E92 335d vs 330d

[Waugh-terfall]

edo said:

One word of warning. Check the 19's dont have any cracks BEFORE you pay your money over.

That's thirteen.

Are we placing bets on how long you have this one before it gets stolen now or..?

Edited by Waugh-terfall on Sunday 30th October 00:42

[Mazdarese]

Waugh-terfall said:

Are we placing bets on how long you have this one before it gets stolen now or..?

[No Bend]

Argh, just through the rigmarole of new member 'paddling'.

Anyway - a thread exhumation. Any comments from purchaser on satisfaction?

My budget is modest, as an immigrant from Australia my eyes are popping for these fantastically high powered D's - a 330d manual estate ticks more than enough boxes…


Would be fantastic if the OP in this thread gave his post mortem of the cars time with him. Literally pound for pound - where i'm from this is some sort of exotic car dream. I just need to make sure I buy the right one...

[Welshbeef]

No Bend said:

Argh, just through the rigmarole of new member 'paddling'.

Anyway - a thread exhumation. Any comments from purchaser on satisfaction?

My budget is modest, as an immigrant from Australia my eyes are popping for these fantastically high powered D's - a 330d manual estate ticks more than enough boxes…


Would be fantastic if the OP in this thread gave his post mortem of the cars time with him. Literally pound for pound - where i'm from this is some sort of exotic car dream. I just need to make sure I buy the right one...

Good luck in finding a manual 330d the very vast majority were sold as autos they auto box and the big D are so well suited.

[pimpin gimp]

Welshbeef said:

Good luck in finding a manual 330d the very vast majority were sold as autos they auto box and the big D are so well suited.

Couldn't agree more, I love mine. Though no doubt Vlad will be along shortly to extol the virtues of a 335d and how it's got the best brakes and steering in the world, bar the 135 which is even better.

[10 Pence Short]

I'll take his opinion ahead of yours. After all, I doubt you can afford a £40k van with windows.

[UpsideDown]

No Bend said:

Argh, just through the rigmarole of new member 'paddling'.

Anyway - a thread exhumation. Any comments from purchaser on satisfaction?

My budget is modest, as an immigrant from Australia my eyes are popping for these fantastically high powered D's - a 330d manual estate ticks more than enough boxes…


Would be fantastic if the OP in this thread gave his post mortem of the cars time with him. Literally pound for pound - where i'm from this is some sort of exotic car dream. I just need to make sure I buy the right one...

I had a manual 330d touring for about 5 years. I thought it was a good car and had no issues with it during the whole time I owned it. It was reasonably quick and would get between 35-40 mpg.

The clutch and gearbox were a bit heavy so an auto may be better if you do a lot of stop/start driving. Having driven my father in law's 530d auto as a comparison I would still take the manual over the auto.

[anonymous-user]

The issue as mentioned will be simply finding a 330d in manual!

I did 165kmiles in a E46 330d manual tourer, and replaced it with a E90 335d tourer, simply because i couldn't find a manual one in the right spec. If you are after an SE rather than a sport, then a 325d (same engine, detuned, ripe for a remap!) can occasionally be found in manual. If you in anyway enjoy driving, then the manual is the way to go, but the auto is effortless in day-to-day motoring, but completely souless/forgetable.

[No Bend]

Yes, I can't imagine that finding what i'm after will be easy but i'm in no hurry.

Manual estate, 330d, M Sport preferably. I can't justify a sporty car 'and' a work car - so a sporty work car is appealing. I'm used to driving a 6 litre V8 (Holden Commodore) and a straight 4 litre 6 cylinder turbo (Ford Falcon) at work back in Australia - i'm missing the power over here. Currently in a VW Passat which gives good power for its 2.0D engine.

[Welshbeef]

No Bend said:

Yes, I can't imagine that finding what i'm after will be easy but i'm in no hurry.

Manual estate, 330d, M Sport preferably. I can't justify a sporty car 'and' a work car - so a sporty work car is appealing. I'm used to driving a 6 litre V8 (Holden Commodore) and a straight 4 litre 6 cylinder turbo (Ford Falcon) at work back in Australia - i'm missing the power over here. Currently in a VW Passat which gives good power for its 2.0D engine.

To be fair if you look at "how many left" website you may find the total number of manual 330d Touring's to 30 or even less in totality in the UK. So worth considering that your ideal is x but your likely to have to compromise.


Also as your coming from Oz be prepared for very heavy traffic conditions in the UK especially the South East hence the appeal of Auto in addition its such a perfect union.

[sday12]

Don't be swayed by the slushomatic,
I sourced a manual 330d coupe, and whilst most have the devil's gear swapper, 15% don't, and it's a peach, solid 6 speed.

30 in the UK, Pah! There's 30 on Auto Trader:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/bmw/3...

[Welshbeef]

sday12 said:

Don't be swayed by the slushomatic,
I sourced a manual 330d coupe, and whilst most have the devil's gear swapper, 15% don't, and it's a peach, solid 6 speed.

30 in the UK, Pah! There's 30 on Auto Trader:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/bmw/3...

Or actually only 13 which are 330ds then of those which are M sport and what about the spec he wants possibly zero available currently

[pimpin gimp]

10 Pence Short said:

I'll take his opinion ahead of yours. After all, I doubt you can afford a £40k van with windows.

Ha ha, if we're paying cash then I'd be lucky to buy a new Peugeot bipper let alone a fashion icon such as a VW transporter!

[tmrobinson]

I've got a 330d manual estate, with a remap by emaps. Its a great drive. I looked for ages to find a decent manual estate but definitely worth it

[billywhizzzzzz]

I had an e91 330d (after an e46) and wished i'd bought the 330i. I'm sure I paid for the privilege of having a diesel as I only did about 12,000 per annum, and it isn't that I didn't like the diesel (as actually I enjoy the power delivery) - it was just that the car seemed to be neither one thing or the other, and I wished that, well, i'd had one thing or the other - that is to say, a 5 series diesel motorway muncher, or a free revving petrol 6 to exploit that fantastic chassis...

[Welshbeef]

billywhizzzzzz said:

I had an e91 330d (after an e46) and wished i'd bought the 330i. I'm sure I paid for the privilege of having a diesel as I only did about 12,000 per annum, and it isn't that I didn't like the diesel (as actually I enjoy the power delivery) - it was just that the car seemed to be neither one thing or the other, and I wished that, well, i'd had one thing or the other - that is to say, a 5 series diesel motorway muncher, or a free revving petrol 6 to exploit that fantastic chassis...

Well its a 6 second car to 60mph 16seconds to 100mph 42mpg 231bhp 49mpg 245bhp E9x or 59mpg F30

The 3 handles so much better than the 5 you can really hustle it.

I enjoyed the 600 mile full ups I guess the latest F30 330d isn't far off 1,000 mile range and 5.4 seconds to 60mph and 13 seconds to 100mph.

[sday12]

Welshbeef said:

sday12 said:

Don't be swayed by the slushomatic,
I sourced a manual 330d coupe, and whilst most have the devil's gear swapper, 15% don't, and it's a peach, solid 6 speed.

30 in the UK, Pah! There's 30 on Auto Trader:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/bmw/3...

Or actually only 13 which are 330ds then of those which are M sport and what about the spec he wants possibly zero available currently

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=134...

One here:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...

[ArsE92]

No Bend said:

Would be fantastic if the OP in this thread gave his post mortem of the cars time with him. Literally pound for pound - where i'm from this is some sort of exotic car dream. I just need to make sure I buy the right one...

Well I went for the 335i in the end so I'm not sure you'll be interested in my running costs?

I still have it. The longest I've kept a car, and for the most part I'm delighted with it.

[ToothbrushMan]

RobM77 said:

it's important to differentiate between initial throttle lag (the first push of the throttle from 0% to whatever value you desire, and the ensuing delay before the engine responds) and turbo lag,

Never heard of throttle "lag" in car talking parlance before.....

Also id have thought in the 330d and 335d there would be next to no difference between your off boost response and a poor throttle response - most folk would just refer to any such delay as lag surely as they start to get pushing hard from little over idle speed dont they? Or are you saying you can have good throttle response but then lag beyond that as something completely different?

Edited by ToothbrushMan on Wednesday 12th February 16:34

[Legend83]

ArsE92 said:

Well I went for the 335i in the end so I'm not sure you'll be interested in my running costs?

I still have it. The longest I've kept a car, and for the most part I'm delighted with it.

I would be interested in your experience and running costs as one of these is firmly in my sights in the next couple of years.