Let her drive her own damn car!... kidding (long) (archive)

0. The "Duh" solution - It's easy to get the adaptive program to set to aggressive mode. Have her put the pedal to the metal. Blaze a trail out the driveway. Run over the neighbor's dog. Screech to a halt at each stop light. Blast off on the green lights. It adapts real fast. But you have to keep driving that way all the time! Otherwise, it adapts back to dud.

1. The "simple" solution - Drop it in S4. The tranny will shift much later in the rpm's. But if your wife doesn't want to do that then she won't want to do #2 either.

2. The "classic" solution - turn on the manual program. Put the A/M switch in the M position. This will allow her to shift gears manually.

3. The "modestly expensive" solution - chip it. I installed a Dinan DME chip (approx $400) AND a Dinan transmission chip (approx $200.) You should get BOTH for the automatic 530. In the chipped D position it will perform like it does now in the unchipped S4 position. And your chipped S4 position will drive like ... whoa! Tranny will hold each gear up to the new 7000 rpm limit.

4. The "moderately expensive" solution. First you have to chip the car as in #3 above. Next you drop in a high stall speed torque converter. This will set you back another $1000 buckeroos. The tranny revs up to 2700 rpms before the car launches. This is where you start picking up the meaty part of the V8's torque curve. Your stock tranny launches at about 1900 rpms - that's total dudville.

The "ultimate" solution. Ralph, I'm surprised you haven't figured this out yet. Don't you realize that what your wife is actually saying is "I want an M3/M5/M-whatever!" Jeez - haven't you figured out women yet???? It was pretty obvious when you mentioned that she declined the simple solution. ;0)

: My wife is complaining my 530i has no "get up and go". this is really starting to annoy me -- the adaptive automatic transmission is a real dog. What can I do? Can I bypass it or some how set it in a more aggressive upshift mode. Will chipping do much good? I keep telling her to drop it in S4, but she wont do it. Your help would be greatly appreciated. My wife is making my life miserable.

: Ralph
: 95 530i

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