Well after months of thought and consideration, bought an E46 330i auto sport (facelift) over the weekend. Pics below:
In terms of spec, it's pretty much a poverty level sport, with not much beyond the standard kit, though being fair, that's not rubbish, and I wasn't bothered about most of the extras as they would clearly have pushed up the price. Example of kit include full leather, 18" alloys, M-tech steering wheel (very nice), automatic, 6 disk boot changer (not good I have to say), lots of electrics etc.
Having compared the model to a whole bunch of cars (e.g. E39, Impreza, Accord Type-R, Merc C, Mundano) I really am very sure that it was the right choice for the job. Since collecting I've already covered over 400 miles, so have a pretty good picture of it's strengths and weaknesses.
Excluding the simple cost of it, it's clearly not as economical as a diesel, though still achieved 30mpg. It has a slight tramlining on uneven motorway surfaces, and is also not as quiet or as relaxed as say my old Rover 75 Con.
Making up for that, I really do rate how well put together it is , makes all but an Audi feel like an 80s Toyota.
The gearbox is an interesting solution. In D, incredibly smooth and refined, but with some serious kickdown when required. Shove it into S, and the pick up is substantially better, meaning that on a tighter road it's much easier to slingshot out of corners. Straight acceleration is just very linear and I'm guessing would be on par with an ATR when the ATR driver is going for it, and walk all over one when he misses a gear. On top of that, the engine note is about as good as it gets short of the roar of a good v8.
Handling is good, though you can feel it's weight as it has a fair bit of momentum. For all that, turn in is good and the lack of torque steer is lovely.
In short, a brilliant GT that eats long distances for breakfast, yet can still hustle fairly quickly down a backroad. The feedback is not direct enough to be a sports car, but that's fine, as it's not trying to be.
As it's an auto, I'll be learning how to get the best out of it for a little while longer, but it does look like it has plenty in reserve.
In terms of spec, it's pretty much a poverty level sport, with not much beyond the standard kit, though being fair, that's not rubbish, and I wasn't bothered about most of the extras as they would clearly have pushed up the price. Example of kit include full leather, 18" alloys, M-tech steering wheel (very nice), automatic, 6 disk boot changer (not good I have to say), lots of electrics etc.
Having compared the model to a whole bunch of cars (e.g. E39, Impreza, Accord Type-R, Merc C, Mundano) I really am very sure that it was the right choice for the job. Since collecting I've already covered over 400 miles, so have a pretty good picture of it's strengths and weaknesses.
Excluding the simple cost of it, it's clearly not as economical as a diesel, though still achieved 30mpg. It has a slight tramlining on uneven motorway surfaces, and is also not as quiet or as relaxed as say my old Rover 75 Con.
Making up for that, I really do rate how well put together it is , makes all but an Audi feel like an 80s Toyota.
The gearbox is an interesting solution. In D, incredibly smooth and refined, but with some serious kickdown when required. Shove it into S, and the pick up is substantially better, meaning that on a tighter road it's much easier to slingshot out of corners. Straight acceleration is just very linear and I'm guessing would be on par with an ATR when the ATR driver is going for it, and walk all over one when he misses a gear. On top of that, the engine note is about as good as it gets short of the roar of a good v8.
Handling is good, though you can feel it's weight as it has a fair bit of momentum. For all that, turn in is good and the lack of torque steer is lovely.
In short, a brilliant GT that eats long distances for breakfast, yet can still hustle fairly quickly down a backroad. The feedback is not direct enough to be a sports car, but that's fine, as it's not trying to be.
As it's an auto, I'll be learning how to get the best out of it for a little while longer, but it does look like it has plenty in reserve.
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![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
. Still suspect the beam pattern on the oem is better, but your right it is expensive, even direct from Hella rather than a BMW dealer, its a good chunk of cash. 
