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RC , I read with amusement what deaf eras you were " speaking" to on that E55 "lowering " topic at that other forum. Most of those guys want the go fast look even if it actually slows them down - like bouncy suspensions and 20 " wheels that add 50 lbs of unsprung weight. That forum seems to fit the MBZ stereotype with much talk of cosmetic enhancements , electronic gee whiz OEM gizmos ( that often don't work )and straight line speed - I'd swear I was in a Corvette forum. There was even a recent group rant on not having a compass on US cars as standard - I guess they are as "direction challenged" as someone with Alzheimers . On the BMW and Audi forums , you get a lot more gear head and handling talk .
BTW , have you driven the new Audi A8L over there yet ? Amazing car compared to the current S and current 7 . Bigger than both but when I flung that thing around last weekend and in the dynamic mode , it felt like driving a 3200 lb sports car - puts the S and 7 to shame in handling feel. Has beautiful interior vs the busy , lotsa plastic MBZ and needlessly quirky BMW . The MMI was so easy to use - all intuitive , not like the hundreds of pages of Command owners manual and I Drive instructions . Dealer told me W12 A8L and S8 coming for sure and an RS8 ( sign me up ) with twin turbo 650 hp version of the Bentley GT motor might make it to the US - whoa !
You're right. I'm also surprised to see how many
young people in the 20s drive a E55 in the US which over here in Germany is actually a car for older people.
Young buyers with money over here usually go for the SL55.
What I also don't understand is how people do "experiments" with their cars, putting non-approved tire/rim sizes to them, playing around with suspensions, electronics and the ECU software. German authoroties would confiscate such cars immediately because they're not safe.
To give you an example: some people in the US put 20'' rims on their SL55. AMG has constantly warned that with 20'' rims/tires, the inner part of the tire gets too hot.
Now imagine you have a speed delimited car over here and you run for 5 minutes at night on the Autobahn at top speed. BOOOOOOMMM.
Only one example.
I really don't understand it (and this applies to Porsche drivers too): people buy a car for 80000 USD, 100000 USD or even 150000 USD and then they apply a 1000 USD ECU mod to it. Ouch!
Or even worse: they play around with setups, configurations and add non-approved rims/tires or other parts to their cars. These people don't love their life?
To give you another example: I applied a cheap ECU upgrade to my 996 Turbo at the beginning because I didn't want to spend big money for mods. I should have know better from my experience with such mods (especially the warnings I got from some friends from Zuffenhausen) but hey, greed sometimes blocks rational thinking. The ECU upgrade worked fine for a few months (it was cold outside) and I was happy and started to doubt the warnings I received from official sources. Then one day, it was hot (around 30*C), I drove at around 310 kph in a wide Autobahn curve when my boost pressure
instantly dropped from 1.0 bar to 0.5 bar. Again: this happened suddenly and unexpected at 310 kph in a wide Autobahn curve. I almost lost control of the car and I'm still surprised nothing happened.
I found out later that the motronic went into one of the emergency setups which reduced boost pressure to avoid engine damage. There was no reason for going into emergency program but I found out that the ECU programming hasn't been done properly and the self diagnose system reacted. Only one example, I could give you more.
How about this: a Cayenne Turbo with modified airsuspension setting. At around 240 kph the suspension went up! Ouch.
One reason why good Porsche tuners still don't offer such a mod for the Cayenne until such problems are ruled out.
New cars out there like 996 Turbo, E55 AMG, etc. are technical masterpieces. Now try to imagine how much money, effort and time are involved in developping and especially testing such cars to make sure they work flawlessly in any situation. Nobody knows their cars better than the manufacturers. Nowadays with so much electronics involved, it is almost impossible to work on cars as people did a few years ago. Another reason why I sometimes really have to wonder how people want to save money by servicing and repairing their hightech vehicles at independent repair shops. This is insane.
Safety warnings from manufacturers are not connected to marketing anymore like it was a few years ago maybe.
If Porsche tells people not to mount 19'' rims on their cars, it has a reason. If AMG tells people not to mount a certain tire on their cars, it has a reason. But people don't trust companies and this is weird. I mean they buy their products, they enjoy the capabilities of these products and they really think that a Tuner with 5 people working there in some dirty rear yard could make their cars better? This is ridiculous.
It needs a lot of experience, testing and unofficial connections to the manufacturer of the cars to be able to offer a good Tuning. Most Tuners don't stand to that, they just want to make fast money. I remember talking to a Porsche Tuner in the US a while ago on the phone (he wanted some information I wasn't able to give because I didn't have it) and when I asked him about the risk involved, he just told me "most customers just want more power, they don't know how to drive fast and they never drive that fast here in the US, so there is no risk". I don't know if this sounds right to you...
Yes, I would love more power on my E55. I would love a more sporty suspension setup and I'd love to be able to turn off the ESP. But after years of experience, I doubt that I can get that from
cheapaftermarket sources.
Brabus asks almost 18000 EUR for 54 horses more.
I found a Tuner who asks only 5000 EUR for the same power.
When I tried to get more information what is involved in the 5000 EUR upgrade, I got a pretty weird description.
The best part: no warranty and the Tuner told me "what should happen, these engines from AMG are good for at least 600 HP". So if they're good for 600 HP, why doesn't AMG offer at least 550 HP upgrade as a factory option?
Brabus is a respected company, they have direct ties to DC as an official partner for the SMART and they offer warranty for their work. Just an example.
I came to the conclusion
not to do any upgrades on my E55 which are not authorized by AMG.
Simple reason: the E55 is my family car and I want it to be 100% safe and technically reliable.
Next week, AMG will do the 300 kph top speed upgrade, maybe some gearbox adaptation and the height optimization on my car. If they offer the 19'' Style IV wheels, I might go for them too (they're not available yet for the E55). That's it.
Since I own my E55, I didn't encounter any car on the Autobahn which was faster, including a F355, a F360, a 996 C2, a 996 Turbo, a BMW M5, SL 55 AMG, etc. So what do I want more?