Will your diesel go to red line?
 

Regardless of which mode I am in - auto, sport, or manual - the transmission upshifts at ~4,500 RPM under full throttle, well short of the 5,000 RPM red line. Although it is above the power peak, with so few revs to start with, it would be nice to be able to use them all.

Anybody else experience this?

I have tried 2 times, and No...mine will not go to the red line. Auto, sport or "manual". BMW engineers obviously do not want this to happen. Total different story in our M6...it seems there is no redline in that car :) Wow!!

That's a diesel, for you. If you want revs, buy a petrol engine or mod your diesel, not that I am recommending either.

Is it possible that there is a lag between the analog tachometer on the dash and the actual engine RPM? Perhaps the engine is getting to redline 5000rpm and shifting before the tach shows redline.

Mine won't do it either. I've tried several times.

Ugh, seriously man? Let it go...

And what's you point?

Should be able to tell...
Obviously, people aren't looking for revs when they get a diesel. Still no problem in seeing why whatever car you have won't go to the indicated redline.

I'd suggest that it's because the power drops off very quickly after 4400rpm and there's no point in running all the way to 5000rpm.

See the attached power and torque graph (note this is for an Australian spec model and I understand that the US-spec is even more softly tuned).

I think my dad's will go to near the redline under kickdown (up to about 4800rpm) which is annoying because it's probably slower when it does so. There's little point going past 4k in a diesel even when in a hurry.

Depends on the diesel in question. US-spec 35d reaches its claimed peak power at 4200rpm; Euro and Aussie spec 35d and 40d reach peak power at 4400rpm.

It really does seem like the main grunt is made between 1800-3500rpm, beyond that it's kind of noisy and it's not like the speedometer needle climbs that much faster. It's quite apparent when the transmission mistakenly thinks there's a hill and holds the revs out on flat land........lot of noise but seems out of its element.

This doesn't sound like the six-cylinder BMW diesels I know and love. They are usually more than happy to slide up into a tall gear as soon as possible. Never driven one that "mistakenly thinks there's a hill and holds the revs out on flat land".

I wish my 35i would shift 500 rpm early...there is very little acceleration after 6k.

have you tried it in manual mode and not past the kickdown point?

Yeah it happens on occasion, usually when starting off from a stop sign.

I know some of the coarseness is the result of poor diesel fuel my dad puts in "It's the cheapest fuel station, just $3,85/US gallon! ($1,02/litre) but often I wish it would provide more oomph instead of dialing up the revs to 3k before upshifting.