safe rpms

[poorhows2000]

since my car seems extremely low geared, what is a safe rpm for cruising about 200 miles.... is 4000 rpms for 200 miles just too much of a load??? i really baby this car and usually cruise at 3400 or 70 mphs.

[2ndBimmer]

Ive done 3 hour drives while between 3500 and 5500 rpm (70-120 mph), traffic and road depending with no problems.
Also took a trip down to SC, from MD, in 6 hours. Car is fine.

[schussey]

i drive from birmingham to charlotte quite frequently, doing about 85 the whole time. RPM at like low 4's

[Phil Marx]

When I bought my '98 ti last month I drove it home to Virginia from Houston. Seems like it took something like 15 hours of driving to do the 1300 miles and my trip comuter showed an average of 72mph including down time looking for motels, gas, food, directions, etc. Mostly I was running 80-85 mph for a relatively constant 15 hours getting over 32 mpg in an automatic with a 4.44 diff and running something around 5000rpm the entire time. But then it's a BMW and what do you think they do with them in Germany?

-Phil

[schussey]

phil- how you liking the ti so far?

[Phil Marx]

It's doing fine! One false-start, literally, when I moved it 10 feet and it wouldn't start the next morning, was a bit disconcerting. My oldest daughter drove it for the first time and did fine with it, and that was the point. We're loving the MP3 player even more than I thought. too. Really a pretty nice stereo system in the car if you throw out the factory head unit! 150 tracks on one CD is way better than a trunk changer.

I still like the looks and the drive. Worst problem right now is a noisy final drive, but what the heck, it's got 120k on it. It's entitled to make SOME noise. I was disappointed to hear that BMW NA might change their mind and not bring the 1 Series to the U.S. at all now. Not even the coupe or sedan. Y'all up for a letter writing campaign?

-Phil :D

[schussey]

heh you give me a pen, i'll help start something :)

[Phil Marx]

You can try Rich Brekus (BMWNA's VP for product planning). E-mail configuration should be something like this: Rich.Brekus@bmwna.com

Remember, they already think ti owners are nutz! If you can back-up your support of the 1 Series by your purchasing history or intent, they'll pay more attention.

-Phil