Fun ,fast, 4 seat convertible, £15k and ok mpg ? BMW or Audi

[Welshbeef]

village idiot said:

spend a little bit more and buy a facelift bmw 630 convertible (circa £16k+).

You'd get the 635d for that.


Spend £10k more get the sublime 640d M sport mmmm looks power and stunning interior

[village idiot]

Welshbeef said:

You'd get the 635d for that.


Spend £10k more get the sublime 640d M sport mmmm looks power and stunning interior

only just... a 635d convertible at that price without moon mileage is probably going to be a bit shaky.

[RichMarks]

330d it is ... Along with a probable remap.
I can't take the mpg on the 330i or a 630i .. I like the 635d but out of budget.

Now to wait for a nice one to come up.

Thanks for the thoughts
Cheers
Rich

[Welshbeef]

RichMarks said:

330d it is ... Along with a probable remap.
I can't take the mpg on the 330i or a 630i .. I like the 635d but out of budget.

Now to wait for a nice one to come up.

Thanks for the thoughts
Cheers
Rich

The remap takes the 330d to 308bhp plenty brisk enough

[village idiot]

RichMarks said:

330d it is ... Along with a probable remap.
I can't take the mpg on the 330i or a 630i .. I like the 635d but out of budget.

Now to wait for a nice one to come up.

Thanks for the thoughts
Cheers
Rich

based on 15k per annum, the difference in fuel expenditure will work out at circa £650.00 per year. a petrol car will cost less to buy (so has less to lose) and will be almost certainly cheaper to maintain. depending on how long you intend to keep the car, the actual differences in cost might not be quite as substantial as you think.

it is for this reason that I bought my wife a petrol Honda crv rather than a diesel one. it is almost certain never to break, costs buttons to run, and can be run short distances when required (no dpfs).

[Welshbeef]

village idiot said:

based on 15k per annum, the difference in fuel expenditure will work out at circa £650.00 per year. a petrol car will cost less to buy (so has less to lose) and will be almost certainly cheaper to maintain. depending on how long you intend to keep the car, the actual differences in cost might not be quite as substantial as you think.

it is for this reason that I bought my wife a petrol Honda crv rather than a diesel one. it is almost certain never to break, costs buttons to run, and can be run short distances when required (no dpfs).

But as another poster who owned one has alluded to below 80mph 4th gear and above are useless/totally gutless.
If you drive the 330i hard it will do low 20's drive the 330d hard it will at worst do 38mpg so not far off 100% better economy.

[V8RX7]

M3 - but I see your definition of good mpg is different to mine.

Fun and diesel are mutually exclusive IMO

As is Fun and Audi

You need to try a few more cars and realise what you're missing.

[tomic]

Welshbeef said:

village idiot said:

based on 15k per annum, the difference in fuel expenditure will work out at circa £650.00 per year. a petrol car will cost less to buy (so has less to lose) and will be almost certainly cheaper to maintain. depending on how long you intend to keep the car, the actual differences in cost might not be quite as substantial as you think.

it is for this reason that I bought my wife a petrol Honda crv rather than a diesel one. it is almost certain never to break, costs buttons to run, and can be run short distances when required (no dpfs).

But as another poster who owned one has alluded to below 80mph 4th gear and above are useless/totally gutless.
If you drive the 330i hard it will do low 20's drive the 330d hard it will at worst do 38mpg so not far off 100% better economy.

I am the other poster and I didn't say useless/gutless I said lazy, and I still have it. It's still pretty rapid compared to a lot of cars - you'll just need to drop a cog to out accelerate a 330d.

I also said was that they're both great cars of completely different character - one is a great motorway cruiser, one is great for B-Road blasts. Neither car is better than the other.

Superior economy is only relevant if you do the miles to offset the initial cost as the poster above says - it will take you a long while to recoup the outlay of a 330d with the mileage you're doing.

If I were the OP, I'd go and drive both,see which one you prefer, work out the real world costs, and ignore the opinions of fanboys who are trying to convince you that their car is the best in the world ever.

[V8RX7]

Welshbeef said:

If you drive the 330i hard it will do low 20's drive the 330d hard it will at worst do 38mpg so not far off 100% better economy.

My 330i averages 22-24mpg (and is being sold as it's dull)

Your definition of hard is far from mine as I can easily get a 330d to sub 30mpg
(how far below I can't remember but I remember that once the extra cost of diesel was added the difference was a couple of mpg)

[bodhi]

I've just swapped from a 330d to a 125i Coupe. Over 20k miles it's costing me an extra 20 quid a month in fuel (37mpg for the 330, 33 for the 125). It's sounds a whole lot better and I find myself changing gear a lot less in the 125.

Go for the petrol whilst you can still get 6 cylinders. You will not regret it.

[Welshbeef]

V8RX7 said:

My 330i averages 22-24mpg (and is being sold as it's dull)

Your definition of hard is far from mine as I can easily get a 330d to sub 30mpg
(how far below I can't remember but I remember that once the extra cost of diesel was added the difference was a couple of mpg)

Thing is I use BP ultimate or Nitro+ so fuel cost is identical diesel and petrol - I've always used the superior fuel since I had the Fiat Coupe 20 V turbo and genuinely felt a difference.

[tomic]

Welshbeef said:

Thing is I use BP ultimate or Nitro+ so fuel cost is identical diesel and petrol - I've always used the superior fuel since I had the Fiat Coupe 20 V turbo and genuinely felt a difference.

Yeah, but there's even more of a need to run a direct injection diesel on ultimate or Nitro than there is with a Petrol, otherwise your EGR etc will get gummed up with carbon as well as your injectors, so fuel cost is still more in a Diesel

[SidewaysSi]

As said by others, the Audi is not fun or interesting in any way, shape or form. What about a Merc E Class? Still bling but a more complete car.

[A.J.M]

My brother faced that issue 2 years ago.

He got a 05 330D convertible, 46k on the clock, black with black hood and black interior.
It had all 18s refurbished and 4 pirrelli tyres.

It's fast, economical and comfortable to cover the miles.
Terrible sound system in it though.

[anonymous-user]

You need to manage your expectations a bit when shopping for 4 seater convertibles. Fast, economical etc are all possible but driving dynamics are always compromised, despite what st you might read in car magazines. In particular the folding hard tops really feel the extra weight. The fun comes from the roof down experience, so I'd say it's worth concentrating on other factors when deciding on a car than ultimate driving dynamics. Engine note really does matter in a convertible so if you're going for a diesel you really don't want it to be a 4 pot.

ALso if you will be taking full sized humans in the back for anything more than 15 minutes you will find the A3 and BMW 1 series to be useless, they are best considered a 2+2. The BMW 6 series is also surprisingly cramped in the back and not that comfortable. Someone on here replied to a thread on convertibles with how many inches of legroom there were in various cars if you can find it.

ETA - You really should test an Audi A5 cab if you can, simply because it's hard to believe what a shocker it is until you do. I tried two because I was utterly convinced there was something badly wrong with the 1st I drove but no, that's what they are like. It does look great, but the way it crashes, smashes and shudders incompetently down the road has to be experienced to see how wrong you can get it. Remarkably the previous A4 cab was much nicer to make swift progress in.

Edited by dme123 on Sunday 21st September 07:56

[kinghottinger]

V8RX7 said:

M3 - but I see your definition of good mpg is different to mine.

Fun and diesel are mutually exclusive IMO

As is Fun and Audi

You need to try a few more cars and realise what you're missing.

In this vein, I've said it before to a similar question* but I'll suggest it again, the recent (S197) Ford Mustang 'vert is a fun 4 seat convertible. Is it fast? OK mpg? Subjective, plus v6 or v8 options. But they are by any measure more 'fun' than any German executive diesel cabrio.

(* The previous poster dismissed the suggestion with his nose turned up. No shame in that.)