Ultimate Driving Machine

I've finally decided to part with the Rolla, after enjoying the thrills and spills for the past 4 years...I guess age is catching up and I now prefer the peace and quiet of the E34. An E34 did you say? That's a far cry from the Rolla! Well, for starters, the E34 was considered one of the most elegant shapes of its time, and even today, it still commands a loyal throng of devotees.

Well, my particular E34 was purchased in July 2006, and it was literally stock standard. How I got into the E34 is somewhat interesting. It was my fellow colleague, Yoga, who also happened to be the chap who sold me the Rolla, who got me interested. Mr Yoga had a particularly engaging way of sharing his automotive exploits that had one spellbound. Well, ok, spellbound is perhaps too strong a word. However, he related one incident that had me hooked - an E34, the M20B25, kept up with a turbocharged Nissan Skyline to his utter chagrin, all the way to Port Dickson. Of course the Skyline had superior acceleration, but at speeds exceeding 160kmh, the Bimmer tailed the Skyline easily and caused Mr Yoga to salivate at the backseat, wondering what could have been if the Bimmer was turbocharged itself. He went on to relate how the Bimmer sliced through corners like hot knife through butter; how it would draw up agonizingly close to the Skyline on long, sweeping corners, and how turbo lag meant the Skyline driver had to feather the throttle through the apex, allowing the E34 to nudge menacingly up his ASS...

Well, all said and done, I'm now enjoying this ride...well, I really have to, after spending a small fortune on maintenance...LOL. There isn't a whole lot of flashy performance gadgets that can be found for the E34, unlike the Rolla. But I can testify that this car CAN outcorner the Rolla by virtue of its 50:50 front:rear weight balance, and FR layout.

Since it is an auto, i initially missed the manual shifting action of the 6-speeder, but now, I can enjoy some level of serenity inside the car...It is definitely quieter, less NVH, and overall a more stable platform for cruising. Oh, and the driving position is also better suited to my 5'11" frame.

Of course, there are drawbacks, and one of them would be fuel consumption. Compared to the Rolla, the E34 can only muster approximately 8-9km per litre for my daily drive to work. I can't really complain because it weighs 1550kg, and has only about 270NM of torque.

270NM, you say? I thought the manual had it at 250NM. What gives? Aha, this is where I invested in a little bit of tuning in the form of a copper lead frame with a piece of lithographed silicon die, some gold wires and coated with black plastic mould. Well this little lump of thingamajig also contains some nifty ignition timing and fueling maps that allow a 1.5 tonne behemoth to run a little leaner while producing a little more grunt at the same time. How much? Well, I have not actually dyno'ed it yet, but the boast is +22BHP at 6000rpm and 20lb-ft at 4000rpm, 500 rpm lower than before... sweet.