More Power
 

I have a 05 3.0 cpo thru 2011 with 45k miles on it, love the car a daily driver although I only put about 7K miles a year on it, no problems knock on wood. I just took the car on a 500 mile trip to Maine, all highway and i felt the car needed more power accelerating etc, everyrthing is working ok but since i take it so little on the highway i never really noticed the whining when i get on it, outside of buying a V8 x5 is there anything i can do to give it a little more power without voiding the warranty or adversely effecting the vechicle? Thanks in advance for your input.

dinan package

:iagree::iagree:

+3

I have the Dinan throttle body, engine, and transmission software on my 04 3.0i. I didn't opt for the exhaust because I had something else in mind that I wanted. Since they did not offer an intake package besides a K&N filter swap, I just made my own using a filter and intake piping. The signature package gives it just a little bit more power, removes your speed limiter, and raises your rpm limiter to push out more from the engine, but I just feel it was a little bit too much in price for what you get in performance. It bumps you up 10bhp in power and 12 ft.lbs in torque.

Supposedly, BMW tunes down the engines slightly on their cars so that people dont push it to their true limits and possibly damage them in the process. Care needs to be taken when you really push an engine hard and they cant trust every owner would do so.

I have an 05 3.0i and did a trip from San Jose to LA with my wife and kid (a full vehicle... clothes, toys, etc.) and even going up the mountains close to LA I did not feel like I could have used any more power than it was readily providing.

I would like to get more power too (for obvious reasons) but everything that I have read so far about Dinan stuff doesn't seem to be worth the $$$/hp gain. May be since my frame of reference is motorcycle world and bang for the buck ratio is much higher in that world than it is here with X5??

As far as Dinan changing the transmission shifting points, etc., I always think that I can do that myself by being heavier on the pedal or using manual mode when needed, no??

Anyway, I feel more than adequate power is there in this engine for everyday life... sure, you need to bring it up to 4-5k rpm to bring it into life if needed... but I don't even do that often.

from reading the post critically it sounds like engine noise is the issue. you need a stereo upgrade so you don't notice the engine...

seriously, sell it and buy a 4.4. that CPO is no good to you for only 7,000/yr.

I think selling is a little extreme. However, if you purchased a V-8 initally, the acquisition cost would have been higher, but adding mods can easily exceed the cost difference. I was initially going to purchase a 3.0 but ended up getting a 4.4. The extra horsepower comes in handy more often than you think. The OP said he only wished for more power once and a while, so I would just leave it stock and enjoy it. The cost/benefit wouldn't be worth it. Good Luck.

throw a turbo on there

First thing to do probably is to check that the engine is giving all the required power. Many of these cars suffer of loss of power (especially at mid-range) due to vaccum leaks, vanos or disa problems, etc...