Considering a 330i - Questions

[Mad Dave]

Morning,

I'm considering trading my E92 330D for an E90 330i (got two young kids so need the doors and really fancy going back to petrol and manual). What should I be looking out for? I've found a nice low mileage one on an 06 plate with iDrive, M Sport, manual etc. Also, I notice in one of the photos that MPG on the iDrive readout is showing 20.1! Is that likely to be the average or a 'just started up live time' readout? I was rather hoping for high twenties on my 15mile commute!

Any advice appreciated,

Thanks

Dave

[xxChrisxx]

Depends how you drive, how your commute is for traffic and and depends if its broken on not.

A good one nursed on the motorway will do 40.
A typical one will do 28-30ish.
A crap one driven by a nutter.... who knows.

[trickywoo]

Manual 330 m sports don't hang around long. If the price is right it'll be sold before you can get to see it.

The petrol filler pipe on those is known to leak but otherwise they are pretty solid.

High 20s mpg will be easy on anything other than town driving.

[Mad Dave]

Thanks for the help. One further question but it's not 330i specific so I'll post it in the main forum

[Vee]

I got rid of my 2007 E90 335d earlier this year and bought a 2006 E90 330i.
Both auto.
On the same 25 mile commute that the 335d achieved 30-32mpg the 330i does 22-23mpg.
It has got 93k on it so probably needs a spark plug change. Hoping this might improve things as it's worse than the 26 mpg I was hoping for.

ps that commute is approx 2 miles of rush hour traffic, 20 miles of free flowing A40/M40 at 60 mph avg then another 3 miles of stop start traffic.
In my experience it will only do close to 40mpg going downhill at 56 mph

Edited by Vee on Sunday 25th September 19:33

[Mad Dave]

Ouch that is low! My e92 330D gets around 34.5mpg on my commute, I'm hoping for mid to high twenties from the 330i which I've put a deposit on.

[MattOz]

My manual 330i averaged high 20's without trying too hard. Over 30mpg on the motorway.

[Mr Tidy]

My Z4 Coupe has the same N52 3 litre engine, and the OBC is showing 30.7 mpg at present - but then again I don't use it for a commute!

But I wouldn't have thought high 20s would be a problem..!

[cerb4.5lee]

I used to have a E90 330d auto that did 42mpg but it was really only used as a long distance motorway car though.

Now have a E90 330i auto and overall it does 26/27 mpg, it does drop to around 22mpg if you enjoy the revs but on a very steady cruise I've seen 38mpg.

The N52 engine is a lovely unit.

[Sam.]

I currently own a 330i, Current MPG on it is 20.7. My commute to work is pretty short.

Is it the N52 or the N53 engine you are looking into? Common issues with coils and the N53 loves an injector or 6.

Also mine only seems to run correctly on Shell Vpower so factor that in when you are looking into cost per mile.

[PTF]

I really wanted a 330i or 325i (3.0) when i was car shopping last year. But the pre-LCI model (N52) put me off because it was more thirsty, plus the iDrive/nav felt very old indeed. And the LCI model N53) put me off because of horror stories of injectors/coils!

In the end i went for an LCI 325d auto with the older (M57?) iron block 3.0d engine. Solid old lump. And the iDrive/pro-nav is excellent and very similar to that fitted to the F-series cars.

It did 50.4 mpg on the gently 80 mile run to work this morning too

[Mad Dave]

Thanks for all the advice, it's an N52. This one in fact :

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Any opinions gratefully received, it appears to be the best example im likely to find.

Dave

[cerb4.5lee]

Mad Dave said:

Thanks for all the advice, it's an N52. This one in fact :

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Any opinions gratefully received, it appears to be the best example im likely to find.

Dave

That looks a cracking spec and the miles are really good, plus I like its colour combo too, seems pretty good on price as well.

I would snap that up I reckon if it's nice close up and it drives well.

[Mad Dave]

Thanks, appreciate the comment. As part of the deal they're doing a full tyres-off refurb of the wheels, removing the seats and cleaning/touching up the seats and doing a 3 stage machine polish on the paint so it should be beautiful. The one single thing scaring me a bit is the photo of the MPG readout which shows 20.1! I'm hoping the salesmans just been out for a thrash tho!!

[cerb4.5lee]

What you've said in the last sentence is exactly what I thought!!

You will get far more than 20 mpg from it...unless you spend all day bouncing off its limiter!

That's a good find and I've been looking for a while too because I would swap mine for a manual, and it's not often you find one with a good spec and a nice colour combo.

Plus one owner cars are massively rare, I'm excited for you.

[Mad Dave]

What do you reckon I'll get from it on a 12 miles commute then considering it's the earlier N52? High twenties is acceptable in my view.

The spec is very good, I put the VIN into a website and there's plenty that's not even in the ad. I'm not sure what Active Steering is going to be like tho. Funny you mention the colour combo; I think the beige interior is hideous but I'm hoping I'll get used to it!!

[cerb4.5lee]

I do a 9 mile run each way most days and mine returns around 27 mpg and mines more thirsty being the auto.

I would expect late 20's, the reason I like the lighter leather is because mines black leather and it feels really dull and I prefer a lighter colour.

[Mad Dave]

THanks, that's encouraging. I only get 34 from my 330D so high twenties won't make much difference. Is yours an N52 too?

I'd love the lemon leather with black plastics and would be tempted to switch but the dash looks a right pain to swap!

[cerb4.5lee]

Yes it's the N52 and it had 48k miles when I got it,its a 2006, had it 3 years in November and it's on 66k now.

I like the lemon leather too, I really wanted the manual when I went for mine but got sick of waiting for one in the spec/colour I wanted...but wished I had waited though!

The auto doesn't really suit that lovely free revving engine.

[Mad Dave]

Thanks for all the help and advice, I really appreciate it. I've put a deposit down on it and will hopefully collect it at the weekend. I can't quite believe I've found a 1 owner low mileage car with such a huge spec and full dealer history, plus a manual box! Having the right colour seats would just be too good to be true!