standard e21 acceleration time

[niall]

Hi guys, ive seen some numbers listed for the acceleration time for a standard 323i 5 spd manual. 0-100kph in 9.5 seconds.

Im sure they are quicker than that, has anyone tested in real life?

[Jeroen]

Believe that was the factory and brochure info indeed, back then German magazines reported an average of 8.3 sec

The late Dutch race legend Rob Slotemaker even reports 7.6 sec in this test: http://www.bmwe21.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=16253

I was going over the magazine articles but I missed some of those earliest German magazine articles, the very first publications on the E21 and the 323i. I know I have these magazines, guess I need to do some more scanning so you can all polish up your German a bit!

[niall]

yeah i think they were under rated too by the factory, now i know the e30 m3 is a race bred car, BUt it is similar weight with 48 more hp and 25more ft/lb torque. They claim 0-100 in 6.8 sec, it seems a huge jump for that power increase


maybe gear ratios are playing a big part

[Jeroen]

Well I think BMW just stayed on the safe side with their numbers. My car is as standard as can be and does 0-100kph in abt 8-8.5 secs and puts a top speed of 204 (from memory) on the GPS (factory says 190). And that after over 30 years of age, ok perhaps that's compensated by more modern fuels but still. Haven't tested my 0-100 recently so can't say for sure but defo 8.5 or less.

Later years BMW fiddled with the figures as part of their marketing plans. Like the E36 328i that only gained 1 BHP over the 325i while every test proves the gain is 20+ BHP. But 215-220 BHP in the brochure would make it come too close to the US M3's 240 BHP. That also explains the huge power leap (on paper) going from 2.8 to 3.0. In reality, the gap isn't that big.