91' 318is vs 85' 325e

[Threehz]

Drove an 85' Eta around the other day and I was a little surprised by how it felt. Definitely felt a lot heavier, but that was expected, and although it was an eta, I just expected it to have more balls. My 318 feels like a rocket compared to it.

Just wondering is this normal?

[Dj Buttchug]

yes. eta's are slow.

[TurboJake]

very normal.

[Quadrajet]

Having owned both, 318is and 2 eta's '84 with 2.79's and an '85 with 2.93, the 318 feels livelier in most regimes. But for tooling around town in the 20-35 mph range the eta can be fun with it's torque. All those cars mentioned were 5spd's with LSD. I found with the 318 that on the county roads around here with the crown of the pavement, I have to be careful with throttle application in a turn off the road to the left. There can be a loss of steering authority, even when it's dry.

[Wh33lhop]

Your M42 has more power than the eta with the heavier lump under the hood, so yes it is going to feel slower.

[reelizmpro]

Well, not only does the 318i M42 have almost 20 more HP, it's also got better gearing and is probably lighter too. Were the ETA's chipped? Chips make a huge difference in those cars. HP will be the same then.

[stamar]

Ha this came up on another car forum.

All the track times of the two cars were actually exactly the same.

The eta has more torque and a lower gear ratio, kind of going both ways to end up the same.

I think the 318 gets 2 mpg more.

the eta takes off faster and the 318 catches up with more top end.

Overall almost the same thing.

look at it this way, the m42 has 20 more hp, but 70 fewer lb ft torque. The b27 is a more powerful motor but they put a torque motor inside a short gear ratio to make it have better high end?

Its actually a strange strange car theres nothing like it in the world.

[e30trooper]

Id take a chipped eta along with a 293 lsd

this isnt that slow...

[Killacortes]

^hey! That's not too shabby

[MR 325]

My old Eta with 3.25 LSD, exhaust, and a chip still lost in a race to my buddy's stock M42 318i. :(

I'd still rather have the Eta with the above mods though.

[e30trooper]

My old Eta with 3.25 LSD, exhaust, and a chip still lost in a race to my buddy's stock M42 318i. :(

I'd still rather have the Eta with the above mods though.

wow really , a 3.25 would be pretty fast.

[stamar]

in a top speed race the car with more horsepower will always win.

In a quarter mile they are actually the same thing.

That dohc stuff works though definitely will catch up on some like long road race.

In a city race through stop signs the eta would win.

[325ix]

in a top speed race the car with more horsepower will always win.

In a quarter mile they are actually the same thing.

That dohc stuff works though definitely will catch up on some like long road race.

In a city race through stop signs the eta would win.

Not necessarily. Torque, gearing and aerodynamics play a role in top speed as well.

[Ninz30]

wow. Very Cool

Haha wtf did anyone else notice this comment?

[Threehz]

That eta in the vid has some bawlz! My 318 is stock except for some suspension and other things that don't affect hp/driveline, the eta I drove had a borla exhaust system, which OMG that thing definitely sounded good. You all are saying that the eta would be quicker off the line but that didn't feel true at all. It literally felt like a slug compared to my 318 which jumps off the line.

And you all are saying a chipped eta vs a m42, but what about chipped eta vs chipped m42? Once I get all the maintenance work done to my 318 I really want to throw in a MarkD chip and then a decent quality cat-back. Dyno results from MarkD's chip show an average of 15/16 hp/torque increase along the whole spectrum, and a lot more pep down at the low end. Add in a nice exhaust to fee up the M42's throat and whammy. The M42 318 is very underrated imo, lots of hate from people who haven't driven one.

However eta's have a lot of hidden power in them, just needs to unleashed :P