Why Is My 323ci So Sluggish? Please Help!

[mando]

I have recently purchased a year 2000 323ci (70,000 miles) automatic. When I first purchased the car I noticed even on the test drive that the car was quite unresponsive. I noticed that the accelerator pedal was very hard to press. The car has not been modded in any way or form.

Yesterday I drove my friends brand new 325ci automatic and it’s around a hundred times more responsive than mine. Surely that can not be due to the fact that his car is brand new? His accelerator pedal actually felt like a manual accelerator pedal. I have also experienced kick down problems with my car and quite a lot of my friends who have driven the car have commented how stiff the gas pedal is and how sluggish it is. Also my average around town mpg is 22.

Has anybody else experienced this problem and is there anything that my BMW dealer can do?

Would modding help?

[2001BMW325xi]

What made you buy the car in the first place when it felt....as you said....sluggish to you on your test drive???? I mean that should have been a red flag right there. You could have gotten the dealer to look at that. I hope you got a whopping discount or sumthin like that. If not I have no clue why you would get that car! Of course now your only option is to get it shown to a mechanic (dunno if its has a CPO or extended warranty on it) and see what they say. If not then I guess you will have to live with the sluggish Bimmer....hey on the bright side its still a Bimmer........lol....slow....but still.

[Hootie361]

22mpg city driving and sluggish performance in comparison to your buddies new 325ci?

Sounds like somebody removed 2 of your cylinders. Check the trunk, they may have mounted them under the spare tire.

[peterkulesza]

it's an automatic, so it sucks baseline anyway. 23 also has less torque than 25.

3 liter a much better choice for an autobox.

[woobiee]

pedal issue: 2000 and under gets mechanical throttle (which i prefer) and 2001+ gets drive by wire

[corbeledg]

If you bought the car a while ago, lots of things could have deteriorated the performance over time, to where it was fine when you test drove it, and you never noticed the performance slowly dropping until you test drop a new car. Get all the servicing done, as even a simple oil change can recover a LOT of lost horsepower, along with a clogged air filter, and gunked up spark plugs.

I test drove both cars when making my decision, and there isn't a whooole lot of difference, although they're right in the previous posts by saying it's not as torquie