Useful power for a daily driver e30

[mr walker]

1st thing: I'm sure this thread has been made before. I Googled it and didn't immediately find anything. So there.

2nd thing: I realize this is a highly subjective question. People will probably disagree with whatever number you reply. Deal with it.

3rd thing: Look, we all [hopefully] know about HP vs TQ. Please don't turn this into one of those threads or I will e-stabyouinthefacewithasolderingiron you.

Now that's out of the way, what do you guys think is the maximum useful and practical power for a DD e30? Think about it this way: a good friend of mine had a turbo VR6 A3 Golf. It made 535whp. It was his daily driver. But it was a never ending rolling burnout. It wasn't "useful" or "practical".

There's obviously way more to this than power/torque...tires, power delivery, NA vs FI, etc. Feel free to chime in with all of that stuff too.

For reference, isn't there a guy on here that daily's a 400hp+ turbo m20?

[Kershaw]

300-400whp is fine for a daily.

[Joe G]

i used to daily a 490awhp S4....I miss those days.

[James Crivellone]

For a daily? Stock M20B25 without a chip, or perhaps an M50B25 non vanos for those, "I don't like timing belt" people.

I daily drive my e28 528e with a 2.93LSD and an M20B25 swapped into it. 25 - 30mpg, slow but its comfy.

[325ix]

IMO it's a matter of opinion. Some people are, are happy with eta engines. Some are happy with 500hp.

[Exodus_2pt0]

I loved my 400+whp GLI. I drove highway 95% of the time so it was a monster... Until the cyl #1 piston let go and my forged rod cut through the block like a miter saw....

I'm looking for 350WHP out of my m20 down the road, should be fine with RWD and good tires.

The GLI was worthless from anything but a 2nd or 3rd gear roll.

[mujjuman]

About 130 hp/tq is good enough for daily IMO.

Minimum I want is around 180hp

[VinniE30]

What's exactly is the point of this question?
You can daily drive anything.. You can daily drive a bugatti veyron.
It's simply a matter of your preference and money. It's a tradeoff between what you consider "fun"(if that's what you want) and money and reliability.
It depends on a lot of things, namely do you care about gas mileage and other costs?

Do you use that power everyday? Do you floor it everyday?

I daily an m30e30 and I love it, but it's not for everyone.

IMO, the best power for a daily e30 would be between 200-300hp. But it really depends on how you're getting that power and the engine. A S52 e30 is very daily drivable but a turbo m20 e30 will be less so.

[Killacortes]

For a daily? Stock M20B25 without a chip, or perhaps an M50B25 non vanos for those, "I don't like timing belt" people.

I daily drive my e28 528e with a 2.93LSD and an M20B25 swapped into it. 25 - 30mpg, slow but its comfy.

M20b25 drop right in with no mods?

[Holland]

OBD1 S52 will do wonders.

[Isostar13]

I've got a stock m20 right now. I could go for maybe an additional 35-50hp for dd.

[CoreyZ]

Another vote for S52 here. Seems just right - once a car gets too fast you can't really wring its neck without ending up at extremely extra-legal speeds or leaving a huge cloud of smoke, or both.

I've had the chance to drive a friend's C6 Z06 - 2nd gear ends at 90mph! As cop heavy as some of the area around me gets, it's hard to have fun with it on the street.

[5KWattson]

built S52 coming soon to my car obd1 conversion, smog legal because the idiots out here dont know the difference between m20's and 24v motors, and im sure ill get tired of it and want more, the question is not how much power is streetable in a car, its more or less how tame are you of a driver to use the power at hand

[scottinAZ]

Ill also agree with the 200-300 hp for a DD. any more than that, and the temptation to have fun gets too great, and with it the potential for a not-so-fun encounter with local law enforcement.

I dd my M50 swapped cabbie, and at about the 200 hp mark (as advertized, not dyno) it is powerful enough to have some fun, makes great noises, but isnt so powerful as to leave black tire marks at each takeoff if you dont feather the throttle.

In short, enough HP to keep from being bored to death, not enough to rot in jail if you use it.....

[dothadance]

stock m20. i have plenty of fun and it didn't cost me any extra money.