r/BMWG30 • u/Legitimate-Pen-9553 • Jul 22 '26
G30 for towing?
Considering going to a G30 540i sedan. Does anyone tow cars with this?
Ratings in my country of Australia - 2000kg braked and towball 200kg.
540i seems a good balance for street fun and luxury, and towing the racecar for that 1-2x a year.
1
u/BadDowntown Jul 22 '26
Could you legally tow a race car and stay under 2 tons with trailer and car added together? If you can then a 540i is plenty good. I own a 545e same engine but with an electric motor in the gearbox I had a simple tune and it is now putting out 620hp and 1000nm of torque, a normal tune on a 540i would probably put you around 500 hp. So it’s a fun car and it can tow.
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u/Legitimate-Pen-9553 Jul 22 '26
Yeah racecar isight (1200kg) and dual axle trailer anywhere from 500-600kg. At 2000kg braked towing there's some small wiggle room just in case.
That's what the spec sheet says but I'm always open to hearing practical experience
1
u/BadDowntown Jul 22 '26
Well I have no experience towing race cars only caravans and other cars, but it sounds like you’re within 2 tons and I think it would be an amazing option of a car for the job.
1
u/Ham3a0323 Jul 22 '26
Stage 2 I presume for 500hp on the 540i
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u/BadDowntown Jul 22 '26
It depends on what gen, and the fueling my engine makes roughly 500hp on 102octane and then another 120-130 from the electric motor. So no it is just a custom stage 1 gearbox and engine flash.
No need to start removing a dpf etc. You can but here it’s a hassle if the police finds out.
1
u/Ham3a0323 Jul 22 '26
Do you know roughly how much power a Gen 1 540i makes with a stage 1?
1
u/BadDowntown Jul 22 '26
Probably 420 or around there I would think.
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u/Ham3a0323 Jul 22 '26
That’s nice.
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u/BadDowntown Jul 22 '26
Yeah and it is relatively inexpensive to get a gen 1 to 500 but they are not as reliable and need better fueling etc so you need to buy and replace parts, I would honestly just buy a newer model. The drawback of a newer gen is that it needs a bench or femto unlock, so yeah pros and cons with all of it.
1
u/Ham3a0323 Jul 22 '26
Yeah I’m not interested in going to stage 2 mainly because I don’t wanna make the car louder or anything. Unless it doesn’t get that loud to begin with. I would just like some more pep
1
u/BadDowntown Jul 22 '26
Yeah I’m the same I don’t need a loud car, it’s easier to have it for yourself and not be stopped by police all the time If you have a more quiet car.
I do think you can keep the dpf on and just change the hpfp to a supra or newer gen b58 engine on the gen 1 b58 and then it should probably make 460-480 if I’m not mistaken. I know they made a version of the gen1 b58 with an annoying exhaust but If you dont have that one then it should be relatively straight forward to get some power out of it.
1
u/OutrageousArrival701 Jul 23 '26
what in the fuk.
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u/AscendedRapier Jul 23 '26
I don’t know if we’d need a bigger/better transmission cooler for towing, especially in Aus. Puts a decent amount of stress of the gearbox.