Twelfth Monkey
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Autocar tells us something we don't know.From a piece on the new 3:
To this end, BMW has fitted thousands of existing customers’ cars with sophisticated black boxes that record all aspects of their use, helping engineers to plan the shape of future models.
For example, the research shows that of all BMW’s models, the 320d is driven the fastest and over the greatest distances by owners.
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cbeaks1
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I hope they asked for permission?
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"him"
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Re: Autocar tells us something we don't know. | Twelfth Monkey wrote: | | ...the research shows that of all BMW’s models, the 320d is driven the fastest and over the greatest distances by owners. |
And you said we didn't know this already? 
I suspect that most modern cars to this to a degree anyway, we had an engine management fault on our office pool car and that reported that the rev limit had been exceeded on more than one occasion recently. (who would have thought that on an office vehicle???)
That is a lowly Fiat Stilo 1.6, so I am sure BMW, Porsche, Mercedes etc. will monitor things more closely still. Don't BMW monitor how many times launch control is used for example?
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gonnabuildabuggy
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Re: Autocar tells us something we don't know. | "him" wrote: | | we had an engine management fault on our office pool car and that reported that the rev limit had been exceeded on more than one occasion recently. |
Surely that is what a rev limiter is for? The FRV loves bouncing off it!
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Dr. Hfuhruhurr
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I was going to say - surely there can't be any modern cars that don't have a rev-limiter
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Pkh72
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I've never felt the need to have my car bounce off the rev limiter, it's not necessary.
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Mark
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| Pkh72 wrote: | | I've never felt the need to have my car bounce off the rev limiter, it's not necessary. |
It's a regular requirement in a hire car.
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"him"
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| Dr. Hfuhruhurr wrote: | | I was going to say - surely there can't be any modern cars that don't have a rev-limiter |
But a rev limiter doesn't prevent you selecting a lower gear at too high a road speed and over revving the engine?
Some of the numpties here really have no mechanical sympathy at all!
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Pkh72
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| Mark wrote: | | Pkh72 wrote: | | I've never felt the need to have my car bounce off the rev limiter, it's not necessary. |
It's a regular requirement in a hire car. |
Haha...true!
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"him"
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| Pkh72 wrote: | | I've never felt the need to have my car bounce off the rev limiter, it's not necessary. |
But in your car, peak power is well below the rev limit, in mine, peak power is actually beyond it... 
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Nice Guy Eddie
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| "him" wrote: | | Dr. Hfuhruhurr wrote: | | I was going to say - surely there can't be any modern cars that don't have a rev-limiter |
But a rev limiter doesn't prevent you selecting a lower gear at too high a road speed and over revving the engine?
Some of the numpties here really have no mechanical sympathy at all! |
I did that in my old Type-R. I was at 8000rpm in 4th going for 5th and hit 3rd. Ouch it got loud, I never had to guess what 12000prm was like after that.
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Twelfth Monkey
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Re: Autocar tells us something we don't know. | "him" wrote: | | Twelfth Monkey wrote: | | ...the research shows that of all BMW’s models, the 320d is driven the fastest and over the greatest distances by owners. |
And you said we didn't know this already? |
My irony is lost, I see..
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"him"
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To be fair, it was before 10am... 
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Gurney
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Speaking of rev limits. Fiat will not give you that wooden crate with the EssEss bits in for your Abroath if the tell tale on the engine management has recorded two visits to the limiter.
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Twelfth Monkey
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Surely that should be 'unless'?
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"him"
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Really?, 2 visits to the limiter in the life of the car, or just on the journey to the dealer that day?
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Matt
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I'd tell them they could have the sodding 500 back then and get into something less wanky than that.
How dare they! Are we not to believe they have decent operating limits on their cars if they refuse to fit it to a car that's been to the poxy turbo'd rev-limiter? It's not like it will have been running at a VTEC-esque 9k!
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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I've only ever been to the limiter once in mine...
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PG
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Re: Autocar tells us something we don't know. | Twelfth Monkey wrote: | | For example, the research shows that of all BMW’s models, the 320d is driven the fastest and over the greatest distances by owners. |
So Marketing will now insist that the next M3 is a diesel then? 
I wonder what the X6 black box measures? How many times the owner preened themself in the rear view mirror perhaps? Or what the smugness level is?
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"him"
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...but knowing you, you have it set at 9000rpm?
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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Nah, I just change 50rpm before it, limiter slows you down ;)
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Skyhook
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Re: Autocar tells us something we don't know. | PG wrote: |
I wonder what the X6 black box measures? How many times the owner preened themself in the rear view mirror perhaps? Or what the smugness level is? |
Crashing cliché alert... I expect the black box will allow them to save money by deleting facilities not required by the driver - such as the indicators and front fog-light 'off' switch.
The money saved can be put into a 'last-minute-carve-up-rapid-lane-change' system.
The cruise could also be adapted to automatically stick the car's nose three feet into the oncoming traffic when trying to exit a junction to save the driver the bother.
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simonp
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I hit mine all the time, usually when overtaking. The bits where the peak power is and the limiter is are too close together!
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TimR
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I haven't visited the limiter on the Fiat or the BMW (well, apart from that one time) but on the Alfa I hit it a few times.
Usually when overtaking and concentrating on that rather than being aware of the engine. Probably because it was so smooth you didn't get any sensation of strain from it.
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Gurney
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Have to hold a hand up, I have bounced off the limiter a few times in the Alfa. That damned V6 revs so freely.
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SpecB
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I visit the limiter quite frequently in mine - it just sounds so good when you are there and it revs so freely so is really easy to do.
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TimR
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I wonder how accurate and detailed the BMW info is.
It'd be interesting to know the average speed and distance of all the 320Ds and compare it with the true road king, the Audi A4 2.0TDI.
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Boxer6
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| cbeaks1 wrote: | | I hope they asked for permission? |
This was my initial thought, too. I wonder how many BMW (and other marques too, I suppose, including Subaru) drivers are aware this kind of monitoring goes on?
And, does the European Court of Human Rights approve of such goings-on? I think we should be told!
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ALF
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We quite often get asked about this by customers, given that we fit boxes in commercial vehicles that transmit and record speed and other data in 10-second intervals. Legally, the police can ask us as the vendor to supply the information relating to a particular account, but my understanding is that we can refuse and they can only force us by invoking pretty serious legislation for enquiries where speed information would no longer be relevant. Also, our equipment is not ratified by the home office for speeding convictions so they would not be able to prosecute.
I imagine the systems in cars like these BMW's are just recording information from the car's ECU for download at the next service, not real-time monitoring via a GPS tracker and GPRS connection, like ours. Any vehicles fitted with something like ours, covertly, could get into a spot of bother legally - particularly if unwittingly taken into a location like a fuel depot where such equipment has to be switched off.
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