330ci m sport vs e46 m3 vs 330ci clubsport

[H_Kan]

Saw an Estoril blue clubsport driving round Kingston this morning with a very lovely looking lady behind the wheel!

Still can't get over the spoiler though.

[dhutch]

*Al* said:

Yes they do come in black! Carbon black but very rare. I'm told only 6 in the UK.

Here's mine:

Very nice.

Bit of a thread revival, but I have just bought what appears to be a red 330 clubsport. It's doesn't have the rear spoiler but otherwise appears as expected, bumpers, cill trim, cube interior, etc.


Daniel

[E-bmw]

sjj84 said:

Ok I hadn't taken insurance into consideration, was simply thinking of the maintenance of the car. This general rule people come out with of things costing twice as much on a M3 is rubbish. Tyres don't cost twice as much, brakes don't cost twice as much and servicing unless you go to BMW isn't twice as much.
I'd agree that an 8k M3, if you can even get one that cheap, will be a bit ropey.

Brake discs actually cost virtually 3 x as much tyres do cost virtually 2 x as much, servicing definitely does cost twice as much when you compare like for like (as in bmw/bmw or indy/indy) assuming the job is done correctly!

[Zebrs]

dhutch said:

Bit of a thread revival, but I have just bought what appears to be a red 330 clubsport. It's doesn't have the rear spoiler but otherwise appears as expected, bumpers, cill trim, cube interior, etc.

Interesting - what red is it? Imola? Any pics?

[LanceRS]

Bit of a thread revival, but I have just bought what appears to be a red 330 clubsport. It's doesn't have the rear spoiler but otherwise appears as expected, bumpers, cill trim, cube interior, etc.


Daniel
[/quote]

Unless my anorak talents are letting me down, if it's red then it's not a Clubsport. Is it a facelift car? I remember seeing a red one for sale with some of the added bits advertised at a dealer down south somewhere a few months ago. I think it had a set of cross spoke alloys on it (I might need to get out more).

[dhutch]

Zebrs said:

Interesting - what red is it? Imola? Any pics?

It is Imola red yes. One of the main reasons I bought it as it appears there are not many red 330's in general.

LanceRS said:

Unless my anorak talents are letting me down, if it's red then it's not a Clubsport. Is it a facelift car? I remember seeing a red one for sale with some of the added bits advertised at a dealer down south somewhere a few months ago. I think it had a set of cross spoke alloys on it (I might need to get out more).

Non face lift, x-reg. It could well be that its had clubsport parts added to it for all I know, I have been looking for a while so have seen a few cars including test driving a Estoril Blue clubsport but have also far from bottomed out the topic. Would the V5 detail it as a clubsport? Mine states "330 CI SE" for the model.

Certainly if it is a reworked car its been done fairly well and as far as I can tell has most of the things a clubsport would/could have. Perhaps the most at-odds thing is that is does have soundproofing on the underside of the bonnent, which assuming this has not been added retrospectively could be the deciding factor, I dont know where else the soundproofing was/should be. However clubsport or otherwise, it does have:
- Clubsport cill badges. (obviously...)
- Short gear shifter.
- 'Carbon' front lips.
- Electric Leather seats.
- Harmon Kardon audio.
- 18" Staggered Alloys.
- Cube interior panels.
- Sun roof.
- Xenon headlights
- Facelift rear clusters
- etc



Edited to add photos:










































Daniel

Edited by dhutch on Monday 23 November 23:29

[LanceRS]

'The Clubsports started in 2002 I think, mine is an early one 02 reg. An X reg will be too old., looks like a good spec though.
The original extra splitters on the bumper are just normal painted plastic The Clubsport wheels are 5 spoke split rims, although some owners ordered them with the standard MV1 wheels.

The pre face lift cars had the silver coloured trim.
I would imagine that a previous owner has changed bits to make the car how they wanted. They obviously enjoyed it and I hope that you do too.

[dhutch]

LanceRS said:

'The Clubsports started in 2002 I think, mine is an early one 02 reg. An X reg will be too old, looks like a good spec though.
I would imagine that a previous owner has changed bits to make the car how they wanted. They obviously enjoyed it and I hope that you do too.

Well that fairly settles that, and somewhat confirms my suspicions.

So some what harking back to the original opening question, what actual differences will there be between the above car and a clubsport. Other than perhaps the fact its in the excellent Imola Red!

- It slightly too old to be a clubsport
- For a preface lift the cube panels would have been silver not black. (black was post-lift then? Or from a non clubsport?)
- It has the bonnet sound-proofing and presumably whatever other sound proofing?

Is there anything else on the above car that stands out as non-standard? I haven't seen many with a strut brace.


Daniel

[LanceRS]

Your strut brace will be an add on too. I looked at what seemed like hundreds before buying mine and the only one to have a brace is the one that I bought.
BMW being BMW, almost everything will have been added as an option, even the arm rest (mine does without)! The electric sports seats were standard but on your's the leather, headlights, arm rest, upgraded stereo/sat nav and sunroof will have all cost the original owner some money. The black cubed trim I believe was one of the trim options on these.
Your's looked like a very nice car with some desirable bits on.
As an aside, I have just checked and my V5 does say 330 CI Clubsport.

[dhutch]

LanceRS said:

Your strut brace will be an add on too. I looked at what seemed like hundreds before buying mine and the only one to have a brace is the one that I bought.
BMW being BMW, almost everything will have been added as an option, even the arm rest (mine does without)! The electric sports seats were standard but on your's the leather, headlights, arm rest, upgraded stereo/sat nav and sunroof will have all cost the original owner some money. The black cubed trim I believe was one of the trim options on these.
Your's looked like a very nice car with some desirable bits on.
As an aside, I have just checked and my V5 does say 330 CI Clubsport.

Sounds ideal, I have to say while its early days yet I do really like the car. The leather has aged well and along with the black headlining etc looks really smart and should be fairly forgiving to boot. I would actually rather not have the central armrest but at the same time other than getting to the handbrake it does no real harm.

I'm 6ft2 and the headroom is not amazing, I guess the sunroof might take some of that? Even so, far less then the E36 which also have a tilt and slide. Heyho.

All quite fast the way it came together having been looking for a while. I saw it appear online and initially largely discounted it as it was on for £3400 as I have seen other 'clubsports' on for and that was really more than I wanted to pay. But it then came down to £3250 and then £2950 at which point I was in the area and thought I would give it a look, over the phone he said he wasnt going to move the on the price to save a wasted trip, but when I said it would be great to do a deal at £2.5k he didnt laugh and we shook hands at £2650. Happy days.
I should have asked him if it actually was a clubsport but maybe he was coming round the idea, or knew, we might never know. Interestingly, if I put a 'real' clubsport into the confused.com all the prices jump up 10% so there we go! £45 saved...

Thanks a lot for your comments and knowledge.

Daniel