[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dum Dum Head
[B]I got my car dyno'd today (200.8hp with a K&N) and the guy at the shop said the 330ci is rated at 230hp, but puts out 217 to the wheels...they are severely under-rated.

 

frayed is 100% right. The dual vanos give the 330's much more low end torque than our E36 M3s. Overall, our M3's have higher PEAK hp/torque. I raced a 330 once and beat it by a couple cars, of course I am modded with CIA & Software.

 

Frayed, you have a 3.2 right? Most 3.0 E36 M3s I've seen are putting out 205-210 stock, but the 3.2's are always pumping out more, about 6-10 depending.

The 3.2's are defintely underrated. The 250 hp Boxster S does 210-215 and the 3.2 M3 easily matches that.

UL

 

You're not making high revs (or power) in 3rd @ 60. Should have dropped to 2nd. 75-80 in 3rd, you would have pulled away from him pretty easily and @ 90 it would have been end of story.

The Raptor

 

Raptor,

How so? At 65 (which is where the'race' started) my car would have a whisker left before it hit the redline. Do Euro cars have different gearing?

I don't know for sure, because I really hate German cars (especially Beemers) but aren't the 330s and M3s a 6 cylinder jobbie? Maybe not.

Anyhow, I'm not sure there's any point in all these comparisons - if it's worth doing it should be between cars with equal design parameters IMO. Honda's design brief was to squeeze the maximum from a 4 cylinder naturally aspirated while at the same time squeezing everything into a small compact sports car - that wouldn't really describe any competitor I can think of (especially not a fat 330) and we should be proud we own such an accomplished piece of engineering packaging and performance

I must be a purist, because I like my car just as it is with stock everything. It certainly seems to do and look the business. Where I live BMWs are 2 a penny and in 5 months of ownership (daily driver) I have yet to be overtaken by anything