BMW and M Power Owners

You won't get the kind of rapid fire acceleration you talk about from anything you can afford.

My 330ci doesn't drive like that at all, it's a very smooth, progressive engine. Sure, drop it to third and it'll shift in that kind of scenario but what you describe is turbocharged or high powered, high capacity petrol delivery (or for about 3 seconds turbo diesel).
 
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[TW]Fox;25976622 said:
It would be a no brainer if it were true, but it's not - if you are averaging just 25mpg in a 330i then you won't be averaging 40mpg from a 'mapped' 330d over the same driving profile.

You are also ignoring non-fuel running costs. A £9k 330i has a reliable indirect injection N52 engine. A £9k 330d has a commonrail direct injection turbocharged engine with DPF.
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And what makes you think it isn't true. I speak from actual personal experience having owned these motors and driven them for many thousands of miles. All the time, recording fuel consumption accurately using fully.com, NOT obc values.

When I make a statement as I did above, it is very much through personal experience, not what read on the internet thank you very much. I do not enjoy being accused of what basically amounts to lying.

Yes, there is a turbo and PDF on the 330d that are not present on the petrol. And I guess there is some risk in these elements being present. However, I have done many thousands of miles in cars with both of these components, and never once had a problem with either.

It's luck of the draw really, you could end up with a dodgy turbo, that's unlucky. If I ever had a DPF fail, which I haven't in well over 40k of driving with DPF's, then I would simply bypass it anyway, thus increasing my power output and helping fuel economy. Not what I would consider a massive drawback.

By all means, I'm all for advising people. And will give advice based on my personal experience. I wouldn't read too much into scaremongering on the internet. Yes, it'll be evident there are the stories of a few people who have these problems. It'll also be true that the many thousands that don't have these problems won't say a peep, and just keep on driving, happily, in a car that does everything they want, and does it well.

As for defining a car as fast or not, my personal experience has taught me that less than around 300 bhp is not a fast car. This of course is referring to modern cars, in excess of 1.5 tons. A 980 kg pocket rocket with 200 bhp will be fairly rapid, but that is not what he is looking for.

My 530d with 258 bhp is not fast. It is fast enough, but not a fast car. My 350 bhp 335d was a fast car though, as was my v8 S4. My 330i was a disappointment, as was my R32. These are examples of fast cars, and cars that simply weren't fast enough for the fuel they used. In my opinion.
 
Just bought this BMW 330Ci Sport, manual with FBMWSH, gave it a test drive today and collecting tomorrow. Colour looks better in flesh IMHO;

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Had the first opportunity for a motor way run today, to and from Bristol. Only reset my journey computer on the leg back but achieved 36.3MPG over 100 miles give or take, cruise at 70MPH - 2010 - 335i DCT. Pretty pleased with that, wasn't very exciting though!
 
Just got back from our local dealer who invited me down to have a look round the new 2 Series as it was the launch weekend. They had sat there an M235i with a decent spec so we had a poke around it.





Nicely spec'd in Estoril Blue with full black leather, media pack, auto, Harmon Kardon and a few other bits. Colour looked really nice and suited the dark accents of the wheels and exhausts. It feels well put together and more drive focused than the 3/4 Series I've sat in recently. Popped the kids in the back and there was plenty of room, and I could travel in there myself quite comfortably, unlike the CLA where I had to lean forward due to limited head room. Boot is pretty decent size and would accommodate what I'd lug round pretty happily.

I was a bit surprised when asked if I'd like to take it for a drive so arranged to go back in today with my driver license and they booked the car out to me so the kids and Mrs could come along.

In short the car remind me of my very 1st BMW a 325i E36 Coupe which i loved. Its got loads of power and the autobox suites it extremely well. It was fun the sling down the back roads and very happy cruising at motor way speeds. I drove the same route today as I did in the Cayman S on Friday and felt more comfortable and confident in the M235i than the Porsche which I was very surprised by.

Its the 1st time in a very long time I've got into a car and its felt "right" straight away. I've got the dealer working some numbers ;)
 
Now they brought out the two and fixed the lol ugly front end:cool: the only thing I don't like about the car is the daft stuck on looking screen.

235i should be a great little car, that one's even in the right colour
 
Just because. This is my current motor. A 2013 LCI F11 530d M-Sport btw...

Few mods since pics. Now have black grills, and winter wheels, lol.


IMG_1715 by xs2man, on Flickr


IMG_1717 by xs2man, on Flickr


IMG_1718 by xs2man, on Flickr


IMG_1716 by xs2man, on Flickr


IMG_1726 by xs2man, on Flickr

Gotta love the black tail pipes...


IMG_1723 by xs2man, on Flickr

Interior is nice too...


IMG_1728 by xs2man, on Flickr


IMG_1727 by xs2man, on Flickr


IMG_1733 by xs2man, on Flickr


IMG_1731 by xs2man, on Flickr
 
JackRegan said:
They look nice (M235), but I'm not sure at over £38k when spec'd they're that nice.

Jack
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Its not only about how it looks though, its how it drives and it drives very very well. It'd be my day to day car so I need something that can cart me around all over the country, but then be fun when I want fun, but also lug kids and other junk round. I ended up spec'd to 41.5K
 
xs2man said:
And what makes you think it isn't true. I speak from actual personal experience having owned these motors and driven them for many thousands of miles. All the time, recording fuel consumption accurately using fully.com, NOT obc values.
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I've driven 530d, 530i, 520d, 320d, 335i, etc etc extensively - some through ownership, some through ownership in the family and some as hire cars and dealer courtesy cars. Thats where my opinion comes from. You can get into the 40's on something like a 330d quite easily, I agree, but not driving it like you've nicked it, which out of town is what you need to do in order to only average 25mpg from a 330i. Which is my point.

If you are getting, say, 45mpg from a 330d, which is entirely possible, it follows that you'd be getting circa 35mpg from the 330i, not 25.

I do not enjoy being accused of what basically amounts to lying.
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Don't get too hung up on the choice of words used, I meant no offence.


Yes, there is a turbo and PDF on the 330d that are not present on the petrol. And I guess there is some risk in these elements being present. However, I have done many thousands of miles in cars with both of these components, and never once had a problem with either.
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Were you buying into the bottom of the market with 8+ year old 100k+ mile examples though? I suspect not.
 
J1nxy said:
Its not only about how it looks though, its how it drives and it drives very very well. It'd be my day to day car so I need something that can cart me around all over the country, but then be fun when I want fun, but also lug kids and other junk round. I ended up spec'd to 41.5K
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I suppose they are cheaper than the Boxster S, Cayman S and Jag F-Type you were considering and will also have more room in the rear.

Jack
 
[TW]Fox, thanks. I really like it too.

I drive each car the same way, and all all sorts of roads. I do around 25k a year, but generally rotate between 3 different cars. For example, the current fleet include the 5 series, a 2003 Passat and have recently sold my 4.6 Range Rover. I am often running cars 8-10 years old, the Passat has 150k on it, so often with high miles also.

Anyway, I'm talking average consumptions over thousands of miles. Where I got 40.4 in the 330d, and 25.7 in the 330i. This is usually over motorway / fast a roads and town driving. So a real proper mix.

For comparison, my S4 managed 24.6 over 10k, so 1 mpg less than the 330i, but was actually a fast car, and was worth it, unlike the 330i. My 335d averaged 37.9 mpg over around 20k. My A4 2.0 TDI Quattro (177) avant only managed 36.7 mpg. My R32 around 26 mpg, my Passat 1.9 TDI around 47 mpg. My current 530d is sitting around 39 mpg average, but it is barely broken in, so am hoping for a small increase.

This is just to show you how different vehicles perform for me, with my driving style, on the roads I drive. As you can see, they are all suggestive of a similar driving style, slightly quicker than average.

Obviously I can do a lot better than any of these numbers,in any of these cars, if I'm out of town, taking it easy. I once averaged over 50 mpg on a run in the 335d. It wasn't fun. But I decided to give accurate real world figures based on average driving trends.

Anyway, my point really is a 3.0 with no turbos is going to be pretty slow for the amount of fuel it uses. If you can live with similar fuel consumption, there are much faster cars out there that will give similar figures. Audi S4, M5/3 would all be similar fuel economy, maybe slightly worse. But performance wise, miles ahead. But I would go for 335i if it were me. At least there is a chance of 35 mpg if you take it easy, or 335d for the chance of 50 mpg.

JackRegan : It's because the engine hasn't started, just the ignition is on. I was parked for the pics, with the engine off. The light went off once the engine started, don't worry. And yeah, only 444 miles then. Now has about 6k.
 
JackRegan said:
I suppose they are cheaper than the Boxster S, Cayman S and Jag F-Type you were considering and will also have more room in the rear.

Jack
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Cheaper than them and quite different. This part of the problem though, not 100% sure what I want, so testing everything I fancy that is in my price bracket, which is quite a lot of decent cars.

From what I've driven so far the M235i has felt the most right...
 
J1nxy said:
Cheaper than them and quite different. This part of the problem though, not 100% sure what I want, so testing everything I fancy that is in my price bracket, which is quite a lot of decent cars.

From what I've driven so far the M235i has felt the most right...
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I went from a Boxster to an M3 (E92) in 2011 and whilst the M is very good the handling of the various Boxter/Cayman's I drove during my Porsche ownership takes some beating.

Not sure myself what I will be replacing my M3 with in September. Head says 530(5), the Mrs says keep the M3, my heart says M3/4 :D

(lovely car that xs2man)

Jack
 
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