[themetz]

So, traded in my E92 M3 last week for new E92 330d....

(now have 3 kids under 4, plus wife.. so only use my car to drive to and from work. taxman was taking £217pw in BIK for M3. wife complaining about no food on the table etc)



Spec:
330d se highline (= saddle brown leather, sapphire black metallic, bluetooth)
Auto
230 19s
Comfort access
Folding mirrors
Sports seats
Seat heating
Grey wood
Nav professional
DAB
Individ. audio 820w
High gloss shadowline
SPG
Anthracite lining

First few days with the 330d very distressing. initial impressions all negative:
-Noisy
-Slow
-No nice new car smell due to OEM restrictions on solvents
-DSC cuts in too much too often
-Dumbo wing mirrors

Sales guy from dealer (old school friend fotunately) gave me courtesy call Monday to see how my first few days were.
Told him I hated it, that I should have had petrol, basically that it I'd made a big mistake and was very sad.

HOWEVER, after a few more days of learning the peculiarities and personality of the 330d I'm almost enjoying myself!

Now i have a positives list (which gets longer every day):
-Engine not so noisy any more (in fact sometimes in traffic I have to turn the Stereo down to make sure the engine is still running)
-Love the black sapphire
-Love the dab (kiss FTW)
-Love the 230 19s
-Love the individual audio pumping out 820w
-Quite like the saddle brown leather combo (still working on this one!)
-Love the DTC on button (no more flashing orange warnings )
-Much happier and familiar with performance... certainly no 4.0 V8, but seems to be able hold it's own against most things where required!
-Still haven't been to fill up after a whole week (would have been twice by now in the M - didn't realise that MPG numbers actually existed above 18.7!)
-Taxman takes less than half as much money as this time last week!

To summarise:
This could be the start of a beautiful relationship....

Now if only I could find someone to remap the N57 engine....

[dxb335d]

Gorgeous looking car. Didn't you consider a 335d.

Re-map the 330 and you won't be far off the m3

[dxb335d]

What is highline also. What yeAr and month is your car

[rogerxp]

Highline throws in leather. Does it also throw in Nav. All for £700ish. Something like that.

edit
highline - in addition to standard SE spec - £750
18" light alloy Star-spoke style 189 wheels
Bluetooth telephone preparation
Dakota leather upholstery

Gorgeous looking car and I'm sure you'll get on great with it once you've got used to it. I went from a 335i to a 330d so appreciate, not to the same extent though, the drop in performance (it was the brakes that really shocked me initially) but the 330d really does provide punch when needed.

Surprised you went for an auto though following the M3. As Carlos says I'd a thought, if you were going down the auto route, the 335d would have been the natural choice. I'd have a 335d if it wasn't for me being stubbornly against an auto.

I presume this is the new 330d engine (N57?). I'm yet to drive one. I've just backed out of a totally fully loaded E92 330d myself (with ind.audio also) because I realised it had the old engine & i-drive. Need to drive the new one. The used ones are just approaching my notional budget but tracking a manual down is virtually impossible.

Your post really made me laugh but glad the positives are creeping in. Financially there really is no contest and 'real world' performance isn't 'that' far away (the noise is though unfortunately).

[dxb335d]

Never heard of it when I bought mine.

[rogerxp]

It's a new option. The M Sport version gets the 225s upgrade.

With the new Highline models you can enhance this even further with up to †£2,610 worth of additional equipment for just £750.

Take delivery of a new BMW 3 Series Highline Coupé before 31 December to benefit from the lower VAT rate of 15%. What's more you will receive a complimentary specification upgrade of £1,000 to apply as you wish: whether it's optional equipment, BMW Service Inclusive or from our extensive range of BMW Accessories. To find out more contact your local BMW dealer.

I presume it's in a bid to stop sales dropping as spy-shots of the new E92 are starting to circulate.

[toxicnerve]

Lovely car mate. I agree about the new wing-mirrors. These news ones are bit "Prince Charles" for my liking.

[dxb335d]

How long has highline been an option then ? Just seems it's few bits everyone specs anyway ?!

[rogerxp]

True. But instead of paying £2,600 for them it's only £750. Not sure how long it's been out. 6-12 months I'd say. Highline editions are springing up on the AUC now.

[SiKkBaSs]

Nice car with the highline. Remap it and you'll feel happy again.

[themetz]

Highline came in around summer time I think.

I ordered mine in September and it was delivered 4 weeks later - just after they announced the extra £1,000 incentive for orders placed 1st October onwards. Rang dealer to say I'd seen the new offer for post-1st-October orders and suggested they might like to back date such a generous offer to my order. After a bit of haggling and old tosh from them about the Joy Weekend (when I ordered mine) already having an 'unadvertised incentive' I got another last minute £500 off!

Yep, considered 335d and 335i (and Jag XF S and Toyota Aygo!!!!!) - had one of the first 335i's on a 56 plate at launch so know how fantastic that engine is. The new N57 engine is EU5 compliant - whereas the 335d engine remains EU4 until they upgrade it next year(?). I'm kind of hoping this MIGHT mean the 3% diesel surcharge disappears at next budget (hopeful I know!).

Also I only do 10k mileage a year - never use my car at weekend cos we lug the kids round in the Q7. Drive home consists of 3 minutes motorway, 15 minutes dual carriageway with a couple of roundabouts, and then a dawdle through town to my front door. All this in rush hour traffic with no real opportunities to....'have fun'

Hence the conclusion reached with 330d.... my wife now uses my new understanding of the word compromise on a regular basis.

Considered M sport spec too - but REALLY like the 230 wheels which you can't get with M sport... and much more comfortable with softer suspension set up on SE.

To be honest, wouldn't ever go back to a manual now (for laziness/convenience reasons). Had the DCT box on my M3 - truly wonderful once it'd had software updated to cure lag problems. I had a manual M3 loaned to be a few weeks back whilst mine was in for repairs and it was, IMHO, sh*t - reminded me of the importance of never going back to a manual. Each to their own obviously...

Anyway, Watchdogs just starting....

[spandeli]

Originally Posted by themetz

Considered M sport spec too - but REALLY like the 230 wheels which you can't get with M sport... and much more comfortable with softer suspension set up on SE.

Im really surprised first of all you went from an M3 to a diesel engine... wow, thats a big decision mate... and on top of that, instead of getting an M Sport you went to an SE one... wow once again, it takes a lot of courriage to take a decision like that.. Congrats on your new pride and happy motoring

[markymark34]

i would have swapped if you had asked nicely!

would love an m3!

[willhollin]

Well done, you finally made the right choice.

[themetz]

33MPG!!

Am I doing something right...(or wrong!)

[rogerxp]

Originally Posted by themetz

33MPG!!

Am I doing something right...(or wrong!)

I used to get 32mpg from mine (manual) but it was driven pretty damn hard. Now the wife drives it this has risen to 36mpg; last time I checked anyway. Hardly ever saw a motorway. Mine is the old engine though.

What were you expecting; more or less that 33mph? I'd probably expected more but it depends on your style of driving & type of roads. Yours is an auto too. Might it take a while to 'settle' and return better mpg?

[bmw330dconv]

i get 31mpg and mine is old engine, i drive it like i stole it

[dxb335d]

How do you make that pic like that?

[toxicnerve]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

How do you make that pic like that?

I think the answer to that is "you don't".

I imagine it has been done in Photoshop. At least that's how I would do it.

[dxb335d]

How can I do that?

[toxicnerve]

Actually, I may be wrong on that. If you had a tilt-shift lens or an insane zoom lens you could create a depth of field shallow enough to take a picture like that.

As for the Photoshop route, I'm not 100% but it would be a combination of filters I imagine.

[- Paul -]

Select the car - invert it - gaussian blur - job done.