E91 330d Touring buying advice?

[Oz83]

I recently moved to Sweden and it's time to purchase a car. I've narrowed my choice down to an E91 330d Touring with a manual box. Cars are relatively expensive here and my £14K (equivalent) budget will get me a 2007 (Swedish sold) with about 70K miles on the clock and full history. German imports with a higher spec (M-Sport, full leather, nav etc) can be had for similar money.

Is there anything in particular I should look for on these? Common faults? Problems? Signs of misuse? It will be my first BMW so I'm on unfamiliar ground!

Many thanks,
Owen

[SBN]

Lovely cars, pretty reliable and will suck up the miles.

Worth checking the service history, dpf (diesel particle filter) and tyres. They should match all round and will probably be run flats.

Aside from this look at the mpg average it should sit around mid 30's.

Brakes, disc and pad will set you back a large sum so worth looking how much is left on them

[brakes]

There's a lot of chat about swirl flaps being 'ingested' spontaneously and destroying the engine. No idea how common it is, I think pre-2007/2008 engines have this issue. People advise changing the swirl flaps so I guess that may an extra cost to factor in on a pre-2007 car, assuming it's not been done yet of course.

http://www.bmwcarmagazine.com/forums/thread.cfm?th...

[Oz83]

Thanks for the replies, all good advice. I think with the style of driving here in Sweden (mainly medium to long journeys as everything is so far apart) that dpf issues will be less common, although I'll definitely look into this.

I had a read through the article about the swirl flap issue and it doesn't seem to apply to the 330d fitted to the E9x model. Cheers for pointing out this out though, maybe they are worth removing for peace of mind. If there is a potential risk I would be happy fitting the blanking plates myself which should only cost about £50 for the parts.

Anything else I should look out for? Any suspension or gearbox issues?

[DuckDuck]

Oz83 said:

I recently moved to Sweden and it's time to purchase a car. I've narrowed my choice down to an E91 330d Touring with a manual box. Cars are relatively expensive here and my £14K (equivalent) budget will get me a 2007 (Swedish sold) with about 70K miles on the clock and full history. German imports with a higher spec (M-Sport, full leather, nav etc) can be had for similar money.

Is there anything in particular I should look for on these? Common faults? Problems? Signs of misuse? It will be my first BMW so I'm on unfamiliar ground!

Many thanks,
Owen

I used to have E91 330D with manual (231bhp). Great engine made a great noise. Only issues I had were the electric steering lock can give issue with warning light coming on. Fairly common fault apparently. Gearbox was fine. in fact everything else was fine mechanically.

Downsides were that I felt that it had poor traction unloaded; it would spin it's wheels far too easily. I had cloth seats which were rubbish. I didn't think the handling was all that good; could be very jittery mid corner. It was an SE. For me, not quite enough room in the boot.

I moved on to a 5 series touring which was much better.

I think Lci improved things.


Having said all that, stunning engine very, very fast which made a great noise along with an easy 45mpg.

[Oz83]

Good to hear from someone with the experience of owning one, many thanks for the advice.

I considered a few other cars before settling on the 330d, with the 530d being one of them. The thing is I'm 29 with no children and although the extra space in the 5 series would be welcome for my mountain bike, the car just felt a little too big and mature for me.

The traction issue does concern me. As you may know there will be snow on the ground for 3-4 months here and it is mandatory to fit studded tyres. I really hope I won't struggle too much over the winter...might also be fun :-)

I did test drive an A4 avant tdi quattro which in all honesty would be the ideal car for the winter, but it was so slow and dull to drive. I just can't bring myself to spend my savings on a barge.

Cheers, Owen

[DuckDuck]

Oz83 said:

Good to hear from someone with the experience of owning one, many thanks for the advice.

I considered a few other cars before settling on the 330d, with the 530d being one of them. The thing is I'm 29 with no children and although the extra space in the 5 series would be welcome for my mountain bike, the car just felt a little too big and mature for me.

The traction issue does concern me. As you may know there will be snow on the ground for 3-4 months here and it is mandatory to fit studded tyres. I really hope I won't struggle too much over the winter...might also be fun :-)

I did test drive an A4 avant tdi quattro which in all honesty would be the ideal car for the winter, but it was so slow and dull to drive. I just can't bring myself to spend my savings on a barge.

Cheers, Owen

I have the 535d M sport now and would say that the 330d feels as fast. Regards the snow, both cars are very bad unless you have the correct tyres. I have had winter tyres on both, you just can't move the car without them and are therefore essential. You know this anyway. The cars performance once you have the correct tyres on is great, you feel you can go anywhere. The only limiting factor becomes ground clearance!

It sounds like the 330d could be ideal for you I just wonder if the M sport version would be even better though? Good luck with your decision.

Edited by DuckDuck on Saturday 29th September 21:54

[Billyray911]

Owen
Albeit slightly different,I've an E91 335d and they (E91 variant) are a great all rounder and with a remap,are awesome!
I would try and look for an efficient dynamics version-easiest way to tell is they have two 'creases' on the bonnet and rear led's
I would have a checklist of 'must-haves' as there are masses of choice out there.
For me,it was colour,m sport,pano sunroof,DAB,heated leather,pro I drive and definitely xenons being at the top of the list.
Our winters don't compare with yours no doubt,however I budgeted for a set of winter tyres and I had no issues with traction in a harsh Scottish winter and that's with 340+ bhp running through the rears...
Try and get the upgraded CIC system with pro I drive-its a better system.
This is all IMO,of course!

[dace]

I have a E90 330D Msport LCI with all the necessary toys. Absolutely love the car and that is coming from a 490PS RS4 and then a new M3.

It is a superb mile muncher and returns over 50 mpg when being careful with the right foot. Traction is a slight issue when the conditions are anything but bone dry, however all adds to the fun! Recently test drove a B8 S4 and much preferred getting back in mine. It handles very well indeed when pushing on. Taking it to Spa next week......will be interesting to see how it performs!

[VinceM]

I'm going against the grain here and say I had one (a 55 plate 330d) and hated it. Was a one owner car bought from the company I work for, it was quick and sounded great and fairly good on fuel, but quality was not there. It had a grey interior that looked awful after 80k miles, it wouldn't start on occasions and worse of all there is an issue with the early E91's with the fuel breather pipe, and this happened on mine where if you fill the car up to the top of the tank it leaks fuel out through this pipe and onto the floor. BMW wanted £600 to replace a £30 pipe. Back then I couldn't do the work but now I could, and based on this experience it put me off these new BMWs for quite a while.

I now drive an E46 coupe that has so far been more reliable even with more miles on and the interior quality over the E91 is far superior.