A few days ago, I was driving on a wide, three lane road in the city where I work. I was in the center lane, a white 540i in the left. As we pulled away from the light, the road ahead was clear. Just as I shifted into second, he punched it hard. Slick move, he entirely negated the WRX mad dog launch by waiting.

Responding to his provocation, I floored it, caught him and pulled a carlength or two as it came on full boost and neared the redline. But as soon as I shifted to third, he gained nearly all of it back and started inching alongside. We kept it up, it was a dead heat for a bit before we saw traffic coming up at the next light and mutually decided to back off. We both looked over at each other and laughed. :D

Pulling up that the next light, we rolled down our windows and exchanged pleasantries. LOL, it was a businessman in a tie and sweatervest. He said his buddy had just bought a WRX and wanted to see what they could do. He said he had Dinan mods upcoming, but nothing installed yet. My car has EcuTek reflash, catless uppipe, and some other mods. Nothing major but probably making ~ 280 crank hp at this time. I was impressed by that big sedan, and he was a cool guy. :)

Nice gentlemanly race! I didn't know Bill Gates drove a 540.

Buddy of mine has a 1997 540i with: 1) exhaust 2) chip and 3) air intake. We went to dyno"box" the car last weekend and he was making 285rwhp. His ride ain't no joke ;)

4-BNGR

Steve, you sound like a cool guy yourself. Nice run.

Cool. Thats the kind of friendly race that puts a un-stopable grin on your face. :D

Nice matchup. The higher up in speed you got, though, the stronger the 540i would've looked. At higher highway speeds, 540i's can walk away from E36 M3's.

Nice race

where in norcal are you at? geez how come i never find cool people on the road...only '92 accords and suv's punch it when they see me. lol

How fast were you guys going at the most?

Originally posted by Rel44 M3
Nice matchup. The higher up in speed you got, though, the stronger the 540i would've looked. At higher highway speeds, 540i's can walk away from E36 M3's.

I don't doubt that for a bit. The only other time I have encountered a 540i was on the track (road circuit) and the driver was pretty timid, but I don't doubt for a minute that such a car, built for high-speed running on the Autobahn, has got some serious triple-digit speed potential - way more than a WRX.


Thanks for the response, guys. As for the speed before we shut down, couldn't have been more than 65mph or so. The street was clear, but given the locale and the speed limit, pushing things further would not have been a smart idea.

I'm in Antioch, Sam - but work in Silicon Valley.

"couldn't have been more than 65mph or so"

Ah! You're smart! Those 540's really get moving when they hit triple digits and beyond...

Originally posted by SilverStreak
"couldn't have been more than 65mph or so"

Ah! You're smart! Those 540's really get moving when they hit triple digits and beyond...

Yep and wrx's aren't much up top...

I bet Steve's WRX is stronger up top than the average WRX, though. ;)

When I was at Road Atlanta I got passed by a 540i wagon. I wasn't going all out on the straight(saved that for the 996TT), but he pretty steadily walked past me. If I had been going full out I still think he would walk me above ~70-80mph. Don't know if it was modded at all(i'm stock powerwise).

The guy was a parapalegic too. He was really kicking some ass out there in that big arse wagon! :buttrock

Yeah, I used to race my old boss when I had my 99 Mustang GT and he had his 540i 6 spd. 0-70 mph I always got him. 70-100 mph I'd stop gaining ground and we'd stay even. 100-130/140 mph, he'd gain back whatever ground I gained on him from 0-70 mph and we'd be even.

We did this like 20 times in the 13 mos I worked for him, on our way home from work... :D

Oh yeah, those 540is are NO joke. They decieve you because of where they get there power, speed wise. Most cars that I can stay ahead of up to 80 mph never pass me afterwards. The 540i however will run close up untill those speeds and then suddenly pull past like it flicked on some afterburners as I stand helpless. All about the displacement...:awink: