330i, love the high revs, future issues ?

[Razor2010]

Hey,

2006 330i, autobox/step and must admit after it is warm I love putting it in manual mode and keeping it between 3800 - 6500rpms at all times. Car feels so responsive and very quick if you keep it in this range especially 4500+. My questions:

I judge warm by waiting till the oil level sensor shows the oil level, should it be warm enough by then to rev it hard ?

Am I putting extra stress on my auto box by driving in manual mode and keeping it in the 3800 - 6500 range vs. just driving in auto mode or even DS mode ?

People have said these engines love to be rev'd but is it putting a lot more stress on the engine if it is always driven in the higher rev range or this actually good for it because of extra load when pottering around at 1500 - 3000 rpms ?

Do I have to let it cool down or do anything special after driving like this or can I just shut it down and the radiator will do its thing if needed to cool it off.

Again, if you drive in auto around town between 1500 - 3000 rpms it can feel quite unresponsive and almost a timid car but if you use manual selection and keep it in the higher rev range it feels very quick and responsive with 3rd gear between 4000 - 6500 rpms being the sweet spot.

Thoughts, input, ideas, advice welcome. Thanks:D

[mryakan]

That is the way I also judge the engine is warm, not totally accurate, but good enough.
It is no big deal to rev the engine, but I would not keep it at high RPM all the time, just when you need it or want to have fun. That is why there are 6 gears. Definitely there is extra load at higher RPM, but would not hurt to do it every now and then, but for normal driving, I'd say keep it below 4500 for any extended period of time. It can handle more, but as mentioned, no need, esp. with North American speed limits. Just shift down when needed. Better fuel economy too since it just drinks gas at higher RPMs.

[Razor2010]

That is the way I also judge the engine is warm, not totally accurate, but good enough.
It is no big deal to rev the engine, but I would not keep it at high RPM all the time, just when you need it or want to have fun. That is why there are 6 gears. Definitely there is extra load at higher RPM, but would not hurt to do it every now and then, but for normal driving, I'd say keep it below 4500 for any extended period of time. It can handle more, but as mentioned, no need, esp. with North American speed limits. Just shift down when needed. Better fuel economy too since it just drinks gas at higher RPMs.

Hey, thanks for the response. I live on an island 21 x 7 miles so it's 100% 'city' driving all the time for me :D If I were highway driving I would def just place it in regular auto mode and let it do its thing in 6th gear but for my short trips at 'low speeds' with twist, turns, stops etc I like to keep it high in the rev range almost on every outing. I plan to change the oil every 7,500 miles so hopefully this helps with the short trip, high rev driving. I was thinking about doing 3k - 5k oil changes but from lots and lots of reading and research about the bmw oil used it seems it would be a waste and even with 'stressed' driving the oil can make 7,500 miles no problem without breaking down. I also dont like to redline it very often at all mostly shifting at 6500 rpms max.

How about the autobox, what are your thoughts on that? All the research on this has me baffled, some say dont ever change the fluid and some say change every 30k miles. One 'expert' said they he just cant figure out the autoboxes and would never buy one because some that have the fluid changed every 30k die at 70k miles and some that have never had the fluid touched haven't died at 120k miles+.......no ryhme or reason which is why he would only ever get a manual, but I guess this is a whole other debate :devillook I am just happy the e90 2006 US spec 330i has the ZF autobox :D:alright:buttrock

Thanks again for the replies :D