330i Sport SMG

Lord-Jaffa

Lord-Jaffa

Lord-Jaffa

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29 Jul 2004
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Anyone have any experiance with these? Namely the BMW repository's of knowlege fox and tom :P

Going to look at a 2002/2003 330i Sport with SMG at the weekend and was wondering if you guys had any opinions on them? Seem to be quite rare and im quite looking forward to driving my first BMW to see what all the fuss is about, there any horror storys at all about this type of gearbox i should know before i go look at the car? Or any other recommended models to look at over the 330i Sport? Insurance isnt really an issue, running costs i wouldnt want to be M3/M5 level though really :P
 
no no no no no


I nearly bought an SMG one before doing some more research, it's actually an alfa selespeed gearbox (even has an alfa logo on the gearbox housing). The drive isnt bad, i actually enjoyed it despite it not being breakneck gearchanges like SMG2, but they go bang too often, no one has much experience in fixing them as they are so rare, and they cost a fortune to fix when they do go bang

Get a proper manual, MUCH better :)

Tom.

EDIT Also for some reason they dont do the sports steering wheel on the SMG version, so you get the **** SE wheel
 
From what Tom explained to me is that it isn't as good as SMG2 and its very very very rare. So there could be the slight worry that if it breaks, who can fix it?
Damn beaten :p
 
Its SSG not SMG in the 330i. More reminiscent of the system in the E36 than the E46, not necessarily a bad thing however.

All I really know about the SSG is that if it goes wrong then its an expensive job to repair or replace!
 
Phate said:
From what Tom explained to me is that it isn't as good as SMG2 and its very very very rare. So there could be the slight worry that if it breaks, who can fix it?
Damn beaten :p
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lol, it looks like ive got bmw on a bloomin alert message or something, i managed to read the OP write that long post and submit it within a minute of the OP :o
 
rG-tom said:
lol, it looks like ive got bmw on a bloomin alert message or something, i managed to read the OP write that long post and submit it within a minute of the OP :o
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haha, you just search "bmw" every 10 seconds don't you :p


And your using a phone aren't you?
 
Only person i have know 'in real life' as it were with one did not have an easy life with it. He had a 325 with it and it was a bit of a horror really. The car needs a few minutes once you first turn it on to get itself ready and makes an annoying high pitch noise (not that i would really call either of these a problem as such). His was constantly breaking though. Must have gone back 8 or so times with problems. Ended up in limp-home mode a few times and came out of gear on the motorway a few times as well which is annoying as you need to be stationary with your foot on the break to get a gear back again!

When it was working it was pretty good though. But the paddles to me seemed wrong. There is a paddle on the left and right as you would expect but both do up and down depending on which way you push them. They seemed bit small and fiddly to me.
 
Yeah this is pretty much what i thought, it seems an incredibley rare feature so i was thinking if it goes bang it would be massive cost to repair, if its made by Alfa as well then thats a gaurantee its going to break sooner rather than later :P

330i Sport a solid choice though for the 3 series range or is there a better one? Not too keen on the 3 door Ci? I think it is, looks strang on such a long wheelbase.

Shame really because it looks exceptionally nice the 330i smg i mean, but if its not 100% solid then ill look for a normal manual :P
 
if you dont like the 330Ci then the 330i Sport is indeed the best one to go for

I assume you've seen mine, i payed just under 8k for it last month, FBMWSH 110k on an 02 plate, bixenons harman kardon heated black leather

Id definitely reccomend finding one with bixenons, which will be the hardest bit! That's the hardest part to retrofit, so if there is anything else you want ie sat nav or bluetooth, get a car with xenons and retrofit if you cant find the absolute perfect spec.

The seats don't wear too well, but getting a decent one is possible. My leather is in very good condition bar the bolster on the drivers seat, FAR better than a lot of cars i looked at with half the milage.

Mechanically, not much to go wrong with them really, solid engines, when things break it's usually little niggly things that cost more in labour than parts. Make sure the service history adds up and it looks like it's been well looked after, ie no cheap **** tyres on it :)

Tom.
 
[TW]Fox;12151090 said:
I drove a 325Ci Sport SMG and it ruined the car. Jerky and unreliable. Get a manual.
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I bet you were driving it "like a manual", coming off the throttle when changing gear.

Everyone said this to me about the e36 M3 SMG, but if you drive it properly (maintaining throttle pedal depression when changing gear), its a heck of a lot smoother (than not driving it properly).

Unreliable I'll give you.
 
im not sure if it's smaller diameter, but it's a much thicker wheel to help grip, and is shaped different on the inside of the grip with two "knobbles" as such for your thumbs (see my sig picture :p)
 
The Sports wheel is a tiny bit smaller from my hand to air to 3d visualisation brain system thingy :p - the wheel is almost double the thickness though and is softly padded too so not hard like an SE wheel. even though it is thicker it feels smaller which gives me the impression that the wheel is a bit smaller.
 
paradigm said:
lol. That is about as legit as a £7 note.
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na it is legit i know 2 friends who have bought 330se for between 3400 and 3900

my best friend bought one from near bristol for 3600 120,000 full history and no damage and hpi clear and cream leather very very nice car

hes had it for 6 months now and no problems

looks like this on

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2000-BMW-330-...263583779QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item180263583779

there are a quite a few between 3500 and 4900 due to petrol prices
 
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