BMW and M Power Owners

broona · 12 Sep 2014 at 23:47

The only thing I really want in a car is a black leather interior, not too fussed about any other toys, although cruise control would be a bonus.

I can just about get 40mpg on a run in My Octavia VRS, would the 330i be able to get anything like that?

[TW]Fox · 12 Sep 2014 at 23:58

If you take it easy and stick to 70 you will get within 15% of that I would imagine.

xs2man · 13 Sep 2014 at 00:05

[TW]Fox;26891804 said:
Yours was broken then. It's more efficient than my 530i which always beat 35 on trips.

Or you weren't driving it right.

As I have obviously mentioned on here before, my preference is to drive diesels as dailies. That leaves petrols for nice drives, and fun. Not necessarily hooliganism (all the time), but nice drives, on nice roads.

I have said before, "on a run" figures mean very little to me, and shouldn't to most people. It's the overall figures that REALLY matter, as that is what determines the bulk of the cost of motoring. If you are "on a run" so often that this represents the BULK of your driving, you should be driving a diesel anyway.

I'm quite sure I could have beaten 35 mpg on a nice couple hundred miles of motorway at a few mph under the speed limit. But I would do that run in one of my diesels.

The petrol car gets driven for fun. Back roads, like up the Glens here in Scotland. Or general driving around, not "on a run". But as each of my petrol motors were driven similarly, the fuel economy comparisons were still relevant.

Who wouldn't want that extra power and noise for a 2 mpg fuel cost?

xs2man · 13 Sep 2014 at 00:07

[TW]Fox;26891852 said:
If you take it easy and stick to 70 you will get within 15% of that I would imagine.

Then why buy the 330i in the first place if you have to "take it easy" to get within 15%?

Why not just buy a more economical car if you don't need the speed? Another 4 pot? If your going to buy a 3.0 6 cylinder, drive it how it should be driven, no? With little care for fuel economy.

[TW]Fox · 13 Sep 2014 at 00:08

xs2man said:
Then why buy the 330i in the first place if you have to "take it easy" to get within 15%?

Why not just buy a more economical car if you don't need the speed? Another 4 pot? If your going to buy a 3.0 6 cylinder, drive it how it should be driven, no? With little care for fuel economy.

Good idea, let's all do 155mph down the M4, otherwise why not buy a 318?

Bizarre thing to post.

xs2man · 13 Sep 2014 at 00:13

Where did I ever suggest breaking NSL's?

But your suggestion is almost what I was getting at. If you have to drive miss daisy to get the fuel economy you are looking for, why not just get a more economic car in the first place? Then you can drive just as economically and be even better off, or drive it properly and still get reasonable economy. Driving in the manner you are suggesting, you're surely as well off with a 320i? Assuming economy is what you're after, in such a case, don't buy a 6 cylinder petrol (unless it's a 2dr E30 320i. Always had a soft spot for a nice red one of these).

[TW]Fox · 13 Sep 2014 at 00:15

He asked how close he would get to 40 on a run. I told him.

That's pretty much that.

If you go on a motorway run in a 330i and don't break the speed limit, it will do near what he wants. On a dull motorway journey there isn't much opportunity to drive it like it's supposed to be driven.

xs2man · 13 Sep 2014 at 00:18

Yeah, okay. Fair enough point.

But for he rest of his driving it will be a disappointment though, and will be lucky to get in the mid-high 20's overall.

J1nxy · 13 Sep 2014 at 07:16

Seems like my dealer is trying to get me to test just about every loan car they have...I've now had a 640d M Sport GC, 320d M Sport xdrive, 120d manual Sport and now have a 420d Sport...I just want my M235i back...

delta0 · 13 Sep 2014 at 08:02

What is everyone's thoughts on the M135i facelift coming next year and the effect on discounts offered by dealers? They are getting good discounts at the moment and I wonder if this will change with the facelift. The M235i doesn't seem to get as good discounts at the moment.

delta0 · 13 Sep 2014 at 08:04

J1nxy said:
Seems like my dealer is trying to get me to test just about every loan car they have...I've now had a 640d M Sport GC, 320d M Sport xdrive, 120d manual Sport and now have a 420d Sport...I just want my M235i back...

No diesel can even compare.

xs2man · 13 Sep 2014 at 08:59

I would guess an M550d might come almost close...

J1nxy · 13 Sep 2014 at 09:16

delta0 said:
No diesel can even compare.

I drove the 435d and M235i back to back when deciding which I wanted. The decision was made very easy doing that as the 435d just felt so unresponsive and dull compared to the M235i hence why I bought what I did.

The dealer has made a complete balls up of everything so far...almost at the point I wish I'd kept the Jag...

rodenal · 13 Sep 2014 at 09:34

xs2man said:
Yeah, okay. Fair enough point.

But for he rest of his driving it will be a disappointment though, and will be lucky to get in the mid-high 20's overall.

This is exactly what I got in the older m54, mixed driving and I don't hang about. Im not sure what economy you would ever expect given the power output? My fn2 returns near as makes no difference bang on the same despite being a whole litre and 30bhp down. The engine was never a disappoitment considering power to weight. It was a lovely, smooth petrol 6 and the n52 is, if anything even nicer.

I know first hand it will sit at about 40 on a run in the z4, so in the heavier 3a few mpg less is about right

sigma · 13 Sep 2014 at 09:35

J1nxy said:
I drove the 435d and M235i back to back when deciding which I wanted. The decision was made very easy doing that as the 435d just felt so unresponsive and dull compared to the M235i hence why I bought what I did.

The dealer has made a complete balls up of everything so far...almost at the point I wish I'd kept the Jag...

You've not had the BMW very long, have you? Must be pretty annoying

rodenal · 13 Sep 2014 at 09:39

One of the problems with owning the first of any new model unfortunately

sigma · 13 Sep 2014 at 09:47

True. Is it the 4 that's just a 3 series coupe?

xs2man · 13 Sep 2014 at 09:48

rodenal said:
This is exactly what I got in the older m52, mixed driving and I don't hang about. Im not sure what economy you would ever expect given the power output? My fn2 returns near as makes no difference bang on the same despite being a whole litre and 30bhp down. The engine was never a disappoitment considering power to weight. It was a lovely, smooth petrol 6 and the n52 is, if anything even nicer.

I know first hand it will sit at about 40 on a run in the z4, so in the heavier 3a few mpg less is about right

I don't expect any better fuel economy. That wasn't my point. My point was that you can get far more powerful cars that delivers similar fuel economy. So if you aren't worried by 25 mpg on average, then 23 mpg on average isn't such a price to pay for a FAR more powerful car.

At the end of the day, you don't buy a 6 cylinder petrol car to tootle about the place. You buy it because it's a "quick" car. So why not buy an ACTUAL quick car? I've driven / owned my fair share of cars in and around this power range, and I don't actually find them particularly quick. They are obviously not slow, but neither are they all that quick.

Sure, not everyone is all about the power, but I'd rather have it than not if it's not actually costing me much more money. Which is why I probably wouldn't ever buy another 6 cylinder petrol, unless it was turbo / supercharged, and had significantly over 300 BHP. Because I KNOW I could have far more speed for the same / similar fuel costs.

Howard · 13 Sep 2014 at 09:53

xs2man said:
Then why buy the 330i in the first place if you have to "take it easy" to get within 15%?

It always makes me laugh when people say this, as if they expect someone to be always justifying the purchase of a higher-powered engine 100% of the time they're driving it. Just because someone doesn't want to be hooning it like a loon constantly doesn't mean they don't have the right to care about fuel economy when they're doing the more mundane things in life, such as commuting to work.

My commute to work is boring as hell and I drive nice and sedately, whilst keeping up with traffic and sticking to speed limits, keeping my MPG reasonable whilst listening to music and generally staying calm and comfortable. There's no need to drive erratically and hammer it into every roundabout and corner only to meet traffic up ahead faster. But it doesn't mean I need or want to go and buy a ****** diesel to do it in.

I would say that 3 Series offers very good performance and very good economy!

rodenal · 13 Sep 2014 at 09:55

The difference being that with larger engined, quicker cars you won't be able to achieve near 40mpg on a run, you must know this?

Plus those quicker cars that go about it via turbo/superchargers (in particular) usually come with potentially epic repair costs, the n52 doesn't have a lot that typically goes wrong. Its all about compromise and expectation.

I'm not suggesting its some sort of world beating engine. A 335i would be a far, far more exciting daily drive but you'd also absolutely want the BMW warranty with it.

To suggest its not a good engine /car combo is IMO, extremely harsh