94 SL vs. 2000 BMW 528i

I have the 94 SL and I drove the BMW. The BMW felt like it had 300 HP compared to my SL (didn't get out of first gear, just parking it at Pep Boys where I work). It got me thinking, so I looked up the stats, and the BMW has only around 190 HP. So i'm a little lost on why it pushed me into the seat so hard, and my car doesn't. My tires can't grip the cold road too well so they always spin, but the BMW had all that torque at like 1500 RPM. Is it just a FWD - RWD thing? oh ya, and who would win in a race?

well a 2000 528 has a standard 2.8L I6 pushing almost 193hp...it sounds like it was a manual, so it weighs about 3500lbs...it also was RWD, so that helped give you that "slam into your seat" feeling. it also reaches its peak 206 ft-lbs of torque at 3500 RPMs.

a race between the 528 and an SL....my money is on the 528. newer, RWD, and BMW is known to underrate their HP numbers...

BTW: i got my info from here...
http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/spec_engines.aspx?modelid=3061&trimid=-1&src=VIP&tab=2&sub=1

dad's vette felt faster than my car (back when i had stock turbos) when i rode in it or drive it, yet mine ran away from it like it stole its gas cap

I'm thinking it's just the difference of FWD to RWD...I know my 5.7L Firebird feels faster than my SL, but I don't think it is.

the SL are a bit slower than the 5.7 lt1 motor firebirds. but the firebirds feel like they have twice the horsepower then again the firebird spends twice the gas. the firebird in my opinion is a more fun car to drive you feel like you're driving a rocket. but the suspension, reliability and gas milage are horrable

Oh my firebird is a 3rd gen and has the L98 (235 hp, 350 ft.lbs), and somehow I think it gets better gas mileage than my SL, i'm in the process of testing it though. The Firebird is faster from 0-60 im sure, but 0-100 I think the SL has it beat, I need a friend to race my car against me, but none of them want a ticket. A LT1 would kill the SL.

"Slamming into the seat" is more a matter of torque then HP. If you have a lower first gear the car can give you impression of more power. Also RWD has more components to stress so RWD acts more like a spring when you first give it some gas.

In a race, it depends on a race to what... To the next stoplight probably the BMW since the weight shifts favour it for traction. 1/4 mile probably your SL

hmmm cool! Not that anyone will ever race me...it seems no one ever wants to...the only race i had since i bought the SL was against a mid 90's dodge caravan lol.

I had the same problem, not enough ricers around to pick on :eek:.