F31 330d Touring xDrive - Review after 5 Months

F31 330d Touring xDrive - Review after 5 Months

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msej449

Original Poster:

177 posts

120 months

Monday 10th March 2014
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330d SE Touring xDrive: First 5 months.

I've now had this car five months or so and though it might be of interest to do a review. As ever, this is a personal opinion, and obviously different people will have different priorities. So this isn't meant to be prescriptive - just some thoughts relevant to anyone considering a potential purchase. Contrary opinions and experiences obviously welcome ....



BMW 3 Series Touring
330d straight-six turbo-diesel
Sports Automatic Transmission
xDrive

Wheels & Tyres
Summer: Style V-Spoke 395 - Front 7.5J x 17" 225/50 R17 RF - Rear 8.5J x 17" 255/45 R17 RF
Winter: Style V-Spoke 413 - Pirelli Sottozero™ Serie II RF - Front 7.5J x 17" 225/50 R17 RF - Rear 7.5J x 17" 225/50 R17 RF +Chains

Interior
FLCDF Venetian Beige Dakota Leather
S04AB Burr Walnut Wood Trim

Packages
S0ZVI Visibilty (High-beam Assist; Adaptive Headlights; Headlight Wash; Xenons)
S0ZIC Interior Comfort (Storage; Split-fold rear Seats; Interior Lights; Head Restraints)
S0ZNB Media BMW Business (Teleservices; Emergency Call; Business SatNav)
S0ZAP Advanced Parking (Park Assist; PDC F/R; Reversing Camera)

Options
S0676 BMW Advanced Loudspeakers
S0430 External folding & auto-dim mirrors
S0482 Panoramic Glass Sunroof
S0420 Sun Protection / security glass
S03AP Grey band windscreen shade
S04AE Front armrest
S0459 Electric Front Seats & Driver Memory
S0488 Lumbar Support
S0494 Front Seat Heating
S0496 Rear Seat Heating
S0481 Front Sports Seats
S0248 Steering Wheel Heating

Accessories
[36 112 220 163] Style V-Spoke 413 Winter Wheels & Tyres
[36 112 296 312] Set of snow chains for 225/50R17 (rear)
[82 712 295 099] Roof Rack – BMW base support system, lockable
[63 310 432 670] Rechargeable LED torch

Summary

It’s now close to 5 months since I got my new BMW 330d SE Touring xDrive, replacing an Audi A3 Sportsback Black Edition 170. Highlights have been the hugely better ride and relaxed driving on the 8-Speed auto, offering easy driving on long journeys, with instant power when needed. Lowlights have been around the ridiculous Bluetooth (non) music streaming and (non) availability of any useful apps. Regrets? Perhaps over not getting the head-up display (HUD) and whether the electric sports seats, lumbar and heating were really worth the cost. I’ve been Impressed by the adaptive headlights that turn with the steering, and frankly astonished by how well the high beam assist and adaptive lights work on dark cross-country roads. Definitely a convert to paddles, even if they’re just an alternative to kick-down for overtaking. Rueful about the lovely beige leather interior (the floor mats aren’t going to survive the winter).

Glad I got xDrive when driving over the Jura Mountains en route to the Alps, and very happy with the neutral xDrive handling after the FWD antics of the Audi (and by the way, you can get a new A3 Sportsback Quattro up to the £40K mark by specifying a similar range of options, and that’s just a 2.0L diesel or 1.8L Petrol engine).

I’d recommend the straight-six 3.0L diesel plus Sports Auto as the basic choice, if at all possible, and then see what else you can afford. The Xenons and Adapative lights would be next on the list. If you endure extreme winter weather and/or drive to the Alps regularly, then I’d put xDrive in as a basic requirement, but I don’t see the point unless you also go for winter wheels and tyre package as well. Go for 18” summer wheels, or 19” if you strongly prefer handling over ride. I think that tinting of the rear windows is a big security aid. The sunroof makes the interior light and airy, especially in dull weather. The beige upholstery is similarly refreshing, but get a set of darker carpets for winter.

What’s Good

The ride is better than I could have hoped for and puts the standard Audi bone-jarring, lowered suspension, low-profile-wheels configuration into the shade. Long journeys in this car are so, so much better than in the Audi. And in ‘real’ UK pothole-riven daily driving, the same applies.

The 8-Speed Sports Auto is a dream. The car quietly sits around 1500rpm and you don’t notice the changes. The combination of paddles and sports auto works very well – allowing easy change-down for overtaking etc.

I’d go for the 3.0L diesel again, over the 4-cyl options. It’s worth the extra.

I think that the BMW Winter Wheels and Tyres offerings are good for those who use the car for Alpine trips and/or who are likely to encounter bad winter weather.

Glad I got the sunroof. This makes the whole interior much brighter and airy. Especially for the rear passengers.

The combination of Adaptive Headlights and High-beam Assist is terrific. If you have to choose between the two, get the former.

Fuel consumption over the last 12 weeks has been 45.5MPG, in mixed conditions, 90% Comfort / 10% Sport modes.

In retrospect

I’d opt for 18” summer wheels, trading some ride comfort for more agility.

I would go for the HUD. Not just because of the viewpoint but because the HUD’s navigation graphics (which also appear on the central SatNav screen) are more clear and accurate than the spoken directions.

I’m not sure whether the whole panoply of electric seats, lumbar support and sports seats was worth it. Especially since I can’t seem to get the seat memory to work in tandem with our two ignition keys. I’d say not if you’re going to hand the car back after a lease, but yes if you plan to hold on to it.

I'd have got some harder-wearing front mats for the winter.

Biggest Frustrations?

Bluetooth Audio Streaming (or lack of): A £45K car and I can’t use the Bluetooth for music (although I can for ‘phone calls) – I have to buy a £48 cable from BMW or £7 equivalent from Amazon. Or a £150 docking station.

Apps (or lack of): A £45K car and there are basically no Apps enabled (such as fuel status, MPG analytics, remote pre-ventilation, location, etc.). I have to spend another £1,000 to get these. £4.95 for a BMW App would be OK - £1,000 isn’t. Get real, BMW: trying to make money this way just pisses customers off.

SatNav: A £900 SatNav and I don’t get real-time traffic updates. (you guessed it, only in the £1,900 SatNav version).

The fuel tank is small at 50L – this gives only around 500 miles on a full tank. I’m used to 700+ on my A3.

The SatNav voice calling a motorway slip-road or junction a “street”. Even in the original German, I can’t imagine these are called “Straße”.

We just haven’t been able to get the seat memory to work with the ignition keys.

The intermittent wipers are not sensitive enough. This is a known deficiency.

SatNav & HUD

The voice directions are usually fine 95% of the time, but just too often they’re ambiguous (some Y-junctions, for example) or plain wrong. What is spot-on is the oblong graphic that’s also on the HUD if you have one. If I have a passenger as navigator, we’ll usually turn the voice off and refer to the graphic at key points. I often put my current location in as a contact after visiting a new customer for the first time. This can be hard to find in the menus – the location is counter-intuitive.

BMW: Why don’t you?

o Provide one £1,500 ‘SatNav, Software & Apps’ option: Install full-size screen and enable all the Apps and services if this is chosen.
o Enable Bluetooth audio streaming as standard?
o Have a set of video guides on YouTube for owners?
o Generate a bespoke Owner’s Manual, using the options chosen by the customer? Or have it available on-line.
o Give all customers the ‘free’ plug-in torch and tell them it can be charged under the glove compartment or in the rear passenger console.

Interior Photo





Edited by msej449 on Tuesday 11th March 14:45


Edited by msej449 on Tuesday 11th March 14:46

ghibbett

1,900 posts

184 months

Monday 10th March 2014
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Thank you for taking the time to write such a thorough and informative review. Much appreciated thumbup

SimNugget

580 posts

169 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Thanks for posting up.

Just ordered mine - I bottled the cream interior but chose the sunroof too to brighten the interior.

S

Mattt

16,661 posts

217 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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As of a couple of weeks ago, new builds feature a better Business Nav system, and also Bluetooth audio streaming - not that this helps you.

EBT can be added yourself via coding, check out F30Post for details.

jayemm89

4,003 posts

129 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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That interior is gorgeous!

msej449

Original Poster:

177 posts

120 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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here are a couple more interiors (the colour rendering is truer in the first one for some reason) ..



The colour below is a bit more creamy than in real life - the above is more like the real thing ..





Edited by msej449 on Tuesday 11th March 14:35

SimNugget

580 posts

169 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Lovely and clean - no blue jeans to be worn in there!

smashy

3,030 posts

157 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Love that interior.........

lambo911

86 posts

160 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
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As this is a review thread I thought I’d share my experience. I’ve had my 330d xDrive M-Sport Touring for just over 4 months and I’m extremely pleased with it.

The options I chose were;
Professional Navigation – does everything I want and I love the ability to communicate with the car remotely, such as sending directions to it from Google Maps which you can load straight into the Nav. What I don’t like is the map as it’s difficult to make out clearly which roads it wants you to take, it also doesn’t let you see the entire journey details.
M-Sport Plus – This package is a no brainer as the sum of the parts is far more than the package price. I love the Harmon Kardon sound system. The uprated brakes are awesome too with bigger discs and calipers.
Adaptive suspension – got to be one of the must have options, the ride is fabulous and you don’t need to mess around with the sport mode to firm it up as it will do this automatically.
Variable sports Steering – It certainly makes the car easier to manoeuvre at low speed but I’m not sure I’ve noticed any increased sportiness. This is probably an option I could live without.
Panoramic roof – I sat in cars with and without and the roof really makes a big difference to how bright and airy the cabin feels.
Visibility package – love the daytime driving lights and the adaptive beams. Jury still out on the high beam assist but I haven’t really used it on the right sort of roads much to test it out.
Comfort package – the fold down rear headrests do help with rear visibility
Rear Camera – Always thought these were a bit of a gimmick but after having a hire car in Florida with one I was sold. Makes parking simple. You can also see if you are just about to run over the cat!
Power upgrade – not the official BMW one, gives another 40bhp and tons of torque. Absolute hoot and I can’t resist putting my foot down at every opportunity.

xDrive – I’ve another thread where I witter on about this, suffice to say it’s great.

Options I would have liked if I had the money;
Electric seats – I like the idea they adjust (or allegedly adjust) based on the key being used. That said, all I have to do now is shift it forwards and backwards.
Folding mirrors – bit of a pain having to walk round the car to fold them in. Would be nice if it dipped when parking
HUD – was on the demo car I tried. Liked it but it is very expensive. Wife didn’t like it though.

Car bad points – not many and I’m hoping some of them can be cured with upgraded software;
Start stop – is just annoying, stops when you don’t want it to (software?)
Rain sensitive wipers – tend to wait for quite a lot of rain before they start then they wipe when a single drop hits the screen (software?)
Sat nav isn’t the best – unclear maps and tends to be a bit slow to react (software?)
Music system HDD – sorts tracks in alphabetical order rather than retaining the album track order (software?)
It does get affected by side winds quite a bit.
MPG is terrible (compared to the official figures), averaging only 30 and that is with the missis driving it mostly on the urban cycle most of the time. On a run I get mid to late 30’s.
The 19in wheels look gorgeous, or did, they are way too easy to damage against kerbs.
The wife complains it’s difficult to park and it’s width makes it tricky to thread through gaps, part of the problem is she doesn’t really understand how to use the camera and parking sensors which so it’s an operator issue rather than a fault of the car, I don’t find it a problem at all. I do agree the car feels quite big and it was difficult to accurately estimate where the corners are. I found raising the seat helped quite a bit.
Oh yes and I’ve discovered a design fault with the front door bins which offload their contents into the footwell under extreme braking!

Overall – fabulous car, I love it. Super fast and super refined. Would I get another one, no, I’d get the 335d.

nick5michaels

3 posts

116 months

Thursday 3rd July 2014
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I have had my F31 330d xDrive for 12 months; here are my thought

Luxury
Sports Automatic
18" style 416

Imperial Blue Xirallic
Saddle Brown Dakota leather

Options:
Professional Media Pack
Interior comfort pack (extra storage and folding read head restraints)
Sport steering wheel
Adaptive M Sport suspension
Panoramic glass sunroof
Roof rails in aluminium
sun protection glass
folding exterior mirrors
lumbar support
seat heating
anthracite fineline wood
chrome trim finishers
internet

Overall, a fabulous car. Seriously quick - stunned a friend in a drag against his new Porsche Cayman. xDrive reassuring and noticeable on twisty stuff and wet and muddy roads - no snow last winter.

Glad I got the adaptive suspension - very useful in pot-hole strewn London in comfort, and nicely firm in Sport when driving faster.
Panoramic sunroof a huge benefit; light and pleasant even in mid-winter, 'fresh air' without open windows in central London
Professional media good, real time traffic handy (but only for major roads)
No bluetooth media streaming sad
Car so much quieter than the 320d and much more refined in stop/start mode

Wish I'd gone for HUD too. But not before adaptive suspension and sunroof.

Saddle colour leather confusing; sometime I love it, other days not so much. Should have gone for the Sports seats as pretty soft otherwise.

Dogs can jump in the back, unlike previous X5, and with electric tailgate, that's a real boon. Got the BMW boot liner and clip on sill protector (rubber mat that folds out over rear bumper). Clips useless but mat stops damage to rear bumper when loading and when dogs getting in or out. An integrated liner and pull out mat would be ideal.

The ambience is not as luxurious as a 5 series, or X5, but better size for town driving.

Hugely enjoyable and practical, until I get the Ferrari FF - now that's the ultimate dog wagon.............




Wills2

22,669 posts

174 months

Thursday 3rd July 2014
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Nice car, but I'm puzzled as to why you didn't tick the pro nav option when specing the car.


ianden

2 posts

160 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
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Brilliant review, just wish I read it 4 weeks ago before I ordered my car but then all that would have done is remove any doubt that I was doing the right thing. Spec ordered: touring 330D, Luxury, x drive, adaptive bi xenons, adaptive M-Sport suspension, folding rear headrest (rear visibility seems an issue otherwise), oyster trim (I think black is boring and the light trim just raises the appearance of the car to a level that looks so much more luxurious. Very similar to the featured car here. Makes me wonder if I should have ordered the HUD. Yes, the panoramic sunroof does look good but I didn't want to pay so much extra.
Really looking forward to it. Xdrive ordered cos I will use it on winter European trips.
It only cost £2k more for the 3.0 over the 2.0 and is awesome if it's anything like the Jag I had, and it will be. Will review once I've had it a while.

335d

758 posts

117 months

Friday 20th March 2015
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Great review thanks.

2 minor points. The fuel tank is 57 not 50 litres. Secondly Bluetooth Audio streaming became standard I believe from March 2014 build, so I don't understand why you don't have this.

smashy

3,030 posts

157 months

Monday 23rd March 2015
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... Id like to add something re my F30 330d

When I first got my 6 month old 120d auto ED 6 years ago ,one night coming back late on the M4 I did a test

all for 15 miles and resetting the OBC at a constant 80 mph got 46 mpg at 70 mph got 56mpg and finally because of lorries and traffic it was not constant but around 55 mph achieved 72 mpg.


So tonight on the same stretch in my 3ltr derv 3 series at 80 got 45 at 70 got 55 and going through miles of roadworks at 50 I got 71 ,I think they are remarkable figures basically the same as my one series 2 ltr

used eco pro for the 70 and 50..... and comfort for 80

...and I did that test in the one series on a summer evening bearing in mind derv loves warm days/nights as opposed to tonight which was 4 degrees on the monitor in my F30 330d


Welshbeef

49,633 posts

197 months

Monday 23rd March 2015
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So if OP is getting merely 30mpg that's a huge amount of stop start traffic & maybe hooning wink.

Msportman

276 posts

155 months

Sunday 5th April 2015
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I run a f31 320d Xdrive which I bought in June last year as a pre reg car from my local dealer.
The missus choose it as she liked the colour....Alpine White ....doh!!

It is our family hack but has some nice standard features although it does have the poverty spec Business Sat Nav and DAB radio.

I was recommended by fellow 335d and 330d owners to fit the AC Schnitzer springs which were supplied and fitted by one if Rossiter's agents. This greatly improved the Xdrive's bounce as these cars are normally fitted with non Msport dampers. Mine didn't have adaptive but the springs work perfectly.

Next up was a Steinbauer tuning module which was recommended by Rossiter's. Steinbauer make the AC Schnitzer tuning module and it takes it to 218 and 340lbs of shove. A welcome addition which although not cheap works by altering injection phasing and I am told is more sophisticated than other tuning modules with the benefit of no extra soot coming from the exhaust.I am considering going 19 inch BMW 442m alloys in the future.

I have a track and summer car which is on the rad this month so I didn't need a 330d although nice I find the 320d brilliant for ecomomy and family duties. It's a bit agricultural but the 8 speed auto box is a peach and helps refinement.

We traded our A4 S line 2 litre TDI which although good with its 140 tuned to 175 the ride was nowhere hear as compliant. It was sportier than the Xdrive as in less roll but I like the AWD in the wet months.

I have noticed similar cars in 330d or 335d guise are a lot more cash than 320d.

We plan to keep the tourer fir Europe but I plan to get either the M4 or a Cayman GT4 as my retirement present in a couple of years.

Edited by Msportman on Sunday 5th April 23:25


Edited by Msportman on Sunday 5th April 23:28

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

197 months

Sunday 5th April 2015
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What sort of economy?

smashy

3,030 posts

157 months

Monday 6th April 2015
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Msportsman ,,If I come across as an arse;y anal knobhead apologies just im into A C Schnitzer stuff and I want to clarify a point re your tuning box

That steinbauer Tuning Box isnt actually ACs ACs do their own ,just that Rossiters supply both ,ACS is very expensive sadly.

http://www.rossiters.co.uk/diesel.htm
Good luck with your car the springs are transforming arent they,

VUB

69 posts

161 months

Thursday 27th August 2015
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I totally agree on the sunroof option. I got the 335D Touring, so pleased with it for all the reasons stated for the 330D and no real complaints, other than I regret not having specced the sunroof.
It's just that I chose the black interior with the black headlining and it's just so black!

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

197 months

Thursday 27th August 2015
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VUB said:
I totally agree on the sunroof option. I got the 335D Touring, so pleased with it for all the reasons stated for the 330D and no real complaints, other than I regret not having specced the sunroof.
It's just that I chose the black interior with the black headlining and it's just so black!
Would agree with that pano roof on an estate/family car is a must kids love it and it can be totall opened for some top down driving.

RWD fun recently in the wet gets nice and loose when really loading up the throttle smile.