BMW 3 series Touring

mark66

mark66

mark66

Soldato
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Hi,

We're planning on changing the family car this year, a Focus 1.8 zetec, which we've had for 5 years and that has been great. However its starting to show its age and we would like something newer, a bit bigger and somewhere thats a nicer place to be on the longer journeys when going up north visiting family.

I haven't yet been in or looked around a 3 series Touring, but I do like the look of them and have considered one as the likely replacement for a while. Either this or perhaps an A4 Avant, but I do prefer the BMW looks, especially the M-Sports. I also have a perception that the BMW's are more reliable than the Audi's?

The car will be used daily by my wife, taking the kids to school, doing Tesco's etc so lots of short journeys (1-3 miles). I am therefore wondering what engine is best suited for our needs? Is a diesel still more economical for this sort of usage? I won't be driving it much, but when I do would prefer something with some 'go' if possible!

Size wise, I am hoping that the boot will hold more than the Focus? We enjoy going camping, but our tent pretty much fills the Focus's boot! I don't really want to go to something as big as a 5 series, due to drive manoeuvres.

Budget wise, I am thinking up to £14k. We would really want leather, mainly for ease of cleaning with young children. As for mileage I am not too concerned about higher figures, as long as it doesn't risk any possible warranty purchases. I am thinking that a ex fleet car that has had an easy life doing motorways may be a better buy, than a lower mileage 'school run' car?

So is the Touring the best contender? Are there Facelift / version changes to be aware of? Which engine etc?

Any advice much appreciated!

Cheers

Mark
 
Can't speak of the Touring - other than I like the look of it! I've owned a 325d M sport and a 325 SE Saloon and the build quality is really good, and the drive is brilliant, a couple of notes though:

M sport suspension is very firm - go for a good test drive before making up your mind!
Run Flats are exepensive so make sure that you're not buying a car that will need 4 new ones straight away.
There was an LCI (mid point facelift) on both the saloon and coupe -so you'll need to check up on this, it was around 58 plate on saloon and 10 on coupes.

And one last thing, avoid like the plague the 1 series pre facelifts, awful build quality :)
 
Thanks, good point with the M-Sport suspension.

Also, is there a reason that I would need to replace Run Flats with more Run Flats and not a standard tyre?

Some clarification on whether there has been an LCI for the Touring and what has changed would be good to know.

Cheers
 
All new bimmers don't come with space for a spare tyre, so your options would be to put a spare on the boot floot - comprimising the space left for luggage, or carry a can of tyre foam.

Just had a quick snoop on the bmw.co.uk website, and it does appear that the touring has the LCI headlights - from that I'm guessing there has been a facelift on this model - a big giveaway is the wing mirrors - slender pointy wing mirrors = pre facelift, dumpy elephant rounder wing mirrors = post pacelift.

Hope this helps!
 
Forgot to mention - you get loads extra with a 6 cylinder variant - like brake assist, hill start, etc. It's also a much smoother drive - more refined! I could easily recommend the 325d - that's a 6 cylinder 3 litre.

You might also want to check up on mpg - as the facelift gets better mpg and lower road tax figures

About the only thing I can think of that you loose on the facelift is the "Rest" feature on the heater, which keeps the cabin warm while you've left the car - oh, that and the can cooler in the arm rest, which is a bit of a shame!

Leather is excellent, but wears on the bolsters - especially in M-Sport models so you'll want to check carefully on these where peoples belts/jeans rub on entry/exit

Most of these cars have condition based servicing, so if you're buying privately, be sure to check the CBS in the menu system - put key in, press Start/Stop without foot on brake, press BC button on indicator stalk and scroll to Service, check in here to make sure nothing is orange(due) or red(over due) Servicing as you can imagine is not cheap! 6 cylinders take nearly 6 litres of oil, which is a dear job in itself

Just looking for LCI details for you...
 
Wikipedia is correct, both Saloon and Touring were facelifted in Sep 2008. You wont get anywhere near one of these for under £14k so you will be stuck with the rather ugly looking prefacelift car for this budget. The LCI added new front and rear lights, bumpers, a few other minor styling tweaks and bizarrely a reduction in the quality of some of the interior fittings (You now get cheap plastic sunvisors). I disagree that the build of the E91 is 'very good', infact it's not as good as you'd expect from a BMW in my opinion.

BMW's are no more reliable than Audi's but you seem to have realised you'll need a good warranty so this is less of a concern. I'd be after something like a 325i - at this end of the market the 325i is a useful amount cheaper than a 330i (despite offerng the same running costs but less performance) meaning a newer, lower mileage car for your budget.

An SE will again be newer and lower mileage than the equivilent M Sport at this end of the market.
 
Hi,

Still looking at the 3 series Tourings and am still not sure on which engine will be most economical for our needs, diesel or petrol? As stated the car will mainly be doing to short school runs, around town driving etc. Is this what is supposedly covered by the Combined mpg? If I go with these figures diesel always comes out better. In real life will this be the case?

I am hoping to test drive my first Touring soon so would like to have an idea of which engine to go for!

As for buying, can anyone shed any light on what sort of warranties BMW will offer if I buy Used Approved from them? Do they usually come with 12 months or is this an extra? Is there one level of warranty?

Thanks


Cheers
 
coopersim said:
All new bimmers don't come with space for a spare tyre, so your options would be to put a spare on the boot floot - comprimising the space left for luggage, or carry a can of tyre foam.
Click to expand...

That isn't correct, the 5 series saloon has space for a spare straight away under the boot floor and the 5 touring needs a bit of trim to be swapped and the spare fites under the boot floor. I would imagine the 3 is the same or similar.
 
I used to have an e46 320d se touring, now have an e90 320d se saloon.

Since the birth of my 2nd daughter last month I am regretting not getting another touring as the boot is tiny, and can't hold much more than our pram.

I have tested the e90 320i touring, which seemed slow after the diesel, and also tested a e90 320d m sport last week. Ride is a bit harsh on larger 18" wheels, esp with the runflats (which I hate with a passion) but apart from that it's a great car.

Think I'm going to get another SE - doen't look as good as the msport but I think it will be easier to live with.
 
mark66 said:
Hi,

Still looking at the 3 series Tourings and am still not sure on which engine will be most economical for our needs, diesel or petrol? As stated the car will mainly be doing to short school runs, around town driving etc. Is this what is supposedly covered by the Combined mpg? If I go with these figures diesel always comes out better. In real life will this be the case?
Click to expand...

For short runs and around town you are looking at the Urban MPG and NOT the combined MPG. From personal experience you'll be in the order of low 30's from the 320d if you do mostly short trips and trips around town. You also run the risk of clogging up the DPF, and DPF failure itself is not covered by the warranty.

Diesels are for covering long distances - they are more economical on longer runs, and they work properly on longer runs. On short trips around town you are never going to get stunning economy from either engine type, but a petrol is at least better suited to this task.

Depending on your budget, something like a 325i (Currently a useful amount cheaper to buy than a 330i despite costing the same to run) might be worth considering.

As for buying, can anyone shed any light on what sort of warranties BMW will offer if I buy Used Approved from them? Do they usually come with 12 months or is this an extra? Is there one level of warranty?
Click to expand...

Any Approved Used BMW will come with 12 months of BMW Approved Used warranty. This is an excellent warranty - it is virtually as good as a new car warranty and probably the best warranty of any used car. Once it expires you can renew it at a cost of about £500 a year for like-for-like cover if the car has under 60k. I strongly recommend you factor this cost into any of your ownership cost calculations.
 
Sadly for Audi, the only objective figures I've seen on their reliability are that they are not as good when comparing the 3 series to an A4.
Warranty Directs reliability index gives the E90 3 series an index of 42, with the A4 at 97. As lower is better, than implies that the A4 is distinctly average amongst saloons, whilst apparently the E90 is even better than an Accord.
 
Hi,

First apologies for the disjointed nature of this post. I am still looking at the Tourings and will hopefully be at a stage to start test drives and sincere viewings shortly!

In the mean time I have a quick question regarding BMW warranty. In PMKeates new car post he states:

"Under the very good BMW AUC warranty for year 1 and will be under comprehensive level BMW insured warranty thereafter."

I was under the impression from Fox's earlier post that the warranty was limited to 60k miles? Is there somewhere where I can read more detail into the BMW warranties and costs?

If I bought a 65k mile Touring, could I extend the warranty with BMW for many years?

Cheers
 
You can renew the Comprehensive warranty until the car has reached 100,000 miles, but the cost goes up a lot after 60,000. After 100,000 miles the only option is Driveline cover which is pretty self explanatory :D
 
mark66 said:
In the mean time I have a quick question regarding BMW warranty. In PMKeates new car post he states:

"Under the very good BMW AUC warranty for year 1 and will be under comprehensive level BMW insured warranty thereafter."

I was under the impression from Fox's earlier post that the warranty was limited to 60k miles? Is there somewhere where I can read more detail into the BMW warranties and costs?

If I bought a 65k mile Touring, could I extend the warranty with BMW for many years?
Click to expand...
The BMW AUC warranty is the most comprehensive used BMW warranty option, covering all AUC vehicles for 12 months with no mileage limit. The coverage exclusions are minimal and, for example, it covers all exhaust components. Once this expires you can take out the BMW Insured Warranty at comprehensive level, which is very good, but not quite as good, and for example only covers the catalytic converter component of the exhaust.

The comprehensive level of the BMW Insured Warranty is only available for cars that are on <100,000 miles when you take the warranty out, and officially the cover lasts 12 months. After 100k you can only take out named component or driveline cover. The price of any of the BMW Insured warranties steps up a notch once the vehicle is over 60,000 miles.
 
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