The 540 I have now has Vanos where my earlier one (97) did not. Its strange as the rated horsepower stays the same 282. The hp curve for the Vanos one is about 30hp higher in the mid rpms and torque is higher through all ranges.

This makes it a good run against a 5l MB but acceleration is not what this car is specifically about. I have driven everything there is and the sum product add up to the best there is for my values. So many of the high HP MBs are so heavy feeling. The BMW feels like it owns the road, I caught my wife driving 100mph on the freeway while avoiding a bottleneck in 85mph traffic. The big MBs are too big and the mid size aren't sporty enough for me. I did have an E430 in between the two BMWs and I'll probably buy a 220 car soon to play with. I fix a lot of things I don't know how to operate: navigation, on-board computers and such, but it is best if I can experience ride and performance first hand to improve my diagnostic approach.

As example, I spent considerable effort recently trying to get my BMW to leave its lights on after parking at night, a feature the E430 had. I got into car and key memory only to find it already set up. It wasn't untill reading about the xenon lights that I discovered that the BMW has to have this feature initiated by a dipping of the lights. My first 540 I had for 3 years and never knew I could pull the high beams and get the lights to stay on for 40 secs (or 60, or 120, or 240 by programming).

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I think I agree with Geoff though about the car. I would buy a good car. I think you are better off to buy a good car than to buy cheap and try and build it. Good 126 cars are easy to find.

__________________
Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician