Talk to me about the 3 series convertible

Dr House · 2 Oct 2011 at 05:24

the Pre LCI E90 is horrid, trust me my wife had one.

If you can't stretch to the cab get a coupe. 15k will get you a nice 330 or 335i

Raymond Lin · 2 Oct 2011 at 12:38

Horrid as in the one i linked to? in what way?

I see a nice car there.

[TW]Fox · 2 Oct 2011 at 13:53

Raymond Lin said:
Horrid as in the one i linked to? in what way?

I see a nice car there.

Well the roof won't come off for a start.

Raymond Lin · 2 Oct 2011 at 13:57

[TW]Fox;20203635 said:
Well the roof won't come off for a start.

I KNOW!

I mean my original point of "that saloon doesn't look that bad"

You said it looks horrid....I can't see it. It looks like all BMWs on the road today!

Kenai · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:03

You've only had that Yaris 5 minutes, have some patience and get a car you really want. You'll only regret throwing a load of money at an E90 if what you really want is the E93.

[TW]Fox · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:03

So it looks like a Z4?

You don't half say some odd things.

[TW]Fox · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:04

Kenai said:
You've only had that Yaris 5 minutes, have some patience and get a car you really want. You'll only regret throwing a load of money at an E90 if what you really want is the E93.

Pretty sure he kept going on about how great it was as well. Can't be that good if he already wants rid.

v0n · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:11

[TW]Fox;20203721 said:
So it looks like a Z4?

You don't half say some odd things.

You know what he means. Most of mortals cannot see difference between E90 pre and post face lift, because it requires cognitive skills of a portrait painter. I consider myself motoring enthusiast, patient enough to actually read your posts detailing idrive knob here or small change in quality of plastic there, and even I can't immediately tell LCI from non LCI E90 unless I look at the reg plate or rear light cluster. What is the difference between them that makes pre LCI "horrid"?

Raymond Lin · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:12

Kenai said:
You've only had that Yaris 5 minutes, have some patience and get a car you really want. You'll only regret throwing a load of money at an E90 if what you really want is the E93.

Actually, I still really like the Yaris, not bored of it, but I want a better car IN THE FUTURE soooo bite me

(I mean I don't need to justify every wimp of my desires, long as I can afford to buy it and run it well within my finances then even Fox can't argue with that. Even if I did punch out a 2,000 words essay on what car I want and why, i'll either get no response, as typical OCUK fashion when you write something long and constructed, you never get a response. So just saying what I want is much simpler!)

Anyway, I do want the hard top convertible...but like I said in that first Autotrader link...you get more for your money if you get a saloon. That was my point, the point wasn't "oh, i thought you want a E92". The point was "oh, it is true that you get more for your money with a saloon"

Then responses of "that is a horrid looking car" comes flying in, which tbh, wasn't the point and I really can't see the big difference, it is not like the changes from the old Civic to the new one.

Kenai · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:16

Raymond Lin said:
Actually, I still really like the Yaris, not bored of it, but I want a better car IN THE FUTURE soooo bite me (I mean I don't need to justify every wimp of my desires, long as I can afford to buy it and run it well within my finances then even Fox can't argue with that. Even if I did punch out a 2,000 words essay on what car I want and why, i'll either get no response, as typical OCUK fashion when you write something long and constructed, you never get a response. So just saying what I want is much simpler!)

Anyway, I do want the hard top convertible...but like I said in that first Autotrader link...you get more for your money if you get a saloon. That was my point, the point wasn't "oh, i thought you want a E92". The point was "oh, it is true that you get more for your money with a saloon"

Then responses of "that is a horrid looking car" comes flying in, which tbh, wasn't the point and I really can't see the big difference, it is not like the changes from the old Civic to the new one.

You might get more for your money but you don't get what you want so I fail to see what relevance it has? You'd probably get even more for your money with something without a BMW badge on it but again, that's not really relevant if what you want is an E93.

Raymond Lin · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:19

Kenai said:
You might get more for your money but you don't get what you want so I fail to see what relevance it has? You'd probably get even more for your money with something without a BMW badge on it but again, that's not really relevant if what you want is an E93.

I know that. It was a throw away point of "you get more for your money" post.

I never actually gone and bought the thing! It was like a passing comment, and think out loud moment.

Scrutinize · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:39

[TW]Fox;20201809 said:
The pre LCI E90 Saloon is a horrible looking car

I think we need a bit of perspective here, a pre LCI isn't a nice as the revised styling, but it is far from a horrible looking car. It stacks up much better than the alternative marques in this price bracket.

Raymond Lin said:
Hmmmm, it looks like it is true that you get more for your money if you go "boring", aka Saloon.......

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3243561.htm

£15k, M-Sport with Nav and 08 plate too.

Raymond Lin said:
Horrid as in the one i linked to? in what way?

I see a nice car there.

Just so you get a bit more of a non-biased viewpoint, I like the look of the one you linked to.

It is a far cry from your original proposals but, as with most things in life compromises have to be made. If you can live with a 4 door saloon then why not, it will certainly save you some cash and it will also be more practical if that matters to you. If you want a LCI cabriolet, you will have to pay a lot more for it. As you are already questioning this buying process, even if you can technicaly afford it, you may just not feel comfortable spending that much on it. There is nothing wrong with that mindset either.

The people I know who will happily drop £20-25K+ on a car do so out of necessity (work related e.g. company car or commercial vehicle), because they have spent an age saving, researching and debating the technicalities of it and on paper it is what they want or, they have enough money to do it without question.

People I know who have regretted their car purchasing decisions allways do so because of affordability and cost, simply because when it was crunch time they really couldn’t comfortably afford it.

Raymond Lin · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:45

Oh, out of all this at least i learn that E90 = post 05 3 series Saloon and E92 is the convertible!

OllyM · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:46

Raymond Lin said:
Oh, out of all this at least i learn that E90 = post 05 3 series Saloon and E92 is the convertible!

No, E92 is the coupe. The convertible is E93.

Raymond Lin · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:47

OllyM said:
No, E92 is the coupe. The convertible is E93.

LOL, shows you how much i know!

oooh, why did they skip E91?

mjt · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:47

Speaking of 3 Series convertible, so much want

http://www.autoscout24.eu/Details.aspx?id=mkmyh312t2yx

I've spoken to him before, about a Z4. He won't take my Z3 in part ex, ****.

[TW]Fox · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:47

I think after the reasonably handsome looking car that was the facelift E46 in Sport form, the replacement E90 is awkwardly styled. It has too many random lines and in places looks a bit.. I don't know what the word is, generic-jelly-mould-style. I'd go so far as to say that both the Audi and Mercedes competition, despite being technically inferior, look like far more premium level cars than the E90. The M Sport helps but the M Sport bumpers were far more angular on the E90 than on the E46, which was at odds to the wierd curvy bodystyle.

And dont even get me started on the horrible front and rear light clusters.

The LCI went a long way towards fixing this - though obviously it cannot fix the bodyshell itself - but it introduced much nicer front light clusters, a nicer countoured bonnet and better rear lights.

The little details DO matter and DO change the overall look of a car. Compare an ES to an M Sport for an idea of how little tweaks can change a look.

In summary I don't like the pre LCI E90 and I think that on the contrary, £15k for a pre LCI 3 Series is infact 'not an awful lot of car' for the money. You are stuck with the old low-resolution iDrive.

Sadly they never fixed the cheap interior for the LCI, either.

Raymond Lin · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:50

[TW]Fox;20204010 said:
I think after the reasonably handsome looking car that was the facelift E46 in Sport form, the replacement E90 is awkwardly styled. It has too many random lines and in places looks a bit.. I don't know what the word is, generic-jelly-mould-style. I'd go so far as to say that both the Audi and Mercedes competition, despite being technically inferior, look like far more premium level cars than the E90. The M Sport helps but the M Sport bumpers were far more angular on the E90 than on the E46, which was at odds to the wierd curvy bodystyle.

And dont even get me started on the horrible front and rear light clusters.

The LCI went a long way towards fixing this - though obviously it cannot fix the bodyshell itself - but it introduced much nicer front light clusters, a nicer countoured bonnet and better rear lights.

The little details DO matter and DO change the overall look of a car. Compare an ES to an M Sport for an idea of how little tweaks can change a look.

In summary I don't like the pre LCI E90 and I think that on the contrary, £15k for a pre LCI 3 Series is infact 'not an awful lot of car' for the money. You are stuck with the old low-resolution iDrive.

Sadly they never fixed the cheap interior for the LCI, either.

Thanks, that explains a bit in more detail which I appreciate, more than just "that looks horrid."

As for the interior, does the E90, E92 and E93 shares the same interior ?

[TW]Fox · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:51

Fundamentally yes it does but there are changes that do go a little way towards making the interior feel more special than that of the Saloon. The longer doors give you a larger leather armrest on the door holder and you've got pop-out felt lined storage compartments which you don't have on the Saloon. The centre console also runs right through the car on the Coupe and Cabrio, which is nice, on the Saloon it ends at the rear of the front seats and doesn't fit flush with the carpet either..

Westyfield2 · 2 Oct 2011 at 14:53

Raymond Lin said:
oooh, why did they skip E91?

They didn't. The E91 is the Touring (estate) model.