My New Car

[Burned_Alive]

Realised I hadnt posted this up, so here we go. I've actually had it since around the start of August.

Its an 07 BMW 330d M Sport, bought as BMW AUC. Took me a while to find as the colour and spec combination seems to be pretty rare all round. After a few months with it now, I'm absolutely delighted with it. All the power I need, excellent mpg, great noise (on the go) and the auto is a joy for my commute (70 miles a day) with great fun to be had playing with the paddles! Wish I'd bought it sooner!

Sparkling Graphite Grey with Coral Red Leather Interior and Aluminium Trim.
Automatic with Paddles
19" 225M Wheels
Professional Nav
Bluetooth
Heated Front Seats
Folding Mirrors
Sliding Armrest

 

[Burned_Alive]

Thanks for the comments guys

Looks mint

If you dont mind me asking, how much did it set you back? Same sort of thing I'm looking for next year.

It is more or less mint, just the odd thing that'd you'd expect from use, but cant have perfect when buying at 3 years old! It was £23k including a years tax, and obviously 12 months bmw warranty/assist. Fully aware it's slightly over the top in general terms, but its direct from bmw, 1 owner and try finding another in this spec!

Absolutely stunning. I really, really like that.

Only thing I'd change is that awful silver trim. Otherwise thats just absolutely brilliant.

DO WANT

Yeah, not a massive fan of the silver, but its the best of a bad bunch imo. Only thing I'd really consider replacing it with is carbon, unless there's something I've missed?

Oh, and you realise its fitted with those wheels I was talking about in the other thread where a new set of tyres is over £1k

Nah, a full set is only £920! Tyre insurance looks better every day...

What sort of economy are you getting from it on your commute, out of interest?

It seems to manage around 42-44mpg on the commute, with 38.7 mpg average showing on the computer all round. Spending less on fuel than I did with my 106!

 

[Burned_Alive]

I'll reset the computer tomorrow and let you know, but Im pretty sure that's right. The needle does find 50 and above regularly, but I dont really pay too much attention to it!

To be honest, I wasnt really bothered whether I got the 330i or the 330d intially, but when this came along with the right spec, it was a done deal. I dont think there's a lot in it really.

 

[Burned_Alive]

Except about £4k in price difference obviously

Maybe on paper The E92 330i seems to be somewhat of a unicorn (in any kind of decent spec anyway).

 

[Burned_Alive]

No they are 255/30/19 and 225/35/19.

Indeed, I think the only saving to be had is by ditching RFTs which seems to save around £40-50 per corner, but obviously you then need to replace all 4 at once.

 

[Burned_Alive]

Hey Burned - how are you getting on with this? What sort of long term MPG are you getting?

Pretty good thanks, loving the car, couldnt be happier with it. Funny you should mention the mpg because I realised I hadnt come back to this thread with any figures the other day (sparked by the 330d/335d thread) so had a play around on my commute on wednesday.

My average overall (regardless) is 40.8mpg, over my commute it will do 42.3mpg average (town with traffic-motorway-town), 35 miles each way). I reset it a couple of times to have a play over my commute and on purely motorway driving (maybe 25 miles), it averaged (obc) 47.8mpg, which was basically at 70mph with the odd +/- 10mph dip or peak here or there, as you do in general driving. Purely sat at 70mph on flat road it claims 49.5mpg, at 80mph (on my private runway or whatever) 47.0mpg and at 60mph 52.3mpg.

I'm not really sure what to make of these figures or how they compare to other cars/engines (or indeed how accurate the obc is), but I'm happy with the figures its returning at least. It's cheaper on fuel than my 106 was! Just horrifying watching it get so dirty in this weather

Missed this mate, Looks a lovely car. Long time no speak Chris

Glad it meets the seal of approval Good to see you around these parts again, you should grab me on facebook

On the 19"s you probably wont get more than 8-9K out of the tyres. They wear the inside edge down to the cord. Its only one of the 2 brands that do this.
I think its the potenza's. BMW refuse to acknowledge the problem.

Read this was down to the stiffer sidewalls of the RFTs, will probably switch to non-RFTs first chance I get. Although having said that, my sister had a similar problem with her E46, so maybe not?

First thing I am doing if I get an E92 on 19's is putting them on Ebay and fitting 18's without RFT's. Paying £1.1k for a new set of tyres on a 3 Series is a complete mickytake, even more so if they as you say last only 9k on the back anyway. They are not even great looking wheels, all the available E92 wheels with the exception of those 911 turbo-ish ones are horrid.

My problem is, I love the 19s, think they suit the car perfectly. Had an opportunity to buy a car with 18s on, but it was enough to put me off.

My my isn't Fox in a perky mood in this thread. Wooooah there boy!

Looks lovely and some good pictures too. Was expecting some tbl style photos but thank god they arn't

You'll have to forgive me, who is tbl and what is his style?

Was looking at that yesterday and rapidly came to the opinion that a 231bhp E92 330d is a pointless car and that the 245bhp one is considerably better.

The combined consumption on that car does not compare favourably to the 330i, which is 39.2mpg itself, and several thousand pound cheaper.

The 245bhp N57 engine replaced the 1998-2008 M57 in late 2008 and is more economical, more powerful and just... better.

Its easy to talk about all this on paper, but doesnt necessarily transfer to whats actually for sale (or in budget). If you're not too picky with the spec/colour then I'm sure you'll find a 330i with no issue. I had a particular spec in mind (grey/red, 19s, nav, bluetooth, pref heated seats) and in 18 months of looking I only found three cars close (one was a nail), the others both diesels (and auto), I bought the third one. As you know, the market is completely saturated with diesel autos and this is the way its going. I do wish you very good luck finding your ultimate spec 330i though, hope it works out

Thanks to everyone else for your kind comments, sorry if I missed any replies out

 

[Burned_Alive]

Little update... cars still ticking along nicely, just about to tip over 60k miles (~37k when i bought it) and just been in for an oil service.....

In line with all the chat of wheels and tyres, the dreaded 225M cracked wheel has raised its ugly head during routine checks. One rear is cracked in two places on the inner rim, but fortunately the wheel has no physical damage and has passed the runout test. So, whilst I am £535 out of pocket currently, hopefully BMW should be refunding it once approved.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Burned_Alive]

My 325D went in for a service 2 months ago and BMW they rang to say one of the rears is cracked - we've ordered a new wheel & come get your car tomorrow.

No arguments no nothing - just sorted.

What was the wheel and how was it cracked?

Interesting though, I'm hoping this all goes smoothly...

 

[Burned_Alive]

Somewhat strangely, BMW have come back today and offered to pay 80% towards the wheel, leaving me to pay £110 from the £535 bill. Going to go back and have them justify that amount, as I dont see why I should pay anything towards it. Sounds like they're plucking figures out of the air.

 

[Burned_Alive]

Hmm i'm following this issue with the 225s with interest. Is the car still under AUC warranty, or is it the monthly/yearly BMW warranty, or neither? Obviously it's a known issue and I'm waiting for it to be flagged on my car, whether its next month or 2 years down the line! Would be interested to see how it's handled.

Cheers

Tom.

Any update?

Yep! Good news.

As the dealership had rung me later on the thursday to tell me BMW had agreed to pay 80% towards the wheel, they rang back on the Friday to sort out card details for the refund, etc. Whilst on the phone we discussed options about rejecting this offer in favour of a full refund. The dealership said accepting the partial refund wouldn’t affect my rights to further refund, so it was best I accept the 80% back now (all they were authorised to do) and then contact BMW customer service myself, as I would get a quicker response. I range BMW CS straight away, quickly explained the situation and with no argument (just had to wait a couple of minutes for a manager to approve the refund) they said they would cover the full cost of the wheel.

Worth bearing in mind that this is all “good will”, at no point did they admit to a fault, etc, despite the wheel passing their own run-out test. The car is under BMW extended warranty (monthly), however I don't think any of the warranties cover wheels and tyres.

Also, I'm still actually waiting for the refunds to go through, they said they had to refund the full amount I paid at the time and then recharge the servicing fee and the 20%. So they'll probably have to do the same trick again to refund to 100%. Obviously its only been a few days, so you wouldnt expect it to be done yet.

 

[Burned_Alive]

There was a BMW warranty thread earlier where someone was worried about wear and tear being excluded. I think this highlights BMW's overall willingness to play fair when they have replaced an item specifically excluded from your warranty despite the car being 4.5 years old. I think if you have been a 'good customer' such as AUC, BMW servicing, extended warranty etc. they are very much inclined to do the best they can.

Agree to some extent and hope I continue to have the same experience in the future. However, it does appear there is a larger issue with these particular wheels, which has probably forced their hand with the good will. Its just a shame they haven't done something pro-actively about the issue, rather than seemingly sitting back and for the most part ignoring/covering it.

 

[Burned_Alive]

Another wheel/tyre related update... car has just turned over 80k miles and was about to have two new rear tyres fitted until the wheel guy discovered a crack on the inner edge of one of the rear wheels (opposite side to previous cracked wheel).

Cue me then running back and forth between BMW and the tyre place and (hopefully temporarily) forking out £550 for a new wheel to get me back on the road.

Interestingly, as I was picking up the new wheel myself, I noticed the new wheel has a completely different internal lip design and banding around the wheel, which the old wheel does not have, so looks like they have definitely revised the design. Hopefully my previous replacement is of this same new design.

The dealership now want £75 to remove the tyre and conduct a run out test, however I have stalled them until tomorrow, whilst I could gather a bit of information, mainly this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/bmw_latest.shtml

which includes quotes from BMW:

BMW's Corporate Communications Manager Wieland Bruch said: “In easy terms, if cracked wheels do not show excessive damage from for example kerbside contact, they will be refunded without further testing."

So hopefully with this they should be able to get in touch with the relevant people and refund me without conducting further testing.

 

[Burned_Alive]

Worth noting that his phone number and email address is easily available on google, along with his bosses...

 

[Burned_Alive]

Good luck getting that money back. With your car being on 80k i think theyre going to make it very difficult for you.

Run out test should only be £36. Theyre charging you a lot for it.

I've had one replaced before only a year ago, when it was on 60k and the wheel is clearly not damaged, so fingers crossed. £75 is 30 mins labour apparently.

 

[Burned_Alive]

Went into BMW today to give them my "key read" and turns out there was crossed wires over the phone, there will be no up front charge for the run out testing, I will only be charged £75 if it fails the run out test. If it passes, there will be no charge and the cost of the wheel will be refunded.

 

[Burned_Alive]

And they've now agreed to refund the wheel in full, happy days.

 

[Burned_Alive]

Just thought I’d update this nearly 10 years later to mark the likely end of my beloved BMW. Today BMW have reported back that the timing chain has snapped! I think she’s a goner.

 

[Burned_Alive]

179,000

 

[Burned_Alive]

Rare cases of m57 timing chains failing. It does happen though.

What kind of services were you on? Long life every 20k ish?

Yeah, BMW main dealer service schedule, condition based.

 

[Burned_Alive]

No, nothing. It had been in at bmw for a vehicle check 2 weeks earlier as well.

Let go at around 60mph in lane 2 of the motorway.