So do I want vanos or not???

[jay f.]

Local guy selling a 98 (5/98 production date) 540 6spd. So its a non vanos. Its in good shape 70k miles , he has some light mods dinan intake & perf. software. Only thing i'm hesitant about is it being non vanos. From what i have read some say its nots worth it because they are less reliable. Some say they have more tq. and are faster. My question is are they that much faster? From what i see its just some extra low end tq./hp. So i guess can anyone with experience help? I did do a search on here under 5 series forum and vanos..didnt bring too much back..at least not info that I already knew. Thanks for any help. Oh and one more....do all 6spd 540s have the sport package? thanks

jay f.

 

[Average Jae]

i'm not an expert in all the tech jargons associated w/ vanos, but it's basically a variable timing (introduced by honda w/ their v-tec line.) now a days almost every car manufac has their varient, and bmw's is double vanos. (variable timing for both intake and exhaust) the first vanos only did it for the intake i believe. it's basically there to have your engine performing at the higest level possible at any given rpm.

so it's basically another way to optimize, or squeeze out more performance out of the engine design without increasing the engine size. direct result of this is having high hp w/out sacrificing low end torque, which is the case that you cited. but if you are ok w/ the output specs on the non vanos 540, then go for it.

i remember falling in love w/ the 540 6spd when i first read about it all those years ago. and i'd imagine the 6spd woudl come w/ sports package, because they both seem to go together, but that's just me. (no real basis here )