remapped 330d or 320d - best compromise of mpg/fun/power?

[da_murphster]

I'm looking at an older 330d or 320d touring (184bhp and 136bhp/150bhp).

Will be looking to mildly (read cheaply!) tune them (remap - not sure what else)

Its mainly going to be batting up and down the motorway (approx 20k miles) a year - so mpg is important but I'm keen not to loose the 'fun factor' and ability to overtake/enjoy b-roads.

With the weight difference of the 320d is that a better bet? Is it enough power to enjoy or should I sacrifice a few mpg (how many?) and get the 330d?

Opinions please!

I'm not looking to spend more than £5k and would really like the 'sport' version with leather so am aware that my options may be limited. I am assuming that these hold high mileages well?

[da_murphster]

doing upto 20k a year.

My girlfriend presently gets 38mpg out of her Puma and it has to beat that - so approx 45mpg on diesel needed.

I have enough fuel drinkers at the moment!

[Lost soul]

da_murphster said:

doing upto 20k a year.

My girlfriend presently gets 38mpg out of her Puma and it has to beat that - so approx 45mpg on diesel needed.

I have enough fuel drinkers at the moment!

Then its the 320d for you

[da_murphster]

Lost soul said:

da_murphster said:

doing upto 20k a year.

My girlfriend presently gets 38mpg out of her Puma and it has to beat that - so approx 45mpg on diesel needed.

I have enough fuel drinkers at the moment!

Then its the 320d for you

I personally want the 330d but have a feeling that the 320d might make more sense.

They are not easy to find in sports spec.

From what I gather the 320d is easily remapped to approx 180bhp a+ bags of torque and is over 100kg less than the 330d?

Does that make it fairly pokey? Enough to overtake safely?

[E21_Ross]

Lost soul said:

da_murphster said:

doing upto 20k a year.

My girlfriend presently gets 38mpg out of her Puma and it has to beat that - so approx 45mpg on diesel needed.

I have enough fuel drinkers at the moment!

Then its the 320d for you

not really. my dad had an '03 plate 330d 6 speed manual (204bhp) and on a run could get 50mpg without too much problem. despite what people say, it doesn't sound like a tractor under throttle at all. Trust me...they are brilliant cars. relatively simple but very well laid out interior, a really nice place to be on a long trip especially at night. 330d can effortlessly sit at 100mph too. it gps has seen it to 155mph too on my dads model.

[root 666]

You can't be too far away from Gee 686 who did the m word to my 330d Touring.

He runs a (mental) 330cd and will tailor a map to suit the mileage and your driving requirements (apparently there's more to it than "Turn it up to 11"). PM him, you really will be glad you did, especially when you see his garage (not to mention the drive home...)
.
Usual disclaimers apply.

Mine has spent most of the weekend on axle-stands which led to a 40mm drop courtesy of Messrs Eibach and a set of Red Stuff pads.
These were topped-off by a set of virtually unmarked original M3 twin-blade wheels (I'm told I must remember to call them "rims") on Continentals from ebay.

It really is a different car. Far less rumbly and the previously dead-feeling steering now lets you know what it's doing as well as a much more "planted" feel.


My local garage are making two pairs of adaptor plates to allow the fitting of a pair of M5 electric, sports seats (back mounting holes are the same but the front captive bolts are about 4cms out) which came via Gumtree (£120) which was also the source of a face-lift M3 bumper/airdam for £100.

It's like having a new car every week!

Same wife though...

Edited to add; The Alzheimers caused me to forget the important bit

GO AND BUY A 330d NOW! THEY ARE FABULOUS!

Edited by root 666 on Tuesday 24th February 14:33

[Lost soul]

da_murphster said:

Lost soul said:

da_murphster said:

doing upto 20k a year.

My girlfriend presently gets 38mpg out of her Puma and it has to beat that - so approx 45mpg on diesel needed.

I have enough fuel drinkers at the moment!

Then its the 320d for you

I personally want the 330d but have a feeling that the 320d might make more sense.

They are not easy to find in sports spec.

From what I gather the 320d is easily remapped to approx 180bhp a+ bags of torque and is over 100kg less than the 330d?

Does that make it fairly pokey? Enough to overtake safely?

I had a 320d coupe for a while last year , that was 177 bhp and it was fine for overtaking , it had a lot more go in it than you would expect from a 320d

[Lost soul]

E21_Ross said:

Lost soul said:

da_murphster said:

doing upto 20k a year.

My girlfriend presently gets 38mpg out of her Puma and it has to beat that - so approx 45mpg on diesel needed.

I have enough fuel drinkers at the moment!

Then its the 320d for you

not really. my dad had an '03 plate 330d 6 speed manual (204bhp) and on a run could get 50mpg without too much problem. despite what people say, it doesn't sound like a tractor under throttle at all. Trust me...they are brilliant cars. relatively simple but very well laid out interior, a really nice place to be on a long trip especially at night. 330d can effortlessly sit at 100mph too. it gps has seen it to 155mph too on my dads model.

He said he needed high mpg thats why i said 320d i know you can get 45 - 50 mpg out of them

[Ranger 6]

Lost soul said:

....i know you can get 45 - 50 mpg out of them

Difficult - you have to drive like a complete grandad. Have had 2 x 320d both of them with the 150 engine and they averaged 37mpg over their life.

A more realistic view is that you will see 40-45mpg on very gentle long runs. If you enjoy driving and use the car fully then be prepared to see under 40.

[Lost soul]

Ranger 6 said:

Lost soul said:

....i know you can get 45 - 50 mpg out of them

Difficult - you have to drive like a complete grandad. Have had 2 x 320d both of them with the 150 engine and they averaged 37mpg over their life.

.

I had a 2008 320d coupe it averaged 46 mpg and i could see over 50 mpg on a motorway which was infested with cameras

[emicen]

Ranger 6 said:

Lost soul said:

....i know you can get 45 - 50 mpg out of them

Difficult - you have to drive like a complete grandad. Have had 2 x 320d both of them with the 150 engine and they averaged 37mpg over their life.

A more realistic view is that you will see 40-45mpg on very gentle long runs. If you enjoy driving and use the car fully then be prepared to see under 40.

+1

06 320Cd, I cannot get it out the low 40s regardless of how much a baby it. But then when absolutely shoeing it, I only drop to high 30s.

[alfaspiderman2]

+2

my '08 520d (admittedly an auto touring) averaged 41 mpg over 6,000 miles of mixed miles (including a lot of 80-90 crusing)

[Lost soul]

So i am a liar then

[da_murphster]

mpg wise I briefly used to have a 330d but did not have to pay for fuel so never took note of what I got!

its going to be doing 100 miles a day - 90 of which are on the motorway.

I was hoping to get about 45mpg for this journey and of course expect a drop when its being driven enthusiastically elsewhere.

Seems that there are arguments both ways. There is not a great deal of these on the market so I might just end up with whichever is the best deal.

Feel like nether will be the 'wrong' choice.

Interesting that some say 45mpg is possible out of the 330d

[H6CJF]

We are running two 330ds - mine is an '04 sport auto touring (204bhp), my sons is an '02 (185bhp?) sport man saloon.
Our drive to work is quite different - mine is a short run - mostly B roads and I am averaging 30.6 over the last couple of thousand miles. Having said that, a spirited run from Birmingham to Southampton and back last weekend saw an average of 41.6

The manual saloon has a longer run to work - around 25 miles each way I would guess - mostly dual carriageway & 50 limit motorway. Obviously there is also the usual pottering around evenings / weekends. His average over the last 3 - 4 months is somewhere around 42mpg IIRC

Finally, my wife has a 330ci conv auto (petrol obviously) and that averages 23mpg even though her drive to work is dual carriageway virtually all the way and she never goes over 50 anyway lol.

For my money it has to be 330d... more grins per pound

[da_murphster]

I would be looking for a manual - mainly coz I like em- but the 330d I had was an auto and very good.

I assume the manual gets better mpg and is cheaper to fix if it goes wrong?

[Ranger 6]

Lost soul said:

I had a 2008 320d coupe...

So that'll be the one with the completely different engine then....

[Lost soul]

Ranger 6 said:

Lost soul said:

I had a 2008 320d coupe...

So that'll be the one with the completely different engine then....

Well i did state that right from the start

[Lost soul]

da_murphster said:

Lost soul said:

da_murphster said:

doing upto 20k a year.

My girlfriend presently gets 38mpg out of her Puma and it has to beat that - so approx 45mpg on diesel needed.

I have enough fuel drinkers at the moment!

Then its the 320d for you

I personally want the 330d but have a feeling that the 320d might make more sense.

I live in Europe and did several long distance runs , my 320d (yes ranger with the different engine ) would cruise at 100-110 mph and return incredible mpg considering what it was doing ,

My current 525d will return 32=34mpg on my regular 2400 km round trip to Poland whilst holding 90 - 100 mph for long long periods . i love cars and driving and i was anti D before the company i worked for insisted on D for the company car i am a convert to D and am looking for a 335 d coupe as my next steed

[root 666]

You need have very little concern about the auto-box as it's built to take a lot more power than it's likely to get in any 330 no matter how savage the map.

I'm a complete convert to the auto/diesel combination.
If "Sport" isn't enough for you, you can always play with the "manual" Steptronic thingy.

With regard to economy, Gee 686 (and no doubt any good re-mapper) will provide optimum fuel delivery throughout the range with greater economy if you drive as before.

But you won't.

I recently did a round trip of 420 miles (360 on M1/M6). Each leg would have been covered in comfortably under two and a half hours (if it wasn't for the fact that even the average speed would have been illegal).
It used a little less than fifty quids worth.

My wife does the same trip on less than £40.

I'm not sure how much more economical a manual would be but these days there isn't the yawning gulf there used to be.