normal 40-zone speeds. I seriously couldn't believe it, though...this guy had the biggest head start and I still caught up to him AND I walked away from him. His 330Ci, I'm pretty sure, was an auto (based on what I saw from his launch at the light), had the Sport Package and 18" wheels, and was dark gray, for anybody who is interested. Normally I wouldn't race or do anything crazy like this, but everybody talks about BMW's 3.0 liter engine and how it's powerband is just so great and I just HAD to see how the G35C compares to it.

This is something I never plan to do again as it was so scary and utterly stupid to do, but I am glad I did it, it was a really interesting experience. I hope the other members (who are BMW owners) aren't offended by this post. I'm not trying to rub anything in...this is my favorite automotive forum (I also post a bit on G35Driver), and I really enjoy sharing experiences on this forum the most.

 

[flashinthepan]

Ida put my money on you E- you have the power to weight edge

That ocassional race is always kinda fun !

 

[snowsedan04]

I'm not surprised that you pulled away from the BMW, since it's been my experience that our cars (M series excluded) just don't measure up to many of the newer sports sedans in terms of pure muscle. They are great to drive, but it seems that every car I see in the sports sedan category has nearly 300 hp. I didn't really look at the G35 very seriously since I had to have an AWD car, and I find the G35 sedan really ugly, but that is one sweet ride. Here's a tip of the hat for your conquest.

 

[epj3]

I believe your car compares more to an M3, correct?

 

[Bryan330i]

I don't doubt that the G35 would trash the 330ci. Isn't it something like 285 HP vs. 225 HP. Understanding that HP is not everything, this is still a substantial difference.

Buy also, BMW's are not dogs either like snowsedan04 has somewhat alluded to. Even the 325 is not far off some of the higher performing models in some lines. Take Pontiac, have you ever looked at how they perform? Not so great.

Yes, there are more cars with higher HP than in the past. But still even the 325 is very respectable when compared with the spectrum of available cars.

Pontiac GP III 3.8 v-6 200hp
Stratus R/T 200HP
Pontiac GA GT 170 hp
Accord v-6 240
Altima 3.5 245
Acura TL 265

It does seem imports are leading in this area though.

 

[epj3]

Pontiac is a bad example, they are 98% crappy family cars with 2% sport, more than ford and dodge. In the whole scheme of things, pontaic has no sport.

 

[Bryan330i]

Pontiac is a bad example, they are 98% crappy family cars with 2% sport, more than ford and dodge. In the whole scheme of things, pontaic has no sport.

Very true. I guess I was thinking more of the HP thing for various cars.

 

[MrElussive]

Thanks for the pleasant responses!

To tell you the truth, I didn't really know what to expect from the BMW. I was kind of scared at first because even though the G35C is pushing 55 more horsepower, we all know how great BMW's I6 engines are and how much torque they produce throughout the rev band. And I wasn't sure of how good of a manual driver I was...I like to practice redline shifts a lot, but you don't really know how good you are until you race against another car. My 1-2 shift was lousy because I obviously got way ahead of myself (I was in racing mode and decided to upshift at only 4K but I forgot to not dump the clutch heh), but my 2-3 and 3-4 shifts were absolutely perfect! I was really surprised at how fast I was catching up to him; his 0-60 is 6.4 or 6.9 seconds (depending if it was auto or manual) and mine is 5.5 seconds so I didn't think I would be able to catch him...but my G hustled like a champ !!

epj3, if I was ever head-to-head with an M3, I wouldn't even hesitate to race the car. But we all know that the M3 completely owns the G35C.

Bryan, very good points about BMW. I didn't underestimate the 330Ci for a second as I know what it's capable of. In fact, one of my good friends has an 03 325i Sport Auto and he has no trouble at all keeping up with me when I am doing some spirited driving! But now that a lot of car companies' cars that compete with the BMW 3-series are all pushing out 200+hp and are available at the 325's price range, I think BMW needs to step it up a bit. Even the Honda Accord, which is considered an economy car, is available with a 240hp V6 engine mated to a 6-speed manual

 

[Ghost]

That ocassional race is always kinda fun !

Congrats on the conquest MrE!

 

[frolf]

sounds pretty sweet, can't wait to get my new treads on and go have some fun (on closed, private roads with plenty of run off ) haha, well, i'll keep it as save as i can.

 

[Bryan330i]

Bryan, very good points about BMW. I didn't underestimate the 330Ci for a second as I know what it's capable of. In fact, one of my good friends has an 03 325i Sport Auto and he has no trouble at all keeping up with me when I am doing some spirited driving! But now that a lot of car companies' cars that compete with the BMW 3-series are all pushing out 200+hp and are available at the 325's price range, I think BMW needs to step it up a bit. Even the Honda Accord, which is considered an economy car, is available with a 240hp V6 engine mated to a 6-speed manual

I would never race a G35, well I may but would never expect to win. And I agree, BMW is falling behind. I would expect at least the 330 to come out ahead of the Honda Accord, but it does not.

 

[Bmw 325i 7803]

Nice kill, I would try and race the G35 anyway even with my auto, just for the fun of it. But the 330ci isn't that powerful in my opinion. One time on the highway I was admiring one and the guy turned on his wipers and splashed my windshield for some reason, and then floored it in the left lane. I chased him all the way to 125 and I wasn't more than 10 car spaces behind, it wasn't too hard to keep up with my 184hp at all.

*Oh almost forgot, I decided to show him who was boss and passed him at 134mph on a nice bend (yes stupid) but it came off smoothly. Thing is after the toll came up I stayed in the middle lane and I saw him coming up in the left really fast, (revenge?) only I didn't bother to floor it and see if I could keep in front. I'd say he passed me at easily 110+ with me at 55..... I knew when it was enough, and well when I was gonna get it handed to me.

 

[jes330]

I reckon a manual 330ci would have given you more trouble. In Aus. the manual is independently tested at 6.6 sec's 0-100 (0-60), while the step is over 7 sec's. Depending on how cars are geared also has a big bearing. Driver ability, and air cond all makes some difference...end of the day though, cubes rule (or maybe a good turbo).....I am not at all familiar with a G35 ( what the hell is that)?,

 

[epj3]

I think bmw's newer series will be pushing more and more horses. Look at the new 5 and 7 series, they are a lot more powerful (the higher end cars) than the older ones.

Hell, look at the new M5... 500hp and something like 386 lb-ft torque. Insane.

 

[Average Jae]

mr. E, i'm def not offended by the post, rather amused by it. jus keep those stories commin

altho it woudl've been cooler if both of you just buckled down from the green and raced straight up. would've been really funny if one of the soccer moms wanted to join in on the frey

bryan: i thought the g35 and 330's 0-60 sprints were pretty similar, in the low 6s.. or am i off base here? 330i zhp is supposed to be 5.9 ticks, and m3s are at 5.0 mark [???1]

 

[Bmw 325i 7803]

I understand the 330 zhp is 5.6 and the M3 is 4.8, and motortrend once said they had a stock m3 that took them from 0-60 in 4.5 seconds.... The g35 is supposed to hit it in 5.5 making it only a bit quicker than the 330zhp, but not in the league of the M3.

BMW apparenty has 5.93 for the zhp??? Anyone with a 330zhp able to verify the 0-60?

 

[Dinan55]

0-60 times are kind of delicate, a friend of mine hit a 4.8 0-60 in his S52 (240 hp) engine M roadster; BMW claims a 5.2 for it. Also, BMW says the Z4's 0-60 time is 5.7 and Motor Trend claims a 5.4... auto manufacturers can be a bit conservative when listing 0-60 times, I think it has something to do with legalization.

 

[flashinthepan]

G35c vs a 330ZHP may be a legitimate contest, I still like the G35c by a hair though.

I think it would be rare that a stock 330 could run with a G35c.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Car and driver figures:

The M3 SMG is 0-60 5.0, M3 Manual clutch is 0-60 4.8 almost identical to the Porche 911 (non-turbo)..almost identical 1/4 mile too. Another good race

 

[MrElussive]

Thanks for all the replies everyone...they were great!

From what I've read in different magazines, the G35C 6MT has a 0-60 time of 5.5 seconds (from a magazine) and the BMW 330Ci has a 0-60 time of 6.9 seconds (according to BMW, and assuming it was an auto, but I wasn't completely sure).
As I said before, I am not much of a "street racer", but I have to admit, racing that guy was AWESOME! The whole time it was so unbelievably intense and it was such a huge rush....it was like a rollercoaster at Six Flags.

Anyways, the G35C 6MT's fastest 0-60 time is 5.5 seconds (Infiniti does not provide their own 0-60 times), the 330i ZHP is 5.9 seconds (according to BMW), and the M3 is 4.8 seconds. From what I've heard, the G35C 6MT and 330i ZHP run pretty much neck-and-neck until 3rd gear, where the G35C starts to pull away. The 330i ZHP is extremely well-tuned and is a kickass machine...I am interested to know which car is actually faster in straight-line acceleration. I know the G has 45 more horses, but it is heavier and torque throughout the rev band isn't as solid as the ZHP (the G really only comes alive at 4,000+ rpm). An M3 would definitely 0wn the G35C...the only chance I have at beating an M3 is if I am a better driver. But this is a 2-way street and I think if a 330i/Ci/ZHP wanted to race and the driver was better than me, he/she can win.

 

[Bryan330i]

I was thinking very seriously about the G35 when I got my car. What I have noticed is at lower speed, shorter distance racing it is harder to spot “less significant” differences in speed, say cars that do 1 second of one another. Like my “play” with the 911, at the lower speeds I was able to stay within a couple of car lengths, but in an all out, longer race he would have been blocks ahead and been a far more obvious difference in performance.