Megane Sport Forum banner

BMW 330d

7K views 27 replies 16 participants last post by  snapper25 
#1 ·
Anyone had experiance with them?

Kinda getting fed up of the French living up to the reputation and have been looking at alot of different cars lately. Scoobys, sport wagon impreza's, diesel golfs, even a tuned forester or legacy! This week it's the above ;)

A map seems to give good returns and with the economy of diesel and more fun being rwd. OK I'm not expecting it to be as sharp as the R26's handling but there's bound to be some negative but I can't exactly drive the R26 hard ATM with the handling issues so doubt I'll even notice the difference!

Any thoughts, especially on mapped ones? :)
 
#2 ·
Im gona throw the 'my friend has one' card. He doesnt really drive it hard but its got a nice poke, 5 door i think, with m sport pack.

Ride is fantastic as is the lack of road noise.

Just think how much they cost to fix though, cost of servicing, tyres e.t.c
 
#4 ·
Mapped ones are seriously rapid, an old work mate had one (535d) and the acceleration was absolutely unreal - I'd look into the running costs though before jumping, tyres are mega expensive from what he told me, don't know what servicing and general maintenance is like but being German I can't imagine them being that cheap, especially the 535d - I'd still have one though :)
 
#5 ·
Yeah I was looking at the 335d but it's out of my price range really. They make awesome power mapped!

I didn't realise they were 255 on the rear. Saying that conti 5's are about £150-160 so no more than I pay for 5p's now realy. I haven't really looked into maintenance etc. I do most of the servicing myself on the R26 and would hope to on the next car.

What's your 130i like Johnno? I was having a quick look at those on ebay earlier too. As you can tell, I'm not really convinced on anything inparticular yet.
 
#6 ·
A nice 320d will most probably do the trick.get the Alpina or tune it a little to give it 215 + hp and loads of torque,and you have a nice economical fun RWD car.
I have entertained the thought of getting the Alpina 320D estate myself.very nice looking,practical family car.
 
#8 ·
....very nice looking,practical family car.
That's the thing tho Jay, I'm 23, still live at home, no kids or wife so I don't need a practical, economical car but I'm still strangely drawn to a fastish dirty diesel and I don't know why! Maybe because I really don't know what else I would replace the meg with so considering all options. I think a sleeper would be fun too compared to my shouty shouty Meg.

TBH I don't know If 215bhp would be enough by todays standards. I don't want to take much of a step down from my 300/300 meg really - hence looking at mapped 330's which will be circa 280bhp with bags of torque. I saw an old post by Paul yesterday and he had one on the rollers for mapping at it made over 300bhp! I'm not sure what mods it had but that's pretty sweet for a diesel and would suprise alot of cars I'm sure.

What are the cars like in terms of life span? Going from my meg with 35k on to potentially a car with 70k+ miles doesn't seem a wise move. Alot seem to be high milage in my price range to with 100k+ being the norm. I've never owned a diesel before and know nothing about them. Is that sort a milage a worry for the engine or any other parts?

By the way I'm not set on this car. Any other suggestions to look at will be greatly appreciated. Must be reasonably powerfull or map well. Looking about £10k but flexible, however would rather spend less of course.
 
#10 ·
A diesel is never going to sound that exciting, agree that they tend to have plenty of torque and go fairly well. Diesel lumps are pretty heavy compared to most petrol ones which will slightly blunt the handling.

At £10k for some interesting stuff:
Porsche Boxster S (986), sweet handling 250-260 bhp, exhaust sports cats, intake and map should see 280bhp ish and well under budget.
Porsche 996, 300bhp, lovely engaging drive.
E46 M3 as above
Lotus elise (s1) - should get you into a 160bhp car at the top of budget, which will feel fairly rapid given they weigh 750kg.
VX220 turbo - this looks rapid http://www.pistonheads.com/classifi...vauxhall-vx220-turbo-2003-stage-4-fsh/1342530
R34 Skyline
TVR chimaera
Westfield / Caterham - might be pushing it for a nice R300 spec Caterham but they will make most things feel slow, heavy and fat in comparison.

Surely something in the list must be more exciting than a diesel bmw as a toy?
 
#12 ·
It won't be just a toy ALC. I bought the meg for that but since then have learnt tracking your daily isn't a good move so I've since bought a kart for track days and proper fun. I need a car with 4 seats and reasonably practical - The meg ticked all the boxes. Just a shame it's not better put together! New hubs are on order and then maybe I'll start seriously looking to get rid... Or maybe fall in love again but I doubt it. I've always said I'd love a caterham / westy but back and to to work in one during the winter will be a right ****ter ;)

Forgot to say, I really need a tow bar to pull the trailor. The local fitters said they couldn't do it on the meg due to the exhaust.

Yup, I've forgotton how good the handling was Gex despite spending £££ on it! :(
 
#19 · (Edited)
I know Jay. I just think I should have more power whilst I'm young and have the car all to myself.



See that's whats drawing me to them! Power and economy! Just been looking at this clip on YT. Looks like a crap launch but still doing a 0-60 in about 5 secs going off the timing on the vid. Pretty neat! What could you get on a run In yours bodyboarder mpg wise? Can you get the m sport model in the manual? Not sure I could put up with an auto.

I was looking at the S4 avant yesterday ALC on ebay. Looks pretty good but the 4.2 V8 is gonna be thirsty! The stats say about 20mpg and I get no where near the quoted mpg in the meg, never have so I doubt I'll even get 20 in the S4. If I'm changing I don't want it to cost me more unless I'm having much more fun which the S4 doesn't look really :/ The E46 M3 would be I'm sure and people still claim near 30mpg on a run but then there old, expensive to maintain and the drug dealers love them so I doubt there's many good, well maintained examples left.
 
#20 ·
Just found a dyno print out of a 330 Paul mapped. Apparently It had a small boost leak too!!



500 ftlb and almost 290bhp. I don't know how that torque would compare to petrol cars with about 300hp or so but I bet it'll pin you to the seat!!
 
#22 ·
The gearing is typically much longer on diesel cars as the dont rev as high as petrols, so it might not feel quite as quick as those numbers from a petrol car. It will still be quick though!

My dad's old s4 used to be able to achieve 21-22 on a run and 17-18 most of the time. They are certainly thirsty, but more to the point, the have an amazing ability to throw whopping bills. It ate coil packs for breakfast and threw a £4k bill when the flywheel disintegrated... it was sold reasonably soon afterwards.
 
#24 · (Edited)
would be good if you could pick up a 335D coupe for that sort of money ?,but I would of thought you'd have to spend at least 15,000 for something decent.
whoops ,look no further, especially if this is a 2009 ?
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/bmw/e90-3-series-05-11/bmw-335d-se-2006/1234776
Perfect car for you and already tuned to 350 HP !.Don't be put off by the auto box,once you get used to them,they can be a lot of fun and a god send in town and traffic.
I would never of entertained auto boxes until I got my TT RS stronic,it is slightly different as it's also a full manual box,but I'm amazed at how much fun it is.
I'm converted,I even ordered my new Renault Master van with Quickshift,lol

get in quick,with this Bm
 
#25 ·
Personally I would avoid a 335i that falls into your price bracket.

The 335d is a league above the 330d and easier to tune for little more money.
Big diesels are just not that popular, but the 335d is reasonable economical.

The drive is okay but ditch the awful runflat tyres.
They really need an LSD once you tune them though - about £2k.

I ran a well tuned (engine and suspension) 335i for some time and have a lot if intel if you need it.

335d with juts software is 9/10th of the 335i without the worry and bills.
Try the auto. It REALLY suits this car - the E92 coupe shape is still a great looking car.
The 335d will all be auto anyhow.

Running costs are low actually, often you got to 19k service and BMW dealers are no dearer than anyone else now with good indy support.
 
#26 ·
I've found myself looking at these again for some weird reason! I've got the evo now and whilst it's an awesome car it does love a drink with 400bhp. I can't complain tho as I knew that would be the case before I bought it but priorities are changing and I'm fancying a 2 wheeled toy so need to free up some cash. Do you only see the good mpg on diesels with the engine warm and on a run? My commute is only about 4 miles each way and I'm wondering what sort of mpg i'll be getting out a diesel on such a short trip. I haven't worked it out but I'd bet in the evo I'm only getting about 2 days travelling to a gallon!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top