E91 330d Touring

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djdestiny

Original Poster:

6,542 posts

177 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
quotequote all
As much as I loved (and still do) my B5 RS4, I was simply not using it for various reasons:
Short drive to work didn't get it remotely warmed up enough
I always ended up driving the gf's Mini Clubman Cooper D instead
Rear leg room for the kids is very bad
I hated parking it anywhere
We want to do some travelling and visit places a far

So, a 330d was the obvious answer!
Something a bit newer, better economy, more useable everyday, more rear legroom, more toys and more modern.
I wanted quite a specific spec, which I soon realised was going to be near impossible to find seeing as they are pretty rare anyway.
The list of must haves were: Manual, iDrive, saloon or Touring, sunroof, alcantara seats (I wasn't impressed with the leather of the ones I looked at, and much prefered alcantara, but they seemed even rarer!), it had to be an M Sport, and finally, and the hardest bit: It must be a rare colour.
I flatly refuse to have another silver car, I hate black due to the nightmare of cleaning them, and that only left dark grey or the rare very nice Le Mans blue ones.

I was about to give up on my search as I was having to make too many compromises, I had even considered buying one with leather and then sourcing some cloth seats, but they didn't seem to exist 2nd hand either.... then I found one on ebay and instantly knew it was the one!
The only compromise has been no sunroof, but that was my lowest priority anyway.


I've ended up with alcantara seats, iDrive, Touring, best of all, a VERY rare colour!
The only thing I'm not certain of is the wheels, but they are changed easily enough and will hopefully do a swap with someone with a bit of cash my way too smile
I think the colour will be a bit marmite, but I LOVE it!
Deposit has been paid, and dependant on the viewing/test drive I will be picking it up on Sunday afternoon, I can't wait biggrin

Sellers pics:








Edited by djdestiny on Wednesday 5th June 09:35

R1gtr

3,423 posts

153 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
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I like that, nice in that colour too, as you said it makes a change from the usual black and silver ones.

Wheels look pretty good I think.

GuyWMD

1,065 posts

202 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
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Nice!

It took me a while to find my manual E91 330d M-Sport. I too had a rather specific list, had to be a manual M-Sport with xenons and not silver, heated seats and bluetooth. Found one with all of the above and the Pro Nav pack.

Although you did say your journey to work is short and the Audi wasn't properly warmed up by the time you arrived so a diesel was the answer...?
I hope it's given chance to stretch its legs and isn't just going to be a town hack.

djdestiny

Original Poster:

6,542 posts

177 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
quotequote all
One of the main reasons for wanting to swap to diesel was to give the scope for more travelling, so yes it will be used daily to get to work but it will also be doing some long distance too.
We've got lots of trips planned for the future including Scotland and France

martin mrt

3,768 posts

200 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
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Looks great in red, although I am slightly biased

E91 is a fantastic car, I've had 3 now, a 330d and 2 335ds, they are IMO the best looking of the E9x range

Yours seems to be well specced, but I'm not feeling the wheels, I had CSL reps on my 2nd 335d for a few months but was never really sure on them

djdestiny

Original Poster:

6,542 posts

177 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
quotequote all
The wheels will probably be swapped but I'm reserving judgement until I've seen them on the car

Bradgate

2,819 posts

146 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
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Looks great, well found!

I have owned a 2008 E92 330D manual for 2 years and 30k miles. In that time it has only had a couple of minor issues, and I am very glad I bought it. I get 43 mpg, driving mostly on motorways and A roads, and the car feels smooth, stable and quite quick above 2k rpm. It feels specifically designed for effortless cruising at 100 mph plus (where legal, of course wink ) .

No car is perfect, however, and the sport suspension is just too hard. You feel every tiny bump, and the suspension can bottom out on bumpy back roads. Also the car is absolutely useless in snow on the standard runflats. I literally failed to get it off my gently sloping driveway on one memorable occasion, so winter tyres are a must.

Enjoy your 330D!

philmots

4,630 posts

259 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
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Looks great in red! Nice to have xenons too, they were a factory option.


FRMATT

526 posts

161 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
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Nice! I think the wheels would look a whole lot better if they were all silver.

Jimmy No Hands

5,007 posts

155 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
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Lovely color, I had a 320d come in at work in red the other day and I remember thinking I don't see many of them. I personally think the wheels would look great in an anthracite colour.

e46acs

548 posts

190 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
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Ooohhh thats nice. As stated, great to see one that isn't black/silver/grey.

GuyWMD

1,065 posts

202 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
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djdestiny said:
One of the main reasons for wanting to swap to diesel was to give the scope for more travelling, so yes it will be used daily to get to work but it will also be doing some long distance too.
We've got lots of trips planned for the future including Scotland and France
Fair enough!

Looks like a good example, I've just racked up 30k in a year on mine and previous had an E91 335d. Cracking cars. Thought about some darkline rear lights?

Should be a picture or two somewhere in my thread - http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Burrito

1,705 posts

219 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
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I made a similar transition, E46 M3 to E91 330d. One of the few things I'd change is the gearbox, the auto really does detract from the enjoyment of the car.

Liking the red, good choice.

Here's mine.

djdestiny

Original Poster:

6,542 posts

177 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
quotequote all
Yeah, thats why I would'nt settle for anything apart from a manual box.
I've already got my eye on some dark rear lights and maybe a few other cosmetic touches (including a remap at some point)

Burrito

1,705 posts

219 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
quotequote all
djdestiny said:
Yeah, thats why I would'nt settle for anything apart from a manual box.
I've already got my eye on some dark rear lights and maybe a few other cosmetic touches (including a remap at some point)
I had mine remapped a few weeks back, but it was only a week old, so can't say too much on the power/economy difference. It's fairly rapid now though.

Highly recommend the guys at AD Autotechnik.

Amirhussain

11,486 posts

162 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
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Liking that, especially in red, the CSL alloys look good on it too IMO.

stewies_minion

1,165 posts

186 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
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Looks very smart.

Like you , I had a very specific list for my E91 and came up with two or three across the UK when I was looking.

They're a cracking car. By far the best I've had.

Kids? Consider rear tints as I'd imagine they'd be a bit of a greenhouse without.

djdestiny

Original Poster:

6,542 posts

177 months

Thursday 6th June 2013
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I might get a light tint all round, I hate rear windows only on an estate because it makes it look like a van!

dbdb

4,311 posts

172 months

Thursday 6th June 2013
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This looks good - I like it in red, it is unusual. They're good cars and I agree this version of the 3 Series looks best as a Touring.
I don't find the car gets hot in the sun, certainly no more than a saloon does so I don't think the car needs tinted windows. They're mostly decorative really. The Air conditioning is effective in any event.

djdestiny

Original Poster:

6,542 posts

177 months

Thursday 6th June 2013
quotequote all
Exactly, I've had an estate in the past that had tints all round, and 3 others that haven't and there's been no difference in heat at all. If I got them would only be for cosmetics