It breaks my heart that our car performs soooooo poorly at high altitude. Supercharger is definitely the way to go to get the beast back from these beauties.
Quote:
Originally Posted by radiofrequency
My house is at 6 700 feet, and I regularly tool about up to about 10 000 feet. It's all I've ever known with my M3. Prior to this I had a 335 at sea level, then moved up here, with that same 335. From my limited understanding of such things, altitude does not much impact a turbo car, and my 335 pulled strongly through the canyons. When I switched to the M3 from the 335, there was a noticeable difference in the way the cars pulled up long hills in the 6 000 - 8 000 ft. range. Take it from a simple guy (when it comes to all the torque/power conversations here), the M3, in 5th gear, when floored spools up a little slower than the turbo, but it seems (to me) that it pulls longer and harder with much less effort (that's what she said). My X5 35d is very similar to my 335 in that, yes, it has stump pulling power, but a very narrow power band - thanks to an eight speed transmission though, it gets the job done for a heavy vehicle. So, my conclusions about living at altitude, yes, your car has lost some of its power, but it remains one of the best kick ass values out there, for the money. I would concur with you that a supercharger is the way to go - I never thought much about this until I drove my girlfriends F150 Quadcab (yes she wears the wifebeater t-shirt in our house). Even towing a Moomba, it pulls effortlessly at 6 000 + feet, and totally sold me on supercharging (whatever that is!)  |