RE: BMW 340i (F30) manual | Spotted

[Mr Whippy]

Yep the tinted rear glass is much nicer for young children.


I don’t have an issue with small wheels per se, but BMW design them to look a bit crap so people buy upgrades.

Given the choice I’d rather my car look nice.


Ski hatch and folding seats, great for Ikea trips etc.


Leccy memory seats essential for 150cm wife and 180cm husband and neither liking the cheap standard adjustment.


Big screen sat nav. Not essential but designed to be big, looks stupid and cheap small.


All fine if you like or not or whatever. The big issue is that these are all options on the top model.
And having a top model littered with obviously cheap bits designed to get you buying options is just a joke.

But to bother buying one that is missing what most used buyers in 5 years will see as essential to even bother looking (never mind adding value), is a dangerous cost saving imo.


Find a good specced sensibly priced one and it’ll sell like a dream in 5-10 years.

[to3m]

I'm pretty sure those wheels are 18" style 400 - is 18" not large enough?! The car is styled to make them look a bit small, yes, but that is the fashion. I've never seen anybody say anything positive about having >18" wheels on a BMW 3 series.

Regarding the spec... interesting comments!

Mr Whippy said:

But as said, there is something awry when your ‘premium’ £20,000 used car has such abysmal spec where a diesel 308 ‘top spec’ car has better leather, better paint, better lights, better tech (adaptive cruise) etc.

Right, OK, but the Peugeot 308 has (at best!) a 4 cylinder 2.0 L diesel engine! - I'm sorry, but if you ask me - which nobody did - but too late! - it'll need a lot more than all this other tat to make up for that. I'm sure the Peugeot is fine overal. But if you care about the engine, I just can't help thinking it will be at least somewhat outclassed... and if you don't, why are you looking at a 340i? The 316d is cheaper, and better on fuel. And why did you even stop looking at the Peuguot 308 in the first place?

Maybe I'm just weird, but I just struggle to conceive of a manual 300+ bhp BMW 3 series as having a crap spec. Maybe the paint is horrible, and the interior is lame, and it doesn't have electric seats, and there's no radar cruise control, and the sat nav is rubbish, and the radio sound quality is shameful (or worse), and there's no heated seats - but so what? It's got a 300+ bhp 3 L straight six turbo engine that will hit 7,000 rpm, and you can be fairly sure it will drive at least tolerably well. I just can't personally think of this as anything other than a car that's got a fundamentally good spec, even if it doesn't have any extra stuff.

Perhaps my standards are too low. The extra stuff certainly isn't worthless. I'm trying to avoid going full RobM77 here.

DonkeyApple said:

I think the price is way too high at £21.5. It’s a manual which very clearly almost no one wanted attached to a 340 in 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019. I find it hard to believe that suddenly in 2020 consumers have had a total reversal and suddenly are putting the manual option in demand. Maybe the tiny supply is matched around the £20k mark by an equal demand for manual, maybe at this price there is much more demand than supply meaning you can charge a premium but I think the odds favour there still needing to be a discount to find the demand.

If this is priced a lot higher than equivalent cars with more optional extras, then the price is indeed wrong. No argument there. I guess my thinking is just related to your point about tiny supply vs price. Market prices run both ways, and I'm not sure you can read too much into lack of demand at previous (presumably higher) prices. As the price falls, the market size grows, and at some point an alternative equilibrium is reached. If approximately nobody acquiring a brand new BMW in 2016 wanted a manual 340i, I don't think that necessarily says all that much about how many people might want a second hand manual 340i at some lower price in 2020.

But, I can idly speculate all day. This car will either sell at its current price, or it won't!

[Mr Whippy]

to3m said:

If this is priced a lot higher than equivalent cars with more optional extras, then the price is indeed wrong. No argument there. I guess my thinking is just related to your point about tiny supply vs price. Market prices run both ways, and I'm not sure you can read too much into lack of demand at previous (presumably higher) prices. As the price falls, the market size grows, and at some point an alternative equilibrium is reached. If approximately nobody acquiring a brand new BMW in 2016 wanted a manual 340i, I don't think that necessarily says all that much about how many people might want a second hand manual 340i at some lower price in 2020.

But, I can idly speculate all day. This car will either sell at its current price, or it won't!

The 18s look bad vs the 19s.

My 335Xd on 19s rides and handles really nicely with SE suspension imo.

I wasn’t looking at a 308, not by cup of tea. My brother has a top spec one and the leather interior is a notch above the BMW 40i/35d.
The standard kit is too.

So yes the 308 is a diesel whatever, but so are all the other 4 pot BMWs, and now they’ve gone fwd for the 1er, even more so.


The point being, the boggo spec feel cheap relative to other cheaper cars, which is a bad place to start.


I’d pay for a BMWs engineering every day of the week. And pay a premium for it.
However the vast majority don’t care, they buy the badge, and are clearly willing to pay more to get less.


Better off with an E9x 330i or something if you care about that kinda thing.
Or just buy a 335Xd or 330d or whatever if you don’t.

A manual white 340i in base spec makes no sense at all.

[xjay1337]

Mr Whippy said:

The 18s look bad vs the 19s.y 335Xd on 19s rides and handles really nicely with SE suspension imo.

Don't say that, RobM77 will be along soon to suggest that SE suspension is awful, makes you sick and you need to spend 3x the price of a suspension Upgrade at Birds

[Farmer]

gizlaroc said:

Don't be a tt.

Many people buy a touring as a family car. Kids and dogs.

It keeps the cabin much cooler and stops people seeing he dog in the rear too.

If you like the windows , most obviously do , then buy them . I'm allowed not to aren't I ? Without being called a tw@ I mean . I don't like them on aesthetic grounds they break up the styling graphic , just my personal taste. I'm on my second touring I bought the first when the kids were still regular passengers , it had pale leather, tinted glass and climate control and despite being painted a dark blue colour it was never much problem . Also my dog is handsome . Good day buddy

[Court_S]

xjay1337 said:

Mr Whippy said:

The 18s look bad vs the 19s.y 335Xd on 19s rides and handles really nicely with SE suspension imo.

Don't say that, RobM77 will be along soon to suggest that SE suspension is awful, makes you sick and you need to spend 3x the price of a suspension Upgrade at Birds

The F30’s I’ve driven on 19’s rude fine in my opinion; less harsh than my E90 on 18’s. I really like the pre LCI 19’s too despite the silly diamond cut finish.

I didn’t like the suspension in the 335d I test drove though; it didn’t make me sick but it did feel a bit wallowy to me. Shame because I liked the car other than that.

[Farmer]

to3m said:

I'm pretty sure those wheels are 18" style 400 - is 18" not large enough?! The car is styled to make them look a bit small, yes, but that is the fashion. I've never seen anybody say anything positive about having >18" wheels on a BMW 3 series.

Regarding the spec... interesting comments!

Mr Whippy said:

But as said, there is something awry when your ‘premium’ £20,000 used car has such abysmal spec where a diesel 308 ‘top spec’ car has better leather, better paint, better lights, better tech (adaptive cruise) etc.

Right, OK, but the Peugeot 308 has (at best!) a 4 cylinder 2.0 L diesel engine! - I'm sorry, but if you ask me - which nobody did - but too late! - it'll need a lot more than all this other tat to make up for that. I'm sure the Peugeot is fine overal. But if you care about the engine, I just can't help thinking it will be at least somewhat outclassed... and if you don't, why are you looking at a 340i? The 316d is cheaper, and better on fuel. And why did you even stop looking at the Peuguot 308 in the first place?

Maybe I'm just weird, but I just struggle to conceive of a manual 300+ bhp BMW 3 series as having a crap spec. Maybe the paint is horrible, and the interior is lame, and it doesn't have electric seats, and there's no radar cruise control, and the sat nav is rubbish, and the radio sound quality is shameful (or worse), and there's no heated seats - but so what? It's got a 300+ bhp 3 L straight six turbo engine that will hit 7,000 rpm, and you can be fairly sure it will drive at least tolerably well. I just can't personally think of this as anything other than a car that's got a fundamentally good spec, even if it doesn't have any extra stuff.

Perhaps my standards are too low. The extra stuff certainly isn't worthless. I'm trying to avoid going full RobM77 here.

DonkeyApple said:

I think the price is way too high at £21.5. It’s a manual which very clearly almost no one wanted attached to a 340 in 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019. I find it hard to believe that suddenly in 2020 consumers have had a total reversal and suddenly are putting the manual option in demand. Maybe the tiny supply is matched around the £20k mark by an equal demand for manual, maybe at this price there is much more demand than supply meaning you can charge a premium but I think the odds favour there still needing to be a discount to find the demand.

If this is priced a lot higher than equivalent cars with more optional extras, then the price is indeed wrong. No argument there. I guess my thinking is just related to your point about tiny supply vs price. Market prices run both ways, and I'm not sure you can read too much into lack of demand at previous (presumably higher) prices. As the price falls, the market size grows, and at some point an alternative equilibrium is reached. If approximately nobody acquiring a brand new BMW in 2016 wanted a manual 340i, I don't think that necessarily says all that much about how many people might want a second hand manual 340i at some lower price in 2020.

But, I can idly speculate all day. This car will either sell at its current price, or it won't!

Couldn't agree more My 18inch wheels look fine but then I think BMW actually styled the f30/31 very cleverly to look good on "smaller" wheels due to the small arch gap (at least on my adaptive suspension there is) and wheel to wing ratio. and as to extras ... they're largely a trap I have to say . Buy the spec closest to your needs and add sparingly or you will never get your money back . Or buy second hand after somebody else has shelled out for what you deem essential .
The car in question has the best engine and the best transmission for playing Winkelhock games . Don't like it ? don't buy it. buy yourself a 318 with all the tinsel

[gizlaroc]

Farmer said:

gizlaroc said:

Don't be a tt.

Many people buy a touring as a family car. Kids and dogs.

It keeps the cabin much cooler and stops people seeing he dog in the rear too.

If you like the windows , most obviously do , then buy them . I'm allowed not to aren't I ? Without being called a tw@ I mean .



I don't like them on aesthetic grounds they break up the styling graphic , just my personal taste. I'm on my second touring I bought the first when the kids were still regular passengers , it had pale leather, tinted glass and climate control and despite being painted a dark blue colour it was never much problem . Also my dog is handsome . Good day buddy

If you had said that fair enough.

You didn't you said....

Farmer said:

I like that , all except the mafia glass which I hate . I spec'd a 330d touring through a broker in 2015 because you couldn't find a similar car under 2 years old without drug dealer windows

Hence you sounded a like a tt.

One of those silly comments that crop up on here.

Sorry, wasn't aimed at you directly, just gets a bit boring.

[Pistonheader101]

These are lovely cars with the right spec.

M sport plus (bigger brakes, HK audio, pro nav, heated seats etc etc)
HUD
60/40 folding
Icon adaptive lights

Edited by Pistonheader101 on Friday 29th May 13:10