E91 320d Sport Plus Edition

[RS Grant]

Well as the Tiguan will be returning to VW within the next few weeks, I started looking for a worthy replacement for dog duties/tip runs/general use.

I really liked the Tiguan, being the SEL model it came with a LOT of specification as standard and was a really nice comfortable car to drive. I would definitely recommend one to a friend/family if they required a mid-size SUV type vehicle. But after being so spoilt, it wasn't going to be easy to fill the boots of the Tiguan given I was looking at older cars because I wanted to buy the car rather than finance it in any way this time.

Aside from the usual criteria of not being big miles, having full service history and being in good condition, etc.. there were a few 'must-have' items of specification which the replacement needed:

- diesel (even if it sounds like I'll be banned from driving anywhere within a fortnight going by what you read! )
- xenon headlights
- factory integrated bluetooth
- enough 'go' to overtake, but still able to get a genuine 40+mpg on a run without being too gentle with it
- leather interior
- attractive (obviously a subjective thing... I'm sure there are many who'll disagree with my choice)

...you may think that the essentials will be easy to find in an estate/SUV car but you'd be wrong. I spent a lot of time on the usual classified sites to get a feel for what tickled my fancy and after whittling it down to either Skoda Octavia vRS' and BMW 320d M Sport... finding one with a manual gearbox (I'll not entertain an older slushy auto again and older DSG give me the borkfactor fear) with the requirements above was proving quite difficult.

After endless scrolling of forums, Facebook, classifieds... this car evetually popped up for sale outside Rugby, a mere 401 miles away from me. However, it ticked all of my boxes and quite a few more as well, so after talking to the owner I booked a flight down and once I'd had a test drive/look round the car and was satisfied that it was as described, a deal was done and I was on my way home. Happy days!

The basic details are:

2011 E91 320d (184bhp)
Alpine White
Sport Plus Edition (18" alloys in Dark Chrome, Black Dakota leather with Royal Blue stitching, Enhanced Bluetooth with USB, Dark Chrome exhaust tailpipe, Floor mats with Royal Blue piping, Chrome Grill with Chrome Slats, Sun Protection Glass)

It was ordered with plenty of options (some of which I can't believe BMW charge for... the folding rear headrests cost £45?!) as well:

BMW Professional Media/Sat Nav
BMW Loudspeaker Sound System
Visibility Package (Xenon Adaptive Headlights, Headlight Wash, Rain Sensor & Auto Headlights, High Beam Assistant)
Servotronic Electric Power Steering
CD Changer
Folding Head Restraints Rear
Park Distance Control Front & Rear
Front Seat Lumbar Support
Front Seats Part Electric Adjustment
Heated Front Seats
Folding Exterior Mirrors
Electric Towbar
Extra 12v Power Sockets
Silding Front Armrest
Extended Luggage Features
Extended Storage
Universal Remote Control

...so as you can see, the car has got everything (a lot of which comes standard on other cars!) I wanted and more. I am really enjoying driving it and it's been a great addition, very happy with my decision. It even did decent MPG on the way home at typical motorway speeds:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Here are a couple of pictures I took the other day, it's not as clean as it was when I left the house though.. one of the small drawbacks of living outside the big smoke and having a white car I suppose.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Here's one of the new pup Barney enjoying a brief moment flying shotgun with me:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

[RS Grant]

As I said, I'll be making a few wee changes to the car.. although I hadn't planned to do them as quickly as I have, but I needed rear tyres on the standard 18" wheels which led me to get the 19" wheels and I didn't want to fit them until I'd lowered the car which led me to get the suspension kit... as you can see, I apply man maths liberally.

This is the suspension kit I bought; Koni shocks with H&R springs. I had a similar combo on my old MK7 Golf R and they performed really well... so thought it made sense to stick with what I knew.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Dropped the car off to get the suspension fitted, so snapped a photo with one of my friends E92 at the same time.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

I went away and got my 235/35/19 and 265/30/19 tyres fitted to the new wheels which I got for the car; Strom M359 in Hyper Silver.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

I fitted my genuine BMW Performance grilles, after doing my E92, I'm pretty quick at these now!! I like the gloss black grilles tieing in with the gloss black shadowline trim on the car, although I know that they're not for everyone.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

After a fitted the wheels, my friend was wanting to test out his new camera so suggested that I bring the car along to get a few photos done.. and they comprehensively dump on anything I could produce!!

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

....and given that the car is known as 'The Barney Bus' it made sense for the wee man to have his picture taken with the car too.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

[helix402]

Looks good. Don’t forget to change the oil often to try and extend timing chain life.

[mak250300]

Still love the look of these. The car is lovely but that dog of yours looks amazing in great condition as well.

I have a black Lab called Storm and they are incredible animals.

[f1nn]

My heart sank when I read about the mods but it looks good.

The small number plate though...the holes left by the standard sized plate would annoy me immensely.

[Dinoboy]

Looks nice, you must of been giving it some to see the mpg as low as that Don't think I ever saw under 50mpg in my old one!

They respond well to a bit of polishing
Le Mans blue, a cracking colour!

[chrismc1977]

f1nn said:

My heart sank when I read about the mods but it looks good.

The small number plate though...the holes left by the standard sized plate would annoy me immensely.

Agreed!

The mods look like they work nicely- for me I’d have to go for a 330 purely for the engine though

[LanceRS]

Not that I would want to be so irresponsible as to encourage further man maths, but these respond well to a remap which also seems to improve the mpg.

[RS Grant]

helix402 said:

Looks good. Don’t forget to change the oil often to try and extend timing chain life.

Yeah I'm hoping that because the 184bhp version with the associated later engine revision and comprehensive history (which I plan to continue) that I don't run into an chain-related issues. I do think that there is a little hysteria surrounding the issue, in the same way that the internet would have me believe that my E92 M3 is one start up away from spinning a bearing. Granted these things may both come along to bite me in my bank balance, but if they do then c'est la vie.. no point letting it ruin the ownership experience, which I know some people have suffered when they get 'M3 fear' in particular.

mak250300 said:

Still love the look of these. The car is lovely but that dog of yours looks amazing in great condition as well.

I have a black Lab called Storm and they are incredible animals.

Thank you, he's a lovely pup.. he's only 5-6 months old and is growing at a rate of knots!! How old is Storm? Like you, I think that Labradors are fantastic dogs/companions and I can't see me ever having any other breed of dog.. my family are all a bit Lab-daft , there's another 5 of them of various ages and colours.

[DailyHack]

helix402 said:

Looks good. Don’t forget to change the oil often to try and extend timing chain life.

+ this also! Better than any warranty for a long life, 8-10k oil changes MAX on these N47 dervs

I have a 2012 318d E91 (Last off the line before the F31) so glad I got the E's over the F's far better focused, coming up 101k now, other than a dodgy flexi on exhasut been sweet.

Edited by DailyHack on Monday 10th December 14:50

[RS Grant]

Dinoboy said:

Looks nice, you must of been giving it some to see the mpg as low as that Don't think I ever saw under 50mpg in my old one!

They respond well to a bit of polishing

Le Mans blue, a cracking colour!

I actually missed out on similarly high spec LMB car because I didn't have the Tiguan return in motion or the space to store an extra car.. it's a lovely colour when it's looked after and the sun hits it.

I'm planning to give mine a bit of a clean up, not sure it's ever seen a claybar.. so it's going to be quite an involved task I think.

chrismc1977 said:

f1nn said:

My heart sank when I read about the mods but it looks good.

The small number plate though...the holes left by the standard sized plate would annoy me immensely.

Agreed!

The mods look like they work nicely- for me I’d have to go for a 330 purely for the engine though

Thanks, modifying stuff is pretty personal thing, but I don't tend to go overboard and try to stay pretty OEM looking if I ever change stuff on my cars.

The numberplate holes are irritating me on a deep level and something I cannot live with long term. I've been in touch with a guy I know locally who does smart repairs and he is going to stick the car in his workshop and make them disappear for me, so that's good news.

Re: the 320/330 thing... I get the 4cyl/6cyl argument and there's no contest in sound/smoothness between them. However most of my journeys aren't long distance and also don't require the extra performance; plus the difference in economy between my 320d and my friend's 330d with the same usage is around 12-15mpg average.

LanceRS said:

Not that I would want to be so irresponsible as to encourage further man maths, but these respond well to a remap which also seems to improve the mpg.

Haha one of my friends had one that he got mapped a few years ago, IIRC he ended up with c220-230bhp and it went very well. Buuuut, I am not sure it's a great idea to start down that road with my sensible car!!

[Manmoths]

Superb. I have a similar spec E91 335d.

How much were the genuine grilles, if you don't mind me asking?

[RS Grant]

DailyHack said:

helix402 said:

Looks good. Don’t forget to change the oil often to try and extend timing chain life.

+ this also! Better than any warranty for a long life, 8-10k oil changes MAX on these N47 dervs

I have a 2012 318d E91 (Last off the line before the F31) so glad I got the E's over the F's far better focused, coming up 101k now, other than a dodgy flexi on exhasut been sweet.

Yep, that's the plan.. it's had extra oil changes throughout its life so I'll be continuing that trend. I really like the F-series cars, but think that if I changed from the E91 Touring then I'd be stepping up into an F11 5er Touring instead, they're brilliant looking cars and are very nicely finished inside too.

[RS Grant]

Manmoths said:

Superb. I have a similar spec E91 335d.

How much were the genuine grilles, if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks mate, your 335d is a cracker.

The MP grilles were £75 from my BMW dealer, I think the list price is around £90... although it's not the same dealership, it's the same dealer group who are selling these: eBay Link

[DailyHack]

RS Grant said:

an F11 5er Touring instead, they're brilliant looking cars and are very nicely finished inside too.

Thats my plan, will get 200k out my E91 first

[Dr Ing]

Your dog looks awesome and so proud of its shiny coat and your motor!

Beautiful car and so good to drive.

I have a Le Mans Blue and it still looks good.

Unfortunately my clutch is starting to slip out of 2nd gear probably down to my poor driving as opposed to build quality.

I also have a Kerry Blue Terrier who looks the business in the passenger seat too I can assure you

[Mattiebmw]

Really like those alloys mate. Where did you buy them if you don’t mind me asking? Thinking of changing mine.

[d_a_n1979]

Mattiebmw said:

Really like those alloys mate. Where did you buy them if you don’t mind me asking? Thinking of changing mine.

BMAutosport sell them IIRC, really good guys to deal with

[SiT]

Grant another beautiful car in the making! I think these facelift E9 tourers look excellent and have aged well. I like the changes you have made and look forward to seeing what other bits happen to the car.

I know the ‘M3 Fear’ you speak of and still haven’t managed to get one on the drive, an impending house move may put pay to that for a while but we’ll see!

Keep the updates coming.

Si

[RS Grant]

Dr Ing said:

Your dog looks awesome and so proud of its shiny coat and your motor!

Beautiful car and so good to drive.

I have a Le Mans Blue and it still looks good.

Unfortunately my clutch is starting to slip out of 2nd gear probably down to my poor driving as opposed to build quality.

I also have a Kerry Blue Terrier who looks the business in the passenger seat too I can assure you

LMB is a fantastic colour! There was actually an LMB car with very similar spec to mine that came up for sale just before I was ready to buy, so I missed out on that one.. but I'm really happy with the Alpine White; a fairly rare sight round here, in Touring form anyway.

Shame about the clutch issues, but I guess if the car has a done a bit of stop/start miles at some point in its life then it's an inevitable consumable. Hopefully it's not too ruinous and you can maybe get away with just a clutch replacement rather than a clutch and flywheel.

One of my old neighbours had a Kerry Blue Terrier and he was hilarious, full of life and, err, 'strong-willed' is the nicest way of putting it.