Runaway BMW

[Rave]

I call BS too, although I suppose if he was worried about the steering locking he might have refused to turn off the ignition. The throttle on my Nissan Prarie 1.8 jammed wide open at about 75 once when I was on my way to work. I suppose I should have pulled over to the hard shoulder and tried to unjam it but I was late so I just drove it the rest of the way (about 2 miles) using the ignition key to switch the power on and off. I even negotiated a roundabout, and only revved the hell out of the engine once.

[dave87]

I hate BMWs numbering system... the 316 has a 1.9 and the 318 a 2.0? Crazy...

nah, the 318 has a 2l, 4 pot engine
the 320 also has a 2l, but 6 pot engine

[Howard]

No, actually the 316 has a 1.6 4cyl, the 318 has a 1.8 4cyl (top speed 124MPH, 130 on the speedo prob), and the 320 has a 2l 6cyl.

The above applies to the E36 3 series that this pillo.......guy was driving anyway.

[davidstone28]

I agree that he should've turned the engine off - unless this varies from car manufacturer to car manufacturer, the steering wouldn't lock unless he took the key out.

As for trying to slow down by scraping along or crashing into armco barriers, I'm not so sure that I would have fancied that - they sort of act like elastic bands, with the posts being ripped out of the ground as it absorbs kinetic energy from the velocity of the car.

[behappier]

I think turning the engine off would have lost the assistance on the brakes and the steering but I can't believe that
1. The brakes would not stop the car - they are always more powerful than the engine
2. The gearbox - even auto - was jammed.
The guy was full of c**p.

[davidstone28]

Yeah, its a very peculiar story - jammed throttle, jammed autobox, no brakes, not prepared to turn off the engine (despite advice from the police) ...all very odd.

[dave87]

Howard, its not - I thought the same till I went to Brussels to pick up a 5 Series - got driven in a 3 series from the airport - the dealer explained all...

318d * £22,345 Diesel 20% 1995cc Yes 50.4 mpg 10.6
318i * £19,995 Petrol 22% (25%) 1995cc Yes 38.7 (35.8) mpg 10.0 (11.0)
320d * £23,485 Diesel 20% (25%) 1995cc Yes 49.6(42.2) mpg 8.3 (8.6)
320i * £21,625 Petrol 22% (25%) 1995cc Yes 38.2(35.8) mpg 9.0 (9.8)

Taken from BMW.co.uk

[davidstone28]

I think Howard's right actually.

Its an E36 old shape BMW and not the current model that he was driving.

From memory the 318i saloon is 1.8l and pretty underpowered at that - 115bhp or something around that. I used to have a 318is coupe which had a 1.9 140bhp engine but it was a very different engine to the one in the saloon.

[5lab]

Yeah, its a very peculiar story - jammed throttle, jammed autobox, no brakes, not prepared to turn off the engine (despite advice from the police) ...all very odd.

quite true - think how fast you can get from 60-0 compared to getting from 0-60.

he's full of sheet imo

[dave87]

I think Howard's right actually.

Its an E36 old shape BMW and not the current model that he was driving.

From memory the 318i saloon is 1.8l and pretty underpowered at that - 115bhp or something around that. I used to have a 318is coupe which had a 1.9 140bhp engine but it was a very different engine to the one in the saloon.

oops my bad - it was the model that started in 1999 that I was refering to

[Stoo]

For all these people calling BS - why the hell would he deliberately crash it into the roundabout if he didn't have a problem and was just ragging it for the hell of it? At 130 that's just suicide, hell that's just suicide even at half that speed!

Just because the guy is on benefits doesn't make him a boyracing moron, or any of the various other things you lot have seen fit to call him..

[davidstone28]

He's doing 130mph with no brakes, the accelerator's jammed........

"But doing that sort of speed there was no chance and I hit the roundabout head on."

And he walks out of the car without even a scratch on his body.

Head on crash into a roundabout at 130mph? Not a scratch on his body?

Eh?

[Rave]

The reason I personally am calling BS Stoo is that there was a very famous case a few years ago of the driver of an articulated lorry having the exact same problem. He claimed that his throttle had stuck open and that he couldn't stop; he called the police and they shut down the entire motorway he was on while he careered along at 80mph in his 40-ton truck. When he finally crashed after about 30 miles the press hailed him as a hero, and the police didn't say much.

A year and a half later he served time in prison after all the tests on his truck revealed that there was nothing wrong with it and he'd staged the whole thing as an attention seeking exercise. I'd provide linkage were it not so hard to get good google results for news stories.

Innocent until proven guilty- so I'm not going to be so bold as to say outright that this guy is a nutter- but I will say that it doesn't ring true. I was 20/21 when my throttle stuck open on the motorway, I'd driven no more than 5000 miles by that point, and far from calling the police in tears I knew exactly what to do.

Edit: re the autobox querstion though- has anyone here actually tried forcing an auto from Drive to Neutral at full throttle? I don't know how autoboxes work, but I wouldn't necessarily fancy my chances with a manual box with the full power of the engine pinning the gears in place. That much at least is believable.

[5lab]

i've never had difficulty pulling a manual out of gear with any throttle position - due to the way manuals work (with syncromesh) its firm, but by no means impossible..

bit more here -> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...080205,00.html

it does say speeds of 'up to 130', but still, bs imo. i've not driven a car where the brakes wouldnt hold the car (even at full throttle), and lets face it an automatic bimmer 318 is hardly the most powerful thing in the world. yes, you'll cook the brakes if you leave them half-on for 20 miles, but if you flatten your foot when you realise you'd be fine.

[Howard]

If you have a manual gearbox you just push the clutch in

Surely you'd just damage the torque converter or something in an autobox.. Seeing as the lever isn't "directly connected" to the gearbox like a manual? Unless I'm wrong

[Konan555]

Surely you'd just damage the torque converter or something in an autobox.. Seeing as the lever isn't "directly connected" to the gearbox like a manual? Unless I'm wrong

You can notch an auto into neutral at any engine speed. I'm pretty sure it disconnects the torque converter form the engine (well it feels like it anyway).

And I doubt it'd damage it, you don't even have to push the button in to get neutral on all the autoboxs I've had.