BMW e46 330ci vs 330cd

Mr. May

Mr. May

Mr. May

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I was wondering what people thoughts where on these cars?

The diesel is cheaper to insure 16 vs 17

Should be better on fuel

204bhp vs 231bhp but the diesel will remap 254bhp and also

300nm vs 410nm up to 485nm with a remap

which one would you go for, and why ?
 
I'd go for the petrol, and I owned an E46 330d saloon.

The reason? Well, the diesel coupe was only in production for a small timeframe in the final years of E46 production, you therefore have little choice but to buy a late e46, riddled with swirl-flap issues, costing you noticably more than a 330Ci, and a lot fewer cars to choose from. You also have to be wary of turbo problems and DPF niggles.

The petrol will be smoother, have a larger selection of cars available, be cheaper to maintain, and has far less to go wrong.
 
The swirl flaps aren't that expensive
http://www.swirlflaps.co.uk/buy-now.html
and fitting doesn't cost that much of a fortune either. The DPF can be removed and while you remap it it only costs an extra £100 to turn the warning light off permanently.

However the rest of the points are valid. The above are only worth the effort if you do at least 15k miles per year otherwise get a a petrol.
 
acemastr said:
It's ****, might get 30mpg on a run, even my parents 325 only gets 35 or so
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Just did 1600 miles at an average of 34.9mpg. It included everything from long motorway runs to overtaking loads in the Highlands.

From experience the x30d is about 7-8 mpg more efficient. Simply not enough to be worth the extra.
 
It's the oil burner for me, regardless of increased cost. I owned a 330ci coupe at the same time a friend owned a 204bhp 330d.

The 330ci was very very smooth, but it felt gutless. My disappointment was further realised after driving my friends 330d and finding the grunt that was missing from my car.

He had it mapped later on and this made it even more entertaining in the midrange.
 
From other owners' comments, the 330i seems to get very similar economy to what I get from my M3 - it's pretty poor given its power output.

A remapped 330cd will also be quicker.
 
No one has mentioned the noise of the 330i is worth the 7-8mpg less on it's own. Over about 2 years i got 27mpg which included fast A-roads and lots of overtaking with almost no motorway. On the motorway 35mpg was easily attainable if you didn't gun it.

Just get the 330i, it is a fantastic car if you get a good one and will bring a grin to your face every time you get into it - i know this from experience.
 
The thing is, I averaged 38mpg in my 330d with similar driving over 3 years, and I you were really trying you could get 50mpg on a run.

The 330d doesn't sound bad either.
 
NickXX said:
The thing is, I averaged 38mpg in my 330d with similar driving over 3 years, and I you were really trying you could get 50mpg on a run.

The 330d doesn't sound bad either.
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And I got 41 out of mine, with mixed driving including some motorway work. (184bhp engine). :)
 
I average 27mpg out of my 330ci

Last 10 fill ups

26.3136
25.8347
26.9892
26.5754
25.8524
27.1371
25.69
27.6684
31.3683
27.1216
 
NickXX said:
The thing is, I averaged 38mpg in my 330d with similar driving over 3 years, and I you were really trying you could get 50mpg on a run.

The 330d doesn't sound bad either.
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I averaged 42 with the same car over my ownership, but they are getting older and older now. I'd not want the associated risks of the technical update diesel, the age they are getting to, and the problems that can arise. Especially when you consider just how much a decent 330Cd costs.

If we were talking a cheaper saloon then I'd possibly swing back to the diesel side of the camp.

That said, the diesel DOES sound good (and not just good for a diesel IMO), and it does offer a nice power delivery.
 
I really like the 6 cylinder diesel - dad has had 3 now I think, all of which have been great all round motors. He had these when they were quite a bit younger though, I'm not sure i'd want one unless I was doing a boot load of miles.

The petrol is reasonable enough on fuel for the type of car it is - if doing a low mileage it'll make little difference anyway. I'm very surprised at the poster who found the diesel a better drive - it's got a great, constant feed of torque throughout its (limited) range - but the petrol keeps revving where you've long had to change up in the derv and that's where it makes the drive better for me.
 
NickXX said:
From other owners' comments, the 330i seems to get very similar economy to what I get from my M3 - it's pretty poor given its power output.
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Well no, There is almost 8mpg between them combined for a start. The M3 is a highly strung high performance engine - it's designed primarily for power. As a result it's a stunning peice of work but it's not going to have the same fuel economy as a 330i, if it did BMW would have been able to capitalise on this with lower emissions figures for a start!

The M54 is excellent for what it is economy wise - especially when compared to similarly powerful engines from Mercedes and Audi from the same period of time.

The M57 diesel is also excellent - for years it was the best diesel engine on the planet and it's still good even today. However they can be a liability as they age and my experience from thousands of miles in otherwise identical cars powered by both was that the economy difference was, as siad above, 7-8mpg. So do the maths.

The older they get the less sense they make IMHO. The 330Cd especially because to this day it retains a very large price premium over the petrol - this wont last for ever so you can't guarantee on getting it all back come resale either. There are also many more 330Ci's to chose from making finding a nice one - increasingly hard with old BMW's - easier.
 
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I had the choice (OK it was for an E91 touring, not a coupe, but the logic is similar). The comparison being:
- Newer/better spec petrol for the same money
- Far less complicated, less to go wrong, thus less risk of big issues
- Smoother
- Petrol sounds ace. My friends 530D is...OK, but it's not in the same league
- The diesel might have more torque, but that's only quoted by people who've forgotten than engines are allowed to rev and that it's nice to occasionally do so, preferably using a strange thing called a gearbox

My understanding is that you'd save roughly 1/3rd of the cost in fuel when running the diesel over the petrol. For say 10k miles/year at a guess of say 25mpg, you're looking at a cost of about £2400/annum. So the diesel will save you roughly £800. That's what you need to balance against potential repairs and the other downsides to running a diesel.
I only do around 5-6k/annum, so the savings would only be £400/annum. I now have a lovely N52 powered 256hp 330i. Sounds lovely, creamy smooth. Just a pleasure to own.
 
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