330 CI Sport, circa 02/03

[merlin]

Tentatively looking at these in case I'm unfortunate enough to have to buy something sensible to cruise up and down our beautiful motorways for a living.

Generally pretty good cars?
Handle nicely?
Any reliability issues?
Any "must have" options or "must avoid" colours?

Would be looking at a hard top, manual, maybe £16k budget.

Some ads say 5 speed and some say 6. What year did the change occur? Is the 6 speed faster?

Last question - why are these cars so god damn lardy? It's a small 2 door coupe that weighs in at 1500 kilos. Like W T F.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

Nice cars m8, but why not get the 330D/530D? I believe once modded with a chip they are quicker than the petrol plus you get 40-50MPG and cheaper insurance.
Get one with the M Sports pack and the handling is very good.

 

[Nozzer]

If you want a 3 series get the 330d, seriously quick for a boring car. Yes, I know it's an oil burner and you'll have to sell your first born to Satan, but they are quick. Honest.

 

[Simon]

How much for the integra?

 

[merlin]

You guys serious? I can't buy a diesel. I've been on this forum since it was all fields slagging off chip fat burners, it's the height of hypocrisy.

Ok - what sort of power with a remap? Can you still get the sports pack on the oil burner?

 

[Nozzer]

No idea, but Ant and Pete's seriously fiddled Gumball entries kept up with us (in a 360) earlier in the year. Although that's probably a bit extreme for a daily hack

 

[merlin]

How much for the integra?

I'm just trying to research that now.

Email me.

 

[NickXX]

These cars handle fantastically well. Sport models get uprated suspension - so are slightly better than the SEs.

16k will get you a stunner. No real reliability issues. They handle big miles very well. I have a 52 plate with 107k on the clock - 10k which I've achieved in 6 months. No issues in this period at all except for worn rear bushes which cost me £150 to sort out.

Leather will help resale - as will satnav and the HarmonKardon sound system - all should be achievable within your budget. No real colour issues - black and silver are your safest bets, but you won't have any issues at resale anyway.

They are great on the motorways. I've driven some serious miles in my 330d across France this year, and it's effortless.

I believe the 6 speed box came with the facelift models which I believe was in Spring 2003 - it's no quicker though, but should be a little more economical on the motorway. Both have the same 231bhp 0-60 in 5.9s engine. Top speed limited at 155mph.

A 330cd is also possible in your budget - again a 6-speed gearbox, 204bhp, Top speed 150mph. Remappable to 240bhp for peanuts (~£300 mark). I personally prefered the engine of the d to the i and thought it felt quicker - so might be worth test driving them both if you're not adverse to diesels.

If you're worried about economy, the d will do about 35mpg in town, 45mpg on the motorway. The i will do about 20-25 in town, 30 on the motorway.

The 1,500kg weight is quite overinflated - I think BMW fill the cars with passengers/luggage/fuel, so it's not readily comparable to other manufacturers. I think the Fox weighed a 530d recently which is supposed to weigh in at around 1700kg and found it to be significantly less.

All in all though, fantastic cars - will dig around for some examples...

 

[Gibbo]

You guys serious? I can't buy a diesel. I've been on this forum since it was all fields slagging off chip fat burners, it's the height of hypocrisy.

Ok - what sort of power with a remap? Can you still get the sports pack on the oil burner?

Hi there

330D I believe 2002 and earlier had 184BHP and with a chip are approx 210-220BHP. They have lots of torque.

The 330D after 2002, again not 100% certain on the dates but they had more power, something like 204BHP and chippable upto 240BHP and even more torque. I think chipped they can hit 60mph in approx 6.5s and obviously in-gear acceleration is pretty damn quick.

The latest 330D out now has 231BHP and 369Lb-Ft as STD so plenty of power.

Regarding handling just make sure you get one with the M sports pack, this is STD on all the sport models I think and improves the handling a lot.
Also if you can afford get a 330cd, much nicer looking and all these have the better 204BHP engine that can be chipped for little money as can most diesels.

 

[paradigm]

You guys serious? I can't buy a diesel. I've been on this forum since it was all fields slagging off chip fat burners, it's the height of hypocrisy.

Ok - what sort of power with a remap? Can you still get the sports pack on the oil burner?

You're looking at 204BHP before the map, and 30-40BHP increase is not uncommon. Probably gain around 60 torks too

Yes the Sports bumper/susp/interior/wheels were available on the diseasle.

330Cd is what you should be searching for

 

[NickXX]

You guys serious? I can't buy a diesel. I've been on this forum since it was all fields slagging off chip fat burners, it's the height of hypocrisy.

Ok - what sort of power with a remap? Can you still get the sports pack on the oil burner?

Yes, you can still get a Sport pack with the diesel. The remap can easily take you to 240bhp, often a lot more. They got their engine up to 304bhp and 720Nm torque (standard E46 M3's have 365Nm and E39 M5's have 500Nm) in the end with various mods - new exhaust, turbo, intercooler, remap.

The exhaust and intercooler are currently for sale too

 

[paradigm]

Standard torks are 410NM, a chip should see you to the happy side of 470NM

 

[NickXX]

Hi Thar,

330D I believe 2002 and earlier had 184BHP and with a chip are approx 210-220BHP. They have lots of torque.

The 330D after 2002, again not 100% certain on the dates but they had more power, something like 204BHP and chippable upto 240BHP and even more torque. I think chipped they can hit 60mph in approx 6.5s and obviously in-gear acceleration is pretty damn quick.

The latest 330D out now has 231BHP and 369Lb-Ft as STD so plenty of power.

Regarding handling just make sure you get one with the M sports pack, this is STD on all the sport models I think and improves the handling a lot.

Sport pack adds lowering springs and an uprated antiroll bar.

330d 184bhp became the 204bhp in 2003 on the Saloon. The Coupe NEVER came with the 184bhp engine. AntandPete's D3 started off as the 2003 204bhp 330d Sport Saloon.

 

[County]

Hiya all

Heres a little link that may help

I test drove a 54 plate 330cd it was great, and yes it was fast with PLENTY of pull.

The 330d 1999-2003 were fitted with the M57D30 engine which produced 184bhp and 284ftlb torque, whereas the 2004-2007 models were fitted with the M57TUD30 which produced 204bhp and 302ftlb torque.

Cheers

 

[paradigm]

The Coupe NEVER came with the 184bhp engine.

Correct. The Coupe Diesel wasn't actually available until 2003 though

 

[County]

330Cd is what you should be searching for

Agree

And you all beat me to it

Cheers

 

[NickXX]

For that money though, you could just about stretch to an early high mileage e46 M3, as well as this really boring saloon

 

[merlin]

For that money though, you could just about stretch to an early high mileage e46 M3,

Nope. Economy is poor and the upkeep for the performance you get is just not worth it imo. Imagine the running costs M3 & 30k miles a year. lol, it'd be insane.

Helpful info all - might pop down to BMW lunchtime and have a nose around.

Still rather my Integra over any of these though

 

[Oakesy2001uk]

really boring saloon [/QUOTE]

get it, should livebn up the trip to work, where my chequebook!

 

[NickXX]

Nope. Economy is poor and the upkeep for the performance you get is just not worth it imo. Imagine the running costs M3 & 30k miles a year. lol, it'd be insane.

Not as bad as you'd think though - I test drove an M3 CS last week which would happily return 30mpg on the motorway doign 70mph.

Although with 30k a year, the diesel probably makes even more sense..