| juddz |
March-14th-2005 04:31 PM |
One sweet ride
Okay, so last week I was in Germany. No kidding. I have REALLY been getting around this year for work. Anyhow, during our lunch hour in a day chock full of meetings, my company rented several German sedans for us to take a fifteen minute spin in. I drove a 2005 BMW 5-series diesel. It was AWESOME in that it was a bottomless pit of torque, and hauled ass for a diesel. I remember being told that it makes about 270hp, and God knows how many lb-ft of torque.
The coolest thing about it was, you couldn't tell that the sweet, buttery inline six was a diesel. It was so quiet and smooth, and started nearly instantly. No shake at idle. No stinky exhaust. It is amazing what can be done with modern technology (i.e. fine spray pattern & high pressure injectors, ultra fast heating glow plugs to initiate the first few cycles in just seconds, modern engine controls, linear sensors/ soot sensors/ and other high tech diesel emissions packages). If you don't believe me, just wait until 2006 when we get clean (low sulfur) diesel in this country, and some of these high tech, high powered Euro diesels make their way across the seas. They are a treat.
The downside of all this is, that the 5-series has ridiculous ergonomics. I-drive sucks, as do the goofy turn signal and some of other controls. And, I did not get a chance to take it on the autobahn. But I will tell you what, I sure want one.
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