[dealer]

The BMW F30 320i LCI is one of the rarest cars that BMW sold in India. Being a CBU import with 184hp and 270nm, this car never did well in terms of sales in the country due to the existence of the 320d. The 20d had greater torque with the same hp (184hp and 400nm) and in our efficiency centric society, the economy figures of both cars wasn't even comparable. So for the sane-minded the 20d was an obvious pick but for petrol heads, the 20i was still quite alluring (in the absence of the 30i).

Powertrain
In stock form this car is as tame as one can be and while it is decently quick (0-100 in 7.3 seconds), the car was never an enthusiast's delight. The low and midrange had enough oomph to put a smile on the driver's face but the top-end lacked that grunt one's looking for in a fast petrol sedan.
Before purchasing this vehicle, I took time to understand the powertrain and of this vehicle. Knowing that the car came with the B48 engine that was shared with the 330i (*although 20i has higher compression) I knew there was potential to harness the true potential of this engine.

My first step in this journey was installing a bootmod3 stage 1 remap. The experience is highlighted here. This remap totally transformed the car. Although my cost of ownership skyrocketed due to solely using 99RON or 100RON with the tune, the performance benefits were well worth it. My car was doing a 100-200kmph run in 14.42secs (dragy verified). The 0-100kmph time only came down to a disappointing 5.96secs due to wheelspin and terrible launch conditions (runflats on cement roads).
PS - All runs were/are performed on closed roads.



There was however room for improvement. My goal was to bring 100-200kmph times down to the 12s and to do this, I went ahead and brought a downpipe from MAD-USA Link here and went ahead with a ots stage 2 tune. The ots tune however wasn't well polished and I did not see a performance gain but just an improvement in drivability due to faster turbo spool.



I knew I had to get a custom tune as well as invest in a gearbox tune to reach my target times. Hence last week, I pulled the trigger on a custom stage 2 100 RON tune from Navardi Tuned and a xhp stage 3 gearbox map! While the custom tune is still in progress with 5 revisions already in the past two days, these mods have made turned this docile machine into an absolute rocket ship. Even in the initial stages of the tuning process, my car's pushing out north of 300hp and 450nm of torque. After the tuning process is completed, I intend to get a dyno session at gttunerz, Delhi to actually see the delta created by the custom tune and verify the claimed power figures.

In my opinion even if one chooses not to remap their ECU, the TCU remap is a must for every F30 owner. The car now downshifts lightning fast in manual mode and comfort mode is smoother than stock! The exact benefits of the TCU tune can be looked up here. The TCU tune costed 350USD and the custom Navardi Tune costed an additional 500USD. Both being well worth it in my opinion.

Vehicle Dynamics
As we all know, power is not the only thing required to make a car enjoyable. The F30 exhibited a decent amount of body roll from factory thus taking away from the sports sedan feel of this vehicle. To counteract this, I chose to install a set of Anti Roll Bars. When it came to choosing a set of ARBs, the aftermarket was filled with offerings from eibach, H&R etc. but the endless options only added confusion in the purchase process. This thread on bimmerpost talks about the various options available and highlight the need for balance while installing ARBs as suspension spring rates play a huge roll in their performance. Seeing that I was gonna stick to either stock or a mildly stiffer suspension in the future, I chose to import a set of Front and Rear ARBs from the 440i LCI M Sport as recommended by many in the thread.

The front ARB went from a thin 22.5mm bar to a solid 25.2mm bar and the rear from a 12mm to a 15mm solid bar. These upgraded bars made the car much more direct and my experience with them has been amazing. Little to zero roll in corners with negligible difference in comfort over bumps and rough surfaces. For anyone contemplating the purchase, the part numbers are - Front (6792120) and Rear (6853476).

Fellow 320i owner @PrithwiRay made a video about his experience with ARBs on the 20i that I suggest you watch as It largely resonates with mine.

ARBs

Boring but much needed mods
The added power of the stage 2 tune called for a much needed brake upgrade thus I chose to order a set of front discs and calipers from the 330i. Although many believe that the F30 generation in India largely share the same brakes, it is not the case for the front brakes but only the rears. The brake packages for the F30 model generation are as follows -
320i - 300mm disc upfront with a 54mm single piston caliper.
320d - 312mm disc upfront with a 57mm single piston caliper.
330i - 330mm disc upfront with a 57mm single piston caliper.

It is interesting to note that the 20d and 30i share calipers but the mounting adapter of the caliper is different thus allowing a larger disc to fit on the 330i. 20d owners looking for an upgrade can simply purchase new discs and the mounting adapter while using the same pads for improved braking performance.

I also performed a basic mod on my intake to improve airflow. More details of which can be found here. (DIY: Intake mod for the BMW 3-Series (F30))

Future Plans
I intend to install a strut brace upfront to make the steering even more direct and add a bit more feel on center. Furthermore, I am in two minds about a bilstein b12 upgrade that might happen if the traffic and road conditions in my city improve (so probably not haha).

[advaydh]

All this while I was under the impression that the F30 320i LCI that came to India had the notorious N20 motor! Surprisingly, the F10 520i LCI which I believe came in the same lot as the 320i has the N20 engine which is nowhere close to the B48 in terms of reliability and tuning potential.

[dealer]

Originally Posted by advaydh

All this while I was under the impression that the F30 320i LCI that came to India had the notorious N20 motor! Surprisingly, the F10 520i LCI which I believe came in the same lot as the 320i has the N20 engine which is nowhere close to the B48 in terms of reliability and tuning potential.

The B48 engine in the 320i LCI has a better design that promotes reliability but is a high compression ratio engine (11:1) which makes it extremely sensitive to fuel quality. Not filling up with the right fuel while tuned will/can easily blow a piston which is scary.

The N20 although has some reliability concerns of it's own, in India atleast the N20 engine came with the option (S858A - adaption for poor quality fuel) which meant that the pistons (and hence the compression) was not the 11:1 as found in USA/EU but the same as the 28i (10.2:1 AFAIK). This may be more forgiving in terms of fuel quality issues to be honest. With good quality fuel however, the b48 does seem to be a superior engine than the N20 and the higher compression does also mean that the initial response is better/faster than the older engine.

[vyasachetan]

Hi, nice write-up dealer!
I own a F56 Mini Cooper S pre LCI car, I am guessing it’s the same high compression B48 variant.
I have heard it’s pretty risky to tune this engine, I have a JCW kit which I think takes it to 210BHP.
Have a few questions:
-what’s draggy, how are you measuring the acceleration times?
-High octane fuel (at least XP95) is a must?
-Any pointers on the risk attached with tuning a high compression engine?

Thanks
Chetan

[AD03]

Originally Posted by dealer

The BMW F30 320i LCI is one of the rarest cars that BMW sold in India.

Being a f30 owner, reading your mod journey is quite interesting. A couple of pointers I would like to give you. Unless you're sure about the strut braces don't pull the trigger yet. A friend of mine got them on his 330i said he felt no difference and found it a waste of money. For the brake upgrades trust me stock 330i brakes are not up to the mark for stage 2 power either, I would recommend going for a M performance kit or maybe something aftermarket. I'll be going the aftermarket route too in a couple of months as stock brakes were just enough for the stock car and the M-performance kit costs more than I'm willing to spend. As for the suspension upgrade, I'm running a set of Bilstein B16 comfort spec coil overs on my car. It's a little stiff on the rear but you just have to be careful over big bumps. B12 is slightly stiffer but not bone-jarring as another fellow owner is running it. The only downer is it lowers even the M-sport by about 20mm. Thus I got B16 and retained my stock M-sport height. But trust me f30 feels like a different car after a suspension upgrade and you'll love the handling post that. At the end whatever you decide to get us posted

[dealer]

Originally Posted by vyasachetan

Hi, nice write-up dealer!
I own a F56 Mini Cooper S pre LCI car, I am guessing it’s the same high compression B48 variant.
I have heard it’s pretty risky to tune this engine, I have a JCW kit which I think takes it to 210BHP.
Have a few questions:
-what’s draggy, how are you measuring the acceleration times?
-High octane fuel (at least XP95) is a must?
-Any pointers on the risk attached with tuning a high compression engine?

Thanks
Chetan

1. Dragy is a 10hz gps that you can buy to measure a car's 1/4 mile and acceleration times.

2. I highly recommend using XP95 when stock on the b48 cooper S. For the added reliability and smoothness at just 5 rupees extra, there's no question about using it.

3. It's not that high compression engines shouldn't be tuned, they are just sensitive to fuel quality. Run high octane, have an intercooler upgrade to keep IATs low if need and you're all set to tune!

[dealer]

Originally Posted by AD03

Unless you're sure about the strut braces don't pull the trigger yet. A friend of mine got them on his 330i said he felt no difference and found it a waste of money. For the brake upgrades trust me stock 330i brakes are not up to the mark for stage 2 power either, I would recommend going for a M performance kit or maybe something aftermarket. As for the suspension upgrade, I'm running a set of Bilstein B16 comfort spec coil overs on my car. It's a little stiff on the rear but you just have to be careful over big bumps. B12 is slightly stiffer but not bone-jarring as another fellow owner is running it. The only downer is it lowers even the M-sport by about 20mm. Thus I got B16 and retained my stock M-sport height. But trust me f30 feels like a different car after a suspension upgrade and you'll love the handling post that. At the end whatever you decide to get us posted

Thanks for the heads up on the strut brace! I hope I am satisfied with the 330i brake upgrade since I've already received the parts and they'll be going on soon :P. With regards to the suspension upgrade, I had almost ordered a set of Koni Special Actives with Eibach Pro Kit springs after extensive research on bimmerpost. The only reason why I haven't made a suspension update is the current weather, traffic and road conditions isn't really allowing me to enjoy the car even with it's current capabilities. Thanks for your input on the B16s though and I will definitely consider them if I choose to upgrade. PS - The 330i M Sport in India had the same suspension as the 320i, only CKD and poor road package cars had a different setup so the M-sport height is technically stock EU ride height which is 140mm AFAIK.

[dealer]

XHP Transmission Tune
XHP transmission tune is the most renowned transmission tune available for BMWs. The app is extremely easy to use and the maps are super refined and IMO, it improves the already great ZF8 gearbox and takes it to a whole another level. My criticism of the stock transmission was two fold -

1. It picked too high a gear in comfort mode, keeping rpms at around 1k rpm. This kept the car out of the torque band and there was a slight delay in power delivery due to the same.

2. Even in sports plus (manual) mode, the downshifts were quite slow and this was troublesome as I had to predict the delay when I wanted to downshift and accelerate around corners.

While the initial flash of the XHP map made some improvements in terms of issue 1, it completely took care of issue 2 and made the manual mode absolutely ballistic. As someone who has previously used Audi DCTs, I would rate the manual mode of the ZF8 with the xhp stage 3 map to be faster than the DCT and it honestly feels instant. With regards to issue 1, I was left wanting and that's where XHP's customization module came to the rescue.

The Customization Module
Whatever xhp map you pick (stage 1,2 or 3), the user get's access to XHP's customization module. For my EU 320i, I get the following features but these differ from vehicle to vehicle.

I went through the customization module and made multiple changes that really improved my car's performance -

Custom Launch Control - Made changes to improve my 0-100 times that were limited by traction issues

Shiftpoint Editor - Allows you to increase the speed at which the gear is changed. After testing, these settings fixed issue 1.

Max RPM
The max rpm setting allows you to change the shiftpoints when the car is operating under WOT. This setting can be extremely useful in optimizing your 100-200 times because revving to redline doesn't mean that you get the fastest acceleration. This is especially true for turbocharged engines. This brilliant video by engineering explained is a great guide on this topic -

Engineering Explained - When to Shift Gears

After watching this video, I set about creating a virtual dyno graph using my datalogs and found the gear ratios for the ZF8 gearbox. I made a table on excel which helped me calculate the wheel torque at different rpms and thus decide the optimum shift points.

Based on this data, I changed the shiftpoints for S and M mode while keeping the settings in D mode to stock.

What's Next?
While I have completed the Engine and transmission side of mods for the near future, I am planning to upgrade the stock heat exchanger to a CSF racing heat exchanger to improve IATs and thus performance. Before the heat exchanger upgrade however, I will definitely upgrade the suspension of this vehicle as I just find it too squishy and it doesn't suit the overall power and dynamics of the vehicle. With the suspension upgrade, I also intend to source the F80 M3 LCA+TS kit to improve steering precision. The last upgrade may be a custom exhaust but that is still undecided.