As we all know, internal combustion engines tend to lose some of their potential over time. A multitude of factors contribute to this drop in horsepower over time. And yet, the video below begs to differ. In the footage below we get to see a BMW E36 328i put on the dyno and the numbers shown at the end of the measurement are something to behold.
The E36 BMW 328i was built between 1995 and 1998 and used the M52B28 engine under the hood. That’s a legendary mill, by the way, the one a straight-six that provided the basis for the S52 engine later on and the S54 with various modifications. Back then, the M52B28 used to make 193 HP according to BMW, a more than decent number for those days. As a matter of fact, the 328i was the most powerful E36 model of that generation, M-car excluded.
Therefore, when we saw this car pop on the dyno, I expected about 150 HP left, but the result was astonishing. According to the video, this 328i is making 206 HP and 259 Nm of torque today! That’s more horsepower than when brand new and just 21 Nm short of the original claim. Those are incredible figures but we can’t help think there’s something off here. It’s either that the dyno has a reading error or the car is hiding something.
It could be that it was tuned by the guys from BR-Performance but they don’t mention a thing about such a prospect in the video or in the description. Therefore, if we take it at face value, this should be what that particular 328i is putting down after all this time. That’s mighty impressive.
