BMW F31 320d M sport or 330d SE

[RapidRob]

Narrowed my choices of car down to an F31 of sorts, have test driven a 330d SE and found it to be a nice drive, although it felt a little wallowy. Going to test drive a 320d M sport, and see the difference that the sport suspension makes, although I am thinking I will be disappointed with performance. Max budget is £13K, and I'd like to keep below 50k miles, so I'm struggling to find a 330d M sport in budget...
I keep going round in circles as I'm sure the 330d would be a great cruiser, but don't want to be let down on country roads etc, whereas the 320d sounds like it will be a decent 'average' car but nothing special. Coming from a Polo GTI and was looking for a more refined but still sportyish ride.
So I guess my question is, is the 330d good enough to warrant the standard suspension, or is the 320d M Sport the better option overall? The other option is to find a 330d with sport or adaptive dampers, which would be great, but tricky to spot.
330d will obviously be more expensive to run but hoping this wouldn't be too much different from a 320d?
330d is here:
https://www.1br.co.uk/used-bmw-3-series-petersfiel...

[MrAverage]

I test drove a 320d m sport and it felt fine it was quiet, economical, fast enough etc.

I own a 6cyl diesel BMW and it is a lovely engine, quiet on tick over, nice noise up the revs and still sensible on fuel.

Personally I'd go with the best 330d I could find and then spend some money on a decent set of shocks/springs. Get a 4 wheel alignment after and for c.£500 (upwards) you'll have something with new sporty suspension.

[pb8g09]

If you can find a 330d in ‘Modern’ trim then you get the privacy glass, pro nav and better leather seats- not quite an M-Sport but cheaper and still gives you most of the extras you’d want.

Definitely get a 330d over 320 if you can.

[ninjag]

Another vote for the 330d. It's pretty relentless right into triple digits.

[joropug]

I had a 530d M Sport E60 auto and an F30 320d SE manual

The power of the 3.0 (mine was also mapped) makes it a hell of a car.

The 320d though, was actually really pokey and it never felt underpowered. It handled very well on 18s with run flats , a friend has a 335d X Drive which I believe is m sport but with higher ride height due to the transfer case - the ride is very good.

Things I didn't like about my F10. Main thing, gearbox. Make sure you get an auto, the ZF8 is probably the best gearbox out there and the manual is properly crap. Notchy and the clutch pedal has long throw which made the seating position uncomfortable.

I have driven an F10 520d se a lot too and the auto works very well with the 2.0 engine.

The f30 320d got 61mpg over 700 miles , it was incredible on fuel.

Edited by joropug on Friday 20th December 13:12

[Summit_Detailing]

I echo the other replies, find the nicest 330d in your budget.

320d ok in isolation but the 6cyl diesel is a peach and makes for a smoother, quieter, brisker drive.
I had the 2.0 in an F11 & having had two 6cyl diesels since I would now not consider anything less.

Given the condition of our roads I'd much rather have an SE over an M-sport but maybe that goes against the grain & PH driving gods

Cheers,

Chris

[RapidRob]

Good to hear your opinions, just test drove a 320d m sport manual. Started it and the gear stick visibly shook- not a good start. Felt fine to drive apart from manual a bit notchy, pulled ok, handled fine. Got back to dealer, went through details, realise it was specced with standard suspension... so my next question, why would this feel so much better than the se I drove? less roll, front end seemed more planted. Or is it just placebo?! Wrt the engine, obviously the 3ltr is a lot smoother and I think auto is the way to go now.

[joropug]

RapidRob said:

Good to hear your opinions, just test drove a 320d m sport manual. Started it and the gear stick visibly shook- not a good start. Felt fine to drive apart from manual a bit notchy, pulled ok, handled fine. Got back to dealer, went through details, realise it was specced with standard suspension... so my next question, why would this feel so much better than the se I drove? less roll, front end seemed more planted. Or is it just placebo?! Wrt the engine, obviously the 3ltr is a lot smoother and I think auto is the way to go now.

My gearstick shook on start up too, don't buy a manual BMW it's the reason I sold mine it's a really notchy box and the pedal position always meant I was slightly twisted in the seat.

The start stop is awful on manual too,