Pics of my new car

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 09:50

I picked it up on Tuesday in the end, but it was too dark to clean it until yesterday. Here are the specs:

BMW 330d Sport
November 2002 '52'
Colour: Met Black
Fuel: Diesel
Gearbox: Manual
Specification: ABS brakes with Traction Control, Airbags (multiple)
Air-conditioning, 18" Alloy wheels
Multi-Stack CD-Player, Central Locking
Cruise Control, Electric Mirrors
Electric Windows (front & rear), Full Leather interior
Multi Function Steering Wheel, Parking Sensors
Power-Steering, Radio-Cassette
Rear Head-Rests, Rear Spoiler

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 09:51

New and old:

Front:

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 09:51

Interior:

Others:

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 09:59

Cheers guys - it was £12k.

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 10:21

Zip said:
What did u do with the golf?

It's still sitting on my drive. The company lease expires on it at the end of the month, so it will go back then

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 10:34

Guinness123 said:
Top motor mate...I have a 53 plate 330d sport and i love it.Do yourself a favour and get it chipped(i can get you a good price in uxbridge)............Alan

Ah nice one mate - I do intend to get it chipped, but what sort of things did it do to your insurance?

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 11:23

Oh, that's pretty good - I thought it'd go up a lot more than £100 - will have a word with the insurers at some point. Just coughed up £1,600 in insurance for the year, so I might wait a couple of months!

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 11:25

Oh another question for you 330d guys - what is the best oil to use, and is it easy to change it yourself? Does the Haynes manual cover the oil change on the 330d?

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 11:25

Oracle said:
How old are you Nick, i'm 26!

22

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 11:46

Rotty said:
Looks great

12k seems a good price for one in such good condition

Cheers, I got it from Car Giant who just seem to hose down the cars (sometimes they don't even bother doing that!). It was a bit of a pig both internally and externally, and looked like it had never been cleaned in its 3 years. Mechanically it was sound, and all the buttons worked - so I put a deposit down.

I was surprised at how much difference a couple of hours of elbow grease made! It almost looks new inside and out. There are about 3 small dents (other drivers banging their doors against it in car parks :mad:

) on the body work, but they're so small I can't be bothered to do anything about them. The interior has come out almost spotless too.

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 12:10

blueboy2001 said:
Nice motor. How many miles has it done?

Erm, it's almost done the equivalent of navigating the earth's circumference four times...

(97k

)

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 12:11

Burned_Alive said:
Have a look into Dent Wizard, probably cost you less than £100 to get your motor looking mint without the need for any paint.

Oh nice - I'll take a look, didn't think it would be so cheap

.

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 15:00

jamoor said:
casette player - rofl.

Yeah, it has a CD stack in the boot. Would quite like to replace the HU with an OEM tv though. Widescreen preferably, assuming I can grow a money tree first

.

GSXRMovistar said:
Can't find the link/pics at the mo, but I've seen an e46 that looks like it has a standard business HU (as above) but it's only a fake cover, once removed a touch screen pops out that's connected to a car-pc. Thought it was rather

Would like to see that! Sounds class :cool:

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 16:34

jamoor said:
i hate having the stack in the boot or some other crazy place, my dads car has it under the seat which annoys the hell outta me, much prefer it built into the dash like the mondeo.

Yeah it is like that in my Golf, I quite like it, but it's no real trouble having it in the boot. That said I'm going to fit an MP3 system anyway.

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 18:25

Joe T said:
I went to Car Giant this afternoon to look at 330ds. Must say I'm smitten now, and I havent driven one yet! The only reason I didnt drive one was becasue if I did, I'm pretty sure I would have put a deposit down there and then!

They had 4 or 5 to chose from, of varying spec. I think some guy who was test driving one of them ended up buying it today. I think they probably turnover pretty quick.

Give it a couple of months.....

Yup, that's exactly what I did last weekend. Looked at loads of different cars over the space of about six and a half hours - 530i, 520, 320i, 325, 330i, 330d. I decided I wanted one with a Sport pack, and went for a test drive in my 330d, when I returned I put a deposit down.

A couple of the 330d SE's were complete dogs (one didn't have any service history for the last 50,000 miles!), so watch out. However, don't let a grubby interior put you off. Car Giant don't bother cleaning anything properly, so you can't expect showroom fresh. As long as nothing's ripped/badly worn, a bit of elbow grease should have it looking close to new again. If you can't be bothered with that, I'm sure BMW would valet it for properly for you if you chucked them £50.

NickXX · 12 Feb 2006 at 19:02

Joe T said:
Cheers for that. Im pretty set on a 330d. The only alternative I can think of is a 180bhp Audi A4 quattro, but I think I'd rather have the BM. Sport pack is a hard choice. I would imagine the 18" wheels mean that the ride suffers, and it makes it more attractive to thieves etc. It does look fabulous though! However, I do kinda like the Q-car (or sleeper) idea of a 330d, loads of power and torque, but doesnt look like it has.

Enjoy the car mate. Let us know how you get on.

Will do mate - it's a 97k mile car so I'm expecting to have problems, I'm just hoping they're not critical.

I also had an A4 180bhp Quattro on my very short shortlist! I had a look at the A4's in Car Giant, but unfortunately they didn't have that particular one. The A4's look great with the Sport pack, and very good in Avant form too - although it wasn't really the look I was after.

I too was worried about the negatives of the Sport pack. I'm very fussy about ride comfort, and the 18's and Sport suspension give a surprisingly good ride. This is probably due to the ultra-comfy Sport seats. I've not done any mammoth journeys yet (longest being about 45mins), but when I have I'll have a more realistic opinion on the comfort of the car. For the moment, I'm going to say that the ride comfort is great.

The thing that does suffer is that the car tramlines badly - hitting a rut or the smallest rut in the road will throw the steering in a completely different direction, so you do have to be careful. I am however getting used to this, so I can't see it being a problem. On the Autobahn, I'm sure this setup is great, but it doesn't quite work on the Industrial estates of the home counties!