Help choosing a 330

[mrvolleyball]

Hi all, am a newbie to both this forum and to BMWs but hoping you can help me.

I'm looking to buy myself a E46 330 of some sort but need some advice / opinions.

I have up to about £8k to spend but haven't yet decided on whether to go for a diesel or petrol.
I don't do big miles (approx 12k a year), and the cost for insurance shouldn't be that much difference. However it'd be nice to be getting close to 40mpg rather than 30mpg, and the cheaper tax of the diesel would be great.

I'd like to go for a coupe but haven't seen any diesel coupes in my price range so if I go for a diesel will be happy enough with just a 4 door saloon (definitely don't want a 'touring').
I've read most of the forum posts relating to both 330i and 330D but am still undecided, but am leaning towards a diesel which I could then get remapped if I wanted.
Colour preference would either be black red (or possibly silver).

(I'm moving from a 2.0 Mondeo with only 115bhp, so even a standard 180bhp diesel should be more fun than what I'm currently driving)

One of my problems is I'm in N.Ireland so have much fewer cars to choose from however I have seen a couple I'd like your opinions on:

2001 330Ci - £5495 (trade, dropped from £5995 couple of days ago)
92,000 miles
Black
Manual
18" MV2s
Radio/CD, Sideskirts, Spoiler, Tinted glass
MOT - Feb 09


2003 330D M Sport - £6975 ono (private, so would hope to get it bit cheaper)
87,000 miles (BMW service until 57,000 not what service after that)
Black
FULL LEATHER, CD PLAYER, NEW WHEELS AND TYRES, usual other stuff listed which I guess is standard on them all i.e. cruise control, climate etc.
MOT - June 09
Tax - Dec 08


2001 (June) 330Ci M Sport - £7950 ono (private again, so would hope to get it bit cheaper)
77,000 miles
Red
Full service histroy,
Black leather interior, harmon kardon sound system, 6 disc cd changer, 4 x new tyres, just serviced, mot'd and taxed, full M Sport spec, outstanding condition


Your thoughts on these would be much appreciated, should I look to be getting something with less miles ?

Mark

[Vee]

mrvolleyball said:

I have up to about £8k to spend but haven't yet decided on whether to go for a diesel or petrol.
I don't do big miles (approx 12k a year), and the cost for insurance shouldn't be that much difference. However it'd be nice to be getting close to 40mpg rather than 30mpg, and the cheaper tax of the diesel would be great.

40mpg v 30mpg might be nice but will only be small in terms of fuel cost due to your mileage.
However the diesel is much more likely to go wrong. It will be more expensive to repair than the petrol - this won't be offset by the fuel saving.
Also consider that the petrol will be cheaper to buy in the first place.

Whatever you go for, make sure it has full service history - there are loads about and you can afford to be choosy.

Edited by Vee on Tuesday 28th October 10:39

[sjj84]

Which ever model you choose, petrol, diesel, saloon or coupe, go for a sport model. The slight premium is well worth it just for the seats alone. Either that or search out a SE with the sports seats fitted, it was an option from new and there's plenty about.

[Deano_BMW]

what sort of driving do you do? i do 30k a year and i still bought a petrol over a diesel. on a run they'll do 35mpg easy, more if you drive sensibly. the purchase price is also a big factor, they are a fair bit cheaper.

[istoo]

me persoanlly i would go for the 330ci sport

if you bought the 330ci or the 330d (both good cars anyway, would you regret not getting the other? This has probably had more to do with my good car choices over the years than anything else, getting the one i actually wanted.

[mrvolleyball]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm now leaning to a petrol, and will be trying to get a Sport model with full service history.

Deano_BMW said:

what sort of driving do you do?

My driving is normally on A roads, with a motorway journey maybe once a week.


One other question, any thoughts on Manual or Auto ? I believe the manuals are more fuel efficient and my initial reaction was I'd rather drive a manual, but some people seem to swear by the auto box ?

Thanks again for helping me out.

[Ciaran]

I have an Imola Red 330ci manual, fantastic car!

I think the manuals are cheaper to tax as well as being slightly more fuel efficient.

Edited by Ciaran on Wednesday 29th October 09:30

[pstruck]

Ciaran said:

I think the manuals are cheaper to tax as well as being slightly more fuel efficient.

I have a six speed manual. Love it. Cruising in sixth if effortless and surprisingly economical. I far prefer the involvement of manual over auto, but it's all down to personal preference and driving style.

[chewy 17]

I have a 330i Touring and love it, effortless power on tap. Looked at diesel's but as mentioned before, if they go wrong expect big £££££ bills. Thinking of having the car re mapped in the new year.

[roofer]

If you can get a facelift coupe, all well and good, the pre facelift are looking dated now. If not a facelift saloon from 09/2001 on looks a lot fresher. I struggled to get more than 25mpg from my petrol/manual in the real world.

[mrvolleyball]

roofer said:

If you can get a facelift coupe, all well and good, the pre facelift are looking dated now. If not a facelift saloon from 09/2001 on looks a lot fresher. I struggled to get more than 25mpg from my petrol/manual in the real world.

What year was the facelift coupe from ? Was is 09/2001 the same as the saloon ? (sorry if thats a stupid question )

[roofer]

I think the came out second half of 03, so will be on a 53 plate onwards.

[Welshbeef]

chewy 17 said:

I have a 330i Touring and love it, effortless power on tap. Looked at diesel's but as mentioned before, if they go wrong expect big £££££ bills. Thinking of having the car re mapped in the new year.

Remapping a n/a engine is a total waste of time you'd barely notice a fraction of a second difference on a lap so in the real world totally pointless - note you might get 5% increase if your lucky, whereas a TDI you will be getting 25% more BHP & 30% more Torque and similar in petrol Turbo's.

[mikey-r]

You might want to rethink your deisel MPG figures... I have two 330d's, an '02 sport and an 04 Touring SE. Both Auto's... I have a 50 mile daily commute in the 04, half motorway, half A roads and I average 35 MPG. The Mrs has a 20 mile daily commute on all B roads and she rarly breaks 30 MPG.

That aside - I love these cars and, coming from a tweaked Subaru Impreza, I thought I'd be bored but these are really fun cars to drive. My brother in law has an '03 330ci Sport which is also a fantastic car but MPG wise... he does 20k a year and averages 25-27 unless on a long motorway run where he'll scape into the 30's.

[mrvolleyball]

mikey-r said:

You might want to rethink your deisel MPG figures... I have two 330d's, an '02 sport and an 04 Touring SE. Both Auto's... I have a 50 mile daily commute in the 04, half motorway, half A roads and I average 35 MPG. The Mrs has a 20 mile daily commute on all B roads and she rarly breaks 30 MPG.

That aside - I love these cars and, coming from a tweaked Subaru Impreza, I thought I'd be bored but these are really fun cars to drive. My brother in law has an '03 330ci Sport which is also a fantastic car but MPG wise... he does 20k a year and averages 25-27 unless on a long motorway run where he'll scape into the 30's.

Thanks for the info, probably means that for the type of roads I mainly drive on there mightn't be a huge difference in mpg then between a diesel and petrol.

I'll continue my search, might have a look at this one:
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/764506.htm

Thanks again for everyones help and advice so far.