Geez....I could only read up to post #61...I couldn't take any more. I don't know whether to laugh or cry...a few times I thought my head was gonna explode!
If anyone clicks the link and reads thru the thread...take note that all of this is based on something a "friend said"...and thinking they "feel" something (the few who thought there was a change).
All I could think was...OMG
do they understand their cars and what ATC is and how it works. The answer is OBVIOUSLY no...predicated on comments that were constantly repeated.
If you've read or understand the BMW technology that goes into ATC...most of the things they were writing could be explained or dismissed as the "placebo" effect someone over there so adaptly identified.
Myth busted: "previous owner" drives like a granny so that's why my car is sluggish.
Those comments are incorrect...ATC's (adaptive transmission control) driver influence feature DOES NOT retain data after the engine is turned off. Thus, if granny was driving the car, then handed the keys over to you...within seconds of receiving driver input from you...the car will adapt. (this is not a personal opinion but emperical data from BMW...see image below and text highlighted in red)
If anything...those that did "feel" something different...it wasn't that they "reset" the transmission...they probably (through measures they didn't know they were doing) put the tranny into the (adaptive) SPORT mode by initiating the
KICK FAST FEATURE. That was the first thing I thought as I read the "procedure" they gave. As you can see in the diagram below...driver influence can cause the tranny to adapt to 3 different (automatically selected) tranny modes:
- Extreme Economy - the one that most grannys (or folks that drive like sterotypical grannys) get.
- Economy - the mode most normal drivers get
- Sport - the tranny mode that aggressive drivers get
And by turning the car on...pressing the accelerator pedal and initiating the kick down switch for 20 seconds...probably tells the car's ECU that "we have an aggressive driver" so go to SPORT mode. Note how the car was engineered to take note of the accelerator pedal and how quickly it is pressed and how far it is pressed and for how long...
[NOTE: Extreme Sport MODE is manually initiated when the gear select lever is moved into S 4 or S 3 (dependent on if the car is a 4 or 5 speed tranny)...or moved into the "+/-" Sport Mode position for those with STEPTRONIC]
Well, that's my "opinion"...but perhaps I'm totally wrong.
BTW, if anyone is interested in more info about ATC (adaptive transmission control)...here's two links that has info:
1. (this is more current ATC info) -
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/739005/7
2. (official BMW bulletin released when ATC first came out in1994 e34) -
http://www.unofficialbmw.com/e34/spe...ive_trans.html