Will the 23i be enough

Dropping two gears near the motorway speed limit would probably redline my 23i.
Interesting some early reviews of the zed said the 35i was over powered and the 23i more engaging as you have to work the engine a lot more. If a daily drive i think the 23i more economical, mine averages 28 to 42 mpg. If it was a 35i i think it would drop to 22 to 33 and i'm sure some could get it down to the same mpg as the RX7 i once owned, 18mpg on a good day.
 
I like my 23i, bought it to use at the weekends. It had 14,000 miles on it when I got it, full BMW history, auto, sat nav, 19" alloys, pdc, heated seats etc... how much fun can you have for less than the price of a Ford Fiesta
 
I went from a 3.0 e85 to a 23 sdrive e89 and was disappointed with both power and handling so went back to another 3.0 e85, but now being older and less flexible I have settled on 3.0 e89 and find it a good compromise. I wouldn’t have thought there would be a huge difference in running costs betwwen the the 2 6 cylinders
 
Nictrix said:
Kugaman1 said:
When I drove down south in the 23i (to trade in against the 20i) I got caught out a few times when on the motorway in 6th. If I pulled out to pass a lorry, there is nothing at all underfoot unless you change down to 4th.....
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What speed were you doing that you had to do that? Was it uphill?
On the motorway I have never felt the need to drop 2 gears to pass someone no matter what car I have been driving.
Maybe yours was broken :)
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Nope, definitely not broken :roll: , it was a mint 23000 mile car. If you are driving along at 60mph in 6th and floor it......nothing happens until you drop a couple of cogs. The simple fact is that, as others on here agree, the 23i is pretty low on torque at low revs.....it develops most of its power higher up.
Dont get me wrong, it was not a factor whatsoever in me changing mine, I changed for other reasons, Im just responding to the OPs question. Simple fact is that for a car with sporty pretentions, the 23i can be found lacking sometimes.
Im no speed freak, the 20i is no quicker on paper, however as its more torquey, it feels a lot quicker in normal driving.
 
Kugaman1 said:
Nictrix said:
Kugaman1 said:
When I drove down south in the 23i (to trade in against the 20i) I got caught out a few times when on the motorway in 6th. If I pulled out to pass a lorry, there is nothing at all underfoot unless you change down to 4th.....
Click to expand...

What speed were you doing that you had to do that? Was it uphill?
On the motorway I have never felt the need to drop 2 gears to pass someone no matter what car I have been driving.
Maybe yours was broken :)
Click to expand...

Nope, definitely not broken :roll: , it was a mint 23000 mile car. If you are driving along at 60mph in 6th and floor it......nothing happens until you drop a couple of cogs. The simple fact is that, as others on here agree, the 23i is pretty low on torque at low revs.....it develops most of its power higher up.
Dont get me wrong, it was not a factor whatsoever in me changing mine, I changed for other reasons, Im just responding to the OPs question. Simple fact is that for a car with sporty pretentions, the 23i can be found lacking sometimes.
Im no speed freak, the 20i is no quicker on paper, however as its more torquey, it feels a lot quicker in normal driving.
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I suppose it really depends on how much acceleration you want and how quickly you want it.
 
From 50 to 70 in top gear my 1.4 petrol Skoda Yeti was quicker than my 23i Z4, nuff said, the problem is the lack of torque at low revs combined with the high gearing, obviously to give good fuel consumption figures. Like Kugaman said 90% of the time your driving along at a couple of thousand revs and when you put your foot down nothing happens. The yanks used to have an expression " There's no substitute for cube's " these days with much smaller engines than their 5 litre monsters, I think it should be there's no substitute for turbo's.
 
HillWalker said:
From 50 to 70 in top gear my 1.4 petrol Skoda Yeti was quicker than my 23i Z4, nuff said, the problem is the lack of torque at low revs combined with the high gearing, obviously to give good fuel consumption figures. Like Kugaman said 90% of the time your driving along at a couple of thousand revs and when you put your foot down nothing happens. The yanks used to have an expression " There's no substitute for cube's " these days with much smaller engines than their 5 litre monsters, I think it should be there's no substitute for turbo's.
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Thanks Hillwalker, glad someone else knows exactly where I was coming from!
 
i have a 23i and like mr wilkes says for 95% of the time it is more than enough power. The only times it wasn't enough power was on 1. track and 2. racing friends in their supercars through twisties. It wasn't a slouch though and I achieved top 3 fast lap times (gravelly). I also agree that the car accelerates best at higher rev ranges which for me is enough to keep me happy on a spirited drive. You learn to find the torque there. I definitely enjoy the combination of a manual box with the linear straight six. Its very predictable and reproducible power. I love the control. In terms of out and out shove it doesn't have the all out power you want but like has been said for the money its hard to beat. The other important aspect is that it feels fast and fun and many faster cars I've driven haven't felt nearly as fun which is why i'm struggling with what to upgrade to. A bigger engine may be more fun but I haven't experienced the power delivery to be able to comment. I chose the 23i over a 35is mainly on enjoyment (but also running costs). I havent driven a 35i or a 30. I definitely would say test drive one. Remember to put it in sport mode.. good luck :thumbsup:
 
23i feels slow to me, especially as it's NA. Had an Impreza back in the early naughtiest that had around 20bhp more; felt so much quicker. Rarely do I feel the car would suit more power though as it's not for ragging around really, more cruising.
 
I have a 23i, if you want to enjoy country lanes ands associated windy bits its as good as anything else. If you just want to barrell off from the lights etc go for a bigger motor. At the end of the day unless your a pro driver it makes little if no difference if the car is a 3.5 or a 2.5 on the real road, we are not race drivers so .6 of a second off a 0 - 60 wont change anything.
The sound of the 6 sold me, had mine mapped and got a slight increase in BHP at 219. More importantly it changed the power curve to make the car a lot more driveable with the grunt coming in earlier, lasting longer and sloping off slower.
Not bad for a non turbo car that will hit the speed limiter (M62 at 01:30 a few weeks back) and still do nearly 40mpg on a run.
 
mcbutler said:
I have a 23i, if you want to enjoy country lanes ands associated windy bits its as good as anything else. If you just want to barrell off from the lights etc go for a bigger motor. At the end of the day unless your a pro driver it makes little if no difference if the car is a 3.5 or a 2.5 on the real road, we are not race drivers so .6 of a second off a 0 - 60 wont change anything.
The sound of the 6 sold me, had mine mapped and got a slight increase in BHP at 219. More importantly it changed the power curve to make the car a lot more driveable with the grunt coming in earlier, lasting longer and sloping off slower.
Not bad for a non turbo car that will hit the speed limiter (M62 at 01:30 a few weeks back) and still do nearly 40mpg on a run.
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Got a Dyno graph you can post of the pre/post runs?
Rob
 
mcbutler said:
I have a 23i, if you want to enjoy country lanes ands associated windy bits its as good as anything else. If you just want to barrell off from the lights etc go for a bigger motor. At the end of the day unless your a pro driver it makes little if no difference if the car is a 3.5 or a 2.5 on the real road, we are not race drivers so .6 of a second off a 0 - 60 wont change anything.
The sound of the 6 sold me, had mine mapped and got a slight increase in BHP at 219. More importantly it changed the power curve to make the car a lot more driveable with the grunt coming in earlier, lasting longer and sloping off slower.
Not bad for a non turbo car that will hit the speed limiter (M62 at 01:30 a few weeks back) and still do nearly 40mpg on a run.
Click to expand...

Driveability isn't about howling down country lanes or barreling away from the lights to get the best 0 to 60 time it's about cruising along with a big powerful torquey motor and feeling the surge as it effortlessly pulls you towards the horizon when you touch the loud pedal.
 
I drove a 23i and felt it was flat as a fart in comparison to my 3.0i se. They seem to have squeezed as little power as possible from that big 6 cylinder lump and having to lug all that electric folding roof around, no wonder they scrapped it at lci and replaced it with a 4 pot turbo.
 
So, in conclusion to this thread, I went and test drove several variations of the model.
First up 2.3.
Initial thoughts were very nice, massive improvement on the cabin front and surprisingly squeak/rattle free.
Quick check of the mot history and all seemed good other than a couple of repaired cracked rear alloy wheels.
Good test drive, however once on dual carriageway and up to speed it became apparent that the power delivery just wasn’t there for me. I know for the majority this engine would be fine but for me just not enough.
However I’d made my mind up and mr Barclays was going to have to step in and assist 😜
So next up a nice 35i.
Well unfortunately for me this one had already been modified with some type of sports exhaust and inter cooler with induction kit and map.
Not normally something I’d look at this far modified but with only 10 miles separating us I thought it rude not too.
WOW, that thing was scary fast. Now I wanted a little quicker but this was on the verge of insane.
The power just seemed to be on or off.
All I could think of was I’m going to lose my license driving this.
Closer inspection showed up sketchy service history and coupled with the sellers shitty attitude I decided it wasn’t for me.
So, next up was the 3.0.
Now this car was perfect in condition and drove lovely. Loved the colour combination (blue with white leather), had all the extras and trimmings.
I just couldn’t help feeling I needed to test drive another 35i but in standard form.
So, I found one.
Que the 3 1/2 drive to Norwich.
This one was the one. Reasonable mileage (47,000), one owner from new with full mdsh.
Plenty of power and all the gadgets I’ll ever need. Deposit down, my only regret was listening to the wife and didn’t take the cash there and then. For some reason the gentleman didn’t want to do bank transfer however at 76 I understand he was used to dealing with cash and had a great insecurity about banks in general 😂
So I collect this Saturday and will get some pics up as soon as I’ve detailed it.
CANNOT WAIT.😄
 
mcbutler said:
I have a 23i, if you want to enjoy country lanes ands associated windy bits its as good as anything else. If you just want to barrell off from the lights etc go for a bigger motor. At the end of the day unless your a pro driver it makes little if no difference if the car is a 3.5 or a 2.5 on the real road, we are not race drivers so .6 of a second off a 0 - 60 wont change anything.
The sound of the 6 sold me, had mine mapped and got a slight increase in BHP at 219. More importantly it changed the power curve to make the car a lot more driveable with the grunt coming in earlier, lasting longer and sloping off slower.
Not bad for a non turbo car that will hit the speed limiter (M62 at 01:30 a few weeks back) and still do nearly 40mpg on a run.
Click to expand...

Hi. Where did you get your map done? I fancy one but don't really want to put it on the rollers.
Cheers
 
I have a 23i and if i were to buy another, would be 35i. But the gearbox would have to be slicker than the box i have now, other wise would drive me nuts.
 
bazzab said:
Well unfortunately for me this one had already been modified with some type of sports exhaust and inter cooler
This one was the one. Reasonable mileage (47,000), one owner from new with full mdsh.
Plenty of power and all the gadgets I’ll ever need. Deposit down, my only regret was listening to the wife and didn’t take the cash there and then. For some reason the gentleman didn’t want to do bank transfer however at 76 I understand he was used to dealing with cash and had a great insecurity about banks in general 😂
So I collect this Saturday and will get some pics up as soon as I’ve detailed it.
CANNOT WAIT.😄
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Nice one mate, looking forwards to pics!

Glad you echoed my thoughts on the 23i. It is angreat engine but its definitely a bit flat, especially at A road/motorway speeds.

Enjoy the e89, its great owning a car that you always look back at when parked........even with my winter wheels on! :)
 
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