1988 325iX, Motor Trend Road Test. March 1988

[JasonC]

As title states..

[roguetoaster]

Very interesting stuff on the ABS system, hadn't read that before, now time for more reading!

Another good post!

[nando]

thanks Jason! - this might be one of the few original 325ix articles I haven't actually seen before :)

also, although I didn't learn anything new technically - whoever wrote this article did their homework. Few now today even know what that little black box on the driver's strut tower is for, and what affects on the car it has.. the explanation on the caster angle change was cool too. I bet most car reviewers today don't even know what any of that is - they just want to know if it supports CarPlay. :|


also, 0-60 in 8.5 seconds. yeeesh. I'm guessing they didn't know back in 1988, that the drivetrain would happily take hundreds of clutch drops at 6500rpm. :)

[The Dark Side of Will]

It still doesn't explain why BMW changed the caster angle. It's worth noting that they didn't for the later platforms (E34, E46 & onward). I don't think I've seen a good explanation of that yet.

Reducing the caster and lowering both inner and outer ball joints relative to the lollipops increases anti-dive, which I would expect due to the car's taller ride height.

The 15" wheels are necessary to package the front wheel drive knuckles, which are quite a bit larger than the RWD spindles in order to open up space for the outer CV joint in the middle of the strut, outer ball joint and tie rod end. All the other changes, like lowering the inner ball joints and moving the rack are all just to accommodate and work with the knuckle changes.

[nando]

I've posted that before. It has to do with braking and weight transfer, just like you said. It's been years since I saw the article where they talked about that, if I remembered where it was I'd post it.

BMW cut a lot of corners with the newer AWD cars (especially the E46), so I'm not sure they're that great of a comparison. Our E90 xdrive was OK in the snow (I liked it more than our Subaru), but it's not a 325ix..

[The Dark Side of Will]

Deleting the VC's from the T-Case and rear diff in favor of using anti-lock to control wheel spin seriously reduced the snow driving capability of the E46's vs. the E30's and E34's.

One thing that iX's *DO* have as a result of the lack of caster is lousy steering feel on dry pavement.

[nando]

Deleting the VC's from the T-Case and rear diff in favor of using atni-lock to control wheel spin seriously reduced the snow driving capability of the E46's vs. the E30's and E34's.

One thing that iX's *DO* have as a result of the lack of caster is lousy steering feel on dry pavement.

that's more the steering rack itself IMO. the newer AWD cars also have much poorer steering feel than the RWD versions even though they use the same suspension geometry as their RWD counterparts (actually, RWD E30s have pretty weak steering feel IMO).

BMW for some reason likes to put really slow racks on AWD cars, I suppose they are more optimized for winter conditions where you don't want people overreacting and causing a spin. When I jump from my E90 330i to the E30 it's like driving a bus. :p

[The Dark Side of Will]

I've been running my car without PS since my PS pump has a huge shaft seal leak.
When pushing it hard through some of my favorite merge ramps, the front end starts to slide with essentially no reduction of steering wheel torque. That's what I meant by "lousy steering feel". That effect is directly a result of not having any caster.

[Stuffy]

Deleting the VC's from the T-Case and rear diff in favor of using anti-lock to control wheel spin seriously reduced the snow driving capability of the E46's vs. the E30's and E34's.

One thing that iX's *DO* have as a result of the lack of caster is lousy steering feel on dry pavement.

I wouldn't go as far as saying it reduces its snow driving capabilities. My xi with snow tires is just as capable as my iX with similar tires to get me from point a to b in the middle of a blizzard...Its just not as fun to push in the dry I guess. That said the xi is definitely more predictable and safer with the DSC on or off.
The e46 would be a snow monster and waaay more fun to push if it had a VC in the center diff, along with one in the rear. One guy over on e46fanatics is talking about swapping his tcase for an e83s, but I think if an e34s could fit that would probably be ideal depending on how each is setup.

[Kershaw]

My xi with snow tires is just as capable as my iX with similar tires to get me from point a to b in the middle of a blizzard..

No it's not.

The e46 would be a snow monster and waaay more fun to push if it had a VC in the center diff, along with one in the rear.

That's true, that would give it the same capabilities of an ix.

Are you stroking out right now?

[Stuffy]

No it's not.

I think you missed my point... So here it is; Any awd vehichle with good snow tires can get you from point a to b in snowy conditions. Will you be able to drive like you're Seb Loeb and lay down comparable and closely competitive times whilst doing it probably not. That said, with the DSC turned off on my xi, I have just as much fun hooning around as I do with my iX, actually a tad more because I'm not afraid of there being any boost. :P

If you ever feel like coming up north to the pretty boy reservoir area the next time we really get a snow storm I could show ya some cool things around the mason dixon area.

Are you stroking out right now?

um wut?

[nando]

stroker build?

I think the biggest benefit to driving an E46 xi in the snow is if you put it into a ditch you won't care so much because they're not worth anything and they made 11 billion of them. :p

[Kershaw]

I think you missed my point... So here it is; Any awd vehichle with good snow tires can get you from point a to b in snowy conditions.

You said the xi would be just as good as the ix if it had LSD center and rear but then you also said it was just as good. That's 2 contradictory statements! :fishslap:

And you said it yourself, not all AWD vehicles are created equal.

[Stuffy]

You said the xi would be just as good as the ix if it had LSD center and rear but then you also said it was just as good. That's 2 contradictory statements! :fishslap:

And you said it yourself, not all AWD vehicles are created equal.

No you need to read what I actually said.

It all depends on the application. An XI and iX are perfectly competent under normal people point a to b applications. However when it comes down to motor sport applications thats where the 2 differ.

[nando]

That makes no sense. So you're either an average schmuck, or you're a race car driver? Nothing in between?