123d owner baffled by 1st gear!

[chompy]

Hi, firstly thanks to all for the excellent advice available on here for us lurkers, helpd me make what im currently considering to be a very smart choice:
123d msport coupe manual on a 10 plate (B/sapphire & lemon, lots of extras)

Even during the run in (which 90% of the time ive been carefully abiding by the general consensus), driving through coastal A roads 30-70mph has been an absolute blast, motorway driving has been a breeze with brilliant acceleration when required.

However, a small, and at first quite a major but…1st gear…verging on useless when driven like I usually would (no pre-revving just clutch out and steady application of accelerator) . It’s exceptionally sluggish if just trying to gradually accelerate with any decent launch speed only accessible if I stick the revs up to 2k+ hold on the clutch and launch it then immediately change to second- messy and not easily controllable!

Now I’m fully aware of the twin turbo set up and once it kicks in its great- but trying to gradually accelerate away in 1st is next to useless and actually find it easier for a controlled, strong pull away from stop doing it in second.

Any thoughts on the best way to consistently start and get close to the claimed 0-60 gratefully accepted!

I don’t want to be a boy racer, but if you want to pull away strongly in 1st unless you pre rev and hold on clutch, pulling away is so underpowered that a van kicked my ass before I had time to shift to second!
This acutely depressed me,made me think twice about the car and took a couple of days to actually figure out whether I could live with this, as I really don’t want to have to launch the car every time I want a decent bit of speed from lights….and pulling away in second is the only way ive managed to achieve this.

One more thing while im waffling away…im looking at a map (of course).

Has anyone done this and does it make a marked difference to the performance from standing start?

Many thanks,

Matt

[aksundog]

First gear kills me too in my 135 manual. I basically think of it as the little push I need to get to the real gears.

[123D-M]

Yeah I know what you mean. Part of the problem is the stupid clutch delay valve that makes changes from 1st to 2nd so clunky. Maybe investigate removing that. I haven't done it yet but probably should cos it annoys me.

Anyway, after 18 months I've got pretty good at taking off from the lights although anyone with an automatic can kick my arse for the 1st 100m.

[chompy]

cheers guys, i thought it was just me...

i actually test drove it in auto, as never having driven an auto before i thought would be a good time to. It was great but just a little uninvolving..so i thought ..stick with manual...if its this good in auto manual will be great fun...

HOwever, within an hour of delivery i was thinking....maybe this should be recommended as an auto car first then manual...and maybe my shoulder willl disintergrate before the first service is up as the first to second gear is really notchy and it takes a real yank (no pun intended!) to change..

But pulling in second for 95% of the time seems to set the turbo up easily and means only two changes to 60 which helps with only a small loss of time but much more controllable...

INteresting to hear the 135i is similarily redundant as i thought it would rev freely with pretty instant power...

i guess ill experiment but unless the gear box and 1st gear 'power' improve rapidly as the cars run in its gonna continue to be a real chore to make that first change!!

Which is a shame as other than that it absolutely amazing car.

Also made me wonder as to whether the 125i has the same problem with 1st or whether as theres no turbo it just flies from the off??

[rocketship]

That's bad luck fella's! I vaccilated between getting manual or Steptronic in our 123d coupe, I preferred manual, my lady wanted auto... So after trying manual 135i and auto 125i and 320d and 123d we decided that steptronic was the way to go with the deisel motor. Absolutely no regrets, as it is a marriage made in heaven because the gearbox does the work and take-off is beautifully fast. Especially in Sports mode, have not been beaten yet. But stangely a VW turbo diesel van had a wee go before I actually floored the pedal- that decisively was the end of his effort. Mind you any semi-serious street machine would pop me away, but in their absence I end up waaaay in front of even enthusiastic drivers. Takeoff is smooth and fast, start on half throttle then push a bit harder, never needed full throttle. Amazing the way it rips thru the gears, still getting used to the weird way deisels don't go past 5000rpm, but they get there so quick, and then they are right in the middle of the torque band again, whhheee! So my friend swallow yr pride, don't listen to the people who only love manuals, trade 'er in on a Steptronic you'll never be sorry!!

[chompy]

Now, since the original post has been made i have been practising the fine art of second gear take offs (And to be fair 1st gear itself has loosened up dramatically since then too) and a steady application of foot to throttle while letting out clutch has seen me too undefeated from any any sub M/serious car.
Some online dude kindly informed me that the auto’s select 2nd near as dammit as soon as you apply a decent amount of throttle anyway and since then ive been flying with no fuss!!

No that i have unlocked this little secret im more than happy with my choice and while im sure an auto would have the slight beating of me 7/10 times from 50 yards onwards i will be having more fun!

Now i realise this is a very childish arguement here and of course i woudl have been more than happy with swapping my manual for the 20 mins of clutch/first/cltuch neutral nonsense on the way to work this morning and especially for trips home from the gym when my left leg gets the jitters...and of course ideally if i could have two cars i'd for sure have a 123d auto and a beast of a manual convertible for the few days of decent weather we get....

but either way...what a car! 40mpg even when driven as hard as my limited talent allows!! Its going in for a map soon which should see off a further margin to traffic light heros..and then its pretty much perfect...

except for that damn rattle at idle!!!

i have the opposite problem with the 5000k rev thing. Having driven diesels for the past 5 years wheni tried the 125i seemed alot of bluster to get half of the performance outta mine and i felt a little embarrased witht the amount of activity...kinda like i was trying to hard..in the 123d it jsut quietly kicks your a*s!!

Now i drove a 330d vert the other day in auto...that was a little tasty and i wont be attempting to take on that till at least a mapping has been performed!

My friend has just got an A5 coupe (180bphp) and while it looks gorgeous thats its best trick...which i think would kinda get tiring quickly....

cheers to the aussie dude though for some informed 123d discussion !!!

[BMW86]

I'm looking at maybe buying an X1 with the same engine found in the 123d. I'll let you know how the test drive goes. I'm pretty excited

[chompy]

BMW86 - good luck dude.

I see you also got a 135i. Now as much as i love the 123d, if we went taxed to the hilt on petrol (diesel is also ludicrously expensive and rising) i'd love one of those!

But with petrol at 125p a litre it'd cost around £60 to do a couple of hundred miles driving not like a mad man....

and if you got a 135i.....then surely you gotta at least get the best out of it!!

ive seen one x1 in black so far..and to my untrained eyes it looked liked the best suv out there.....

so ive lined up a mapped 123d for everyday use, a 135i vert for the weekend, and an X1 for the few times i'd need to pick up nephew from school and clearly need an suv to not arouse suspiscion and some kind of parental fitness exam and license for the honour!

loved the 330d engine...just why make the 3 series so goddamn big?????

[rocketship]

Good comments re "busy high revving motors" in the 125i after getting used to the torquey 123d. I loved the 125i but know what you mean - and the 135i is manic! I also drive a 1967 Jaguar 420, 4.2 litre petrol twin ohc etc - also redlined at 5000rpm! Nowhere near the stonk of the half it's size diesel motor, amazing how technology has gone! But no way a standard 123d will really compete with a standard 135i, look at the kw difference 123d 150kw, 135i 200kw, both have same torque 400 nm - but diesel torque max at 2000 is the secret to a really quick and easy to drive machine - no big skills needed to look and feel good in the 123D, embarrasingly easy to look a hero - until you meet the right car driven by someone with high skills!! I love manual gearbox cars, but the 123D Steptronic is so well calibrated for engine/gearbox that I can't imagine a better/more rewarding drive - especially as enthusiatic driving is also rewarded. If you select Sports mode the result is frenetic acceleration and neck-jerking gearchanges too - fantastic buzz! But we're all winners, not a fart in any of 'em.http://www.1addicts.com/forums/image.../happyanim.gif

[ksparks]

In about 6 months of ownership, the only cars that have jumped on me at a red light were a corvette and a GT500. I never look to race, but I do get up to 40 mph pretty fast. I would never launch a car on at a red light. This is a 135i with STEP.

No chance in hell a every day car like a Camry, or Accord, let alone a van would even be able to pull on me.

From what I understand, the STEP a gearing advantage compared to mt. I was reading some post on n54tech (considering JB3), and some people are launching in M2.

[moff]

Tuned 135i convertible with a short shift gearbox... spot on.

1st gear is fine, but like ALL cars with a lot of torque and ponies, it's always going to end in a blaze of wheelspin if you don't have control.

[Taymaishu]

Driving an STi is terrible like this - you're done with 1st after 10 metres and once you get into second it feels like a stall Much easier and what i believe is faster to have launched in 2nd.

[3liter1]

Very odd. I would have expected a diesel to have great low end torque. Interestingly the 128i is the opposite. The key to driving my car fast - without a 2k RPM launch, is once the clutch is engaged - floor the gas and redline it in first - then fast shift to 2nd. Needless to say it is very engaging and takes quick reflexes to keep up with the engine revs and shift before the limiter sets in at the top of first gear.. Then 2nd gear is also fast. If you don't do the full throttle redline trick from 1st, the car is much slower in 2nd, as it does not have the low end torque.

[123dst2mt]

Shifting from1 to 2 anyway is totally awful. I thought about change diff from stock to 2.35, then first gear be longered to 52 km/h, but shifting itself not change. Plus for some reason there is no boost on first gear, feels like no torque on this gear, speed gains only by Rpm. Then I thought, If I use car only in town, I don't need high speed, and then it would be good idea to skip first gear and shifting to second by putting extremely short diff, 4.11 from automatic transmission. Then second gear would be like first, shifting to third would be at 52 km/h. In holyday, when I go for a long trip at highway, I can change diff to 2.35, what give me good economy at high speed.