E91 330D?

[ekulluke]

Hi all

In the market for a 2nd car to go alongside my GTI. Needs to carry a dog, do DIY duty and be interesting (and under £13k).

I’ve seen a nice 330D in the E91 form and wondering what people’s views are on them for the above purpose? And if there are any common pitfalls?

Apologies I seem to have done 2/3 threads in the last 10 days but you all know how the male mind and autotrader works.

Speaking of - here’s a link: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202201191...

[matt21]

I’m also looking for one of these, probably in the £7-8k range. At £10k I would be tempted by the F model.

Some nice 325d models around which seem slightly better value

[ekulluke]

Do you think an F model 3/5 series estate as achievable at that budget?

[cerb4.5lee]

They are great all round cars I reckon(the E91 even moreso). I had a E90 330d for 6 years and over 150k miles, and it was completely faultless in my hands.

[SlowV6]

I have one of these, but a slightly older M-Sport pre LCI with the M57 engine. We've had it for 5 years now from 117K to nearly 150K. Its been good and I always enjoy driving it for the sake of it.

That one you have linked looks very nice albeit pricey. It has the later N57 engine, which is faster and more economical and slightly less robust than the truck engine M57 apparently. Xenons, pro-nav, heated leather and foldy mirrors is a nice spec. Some people would be hunting for the upgraded stereo - the pro-nav stereo in ours is just about "OK" but to be honest the standard one in our Mk4.5 Mondeo Tit-X estate is much better...

..which leads me onto the next question. £10k is a lot for a dog + DIY wagon so the obvious question is is it going to be big enough for the task? I have found that with the exception of going faster and sounding better, our beemer is inferior to our Mondeo in pretty much every other way. This is mainly because the E91 is a reverse tardis inside - its pokey and lacking in oddments spaces. The Mondeo on the other hand is massive and just makes everything massively more pleasant for occupants and luggage, whilst still being nice to drive.

For £10K I would be looking at an F11 530d with a ZF8 to make sure I had enough space and pace. But to be honest for a dog/diy wagon a £5-6K Mondeo Tit-X estate mk4.5 and £5k kept in pocket still seems better. Especially when considering ULEZ zones and non-compliant diesels.

All IMHO of course.

[ZX10R NIN]

For around 10k these two would get my pick if it comes to a 3.0d Estate:

E350 Avantgarde

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202201101...

C350

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202111239...

[ekulluke]

SlowV6 said:

I have one of these, but a slightly older M-Sport pre LCI with the M57 engine. We've had it for 5 years now from 117K to nearly 150K. Its been good and I always enjoy driving it for the sake of it.

That one you have linked looks very nice albeit pricey. It has the later N57 engine, which is faster and more economical and slightly less robust than the truck engine M57 apparently. Xenons, pro-nav, heated leather and foldy mirrors is a nice spec. Some people would be hunting for the upgraded stereo - the pro-nav stereo in ours is just about "OK" but to be honest the standard one in our Mk4.5 Mondeo Tit-X estate is much better...

..which leads me onto the next question. £10k is a lot for a dog + DIY wagon so the obvious question is is it going to be big enough for the task? I have found that with the exception of going faster and sounding better, our beemer is inferior to our Mondeo in pretty much every other way. This is mainly because the E91 is a reverse tardis inside - its pokey and lacking in oddments spaces. The Mondeo on the other hand is massive and just makes everything massively more pleasant for occupants and luggage, whilst still being nice to drive.

For £10K I would be looking at an F11 530d with a ZF8 to make sure I had enough space and pace. But to be honest for a dog/diy wagon a £5-6K Mondeo Tit-X estate mk4.5 and £5k kept in pocket still seems better. Especially when considering ULEZ zones and non-compliant diesels.

All IMHO of course.

That’s a fair point, but the reason for the non-shed pricing is really because when I’m not using it for those reasons I’ll be using it as a normal vehicle for going between offices etc.

I do like the mondeo estates, the slightly newer one with the wider grill.

[ekulluke]

ZX10R NIN said:

For around 10k these two would get my pick if it comes to a 3.0d Estate:

E350 Avantgarde

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202201101...

C350

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202111239...

Thank you. They’re both nice but somewhat bland in my honest opinion. What about the newer e class wagon (the 2.1)?

[georgeyboy12345]

ekulluke said:

Hi all

In the market for a 2nd car to go alongside my GTI. Needs to carry a dog, do DIY duty and be interesting (and under £13k).

I’ve seen a nice 330D in the E91 form and wondering what people’s views are on them for the above purpose? And if there are any common pitfalls?

Apologies I seem to have done 2/3 threads in the last 10 days but you all know how the male mind and autotrader works.

Speaking of - here’s a link: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202201191...

Pretty much what SlowV6 said. The earlier pre-2008 M57 engined motors are more robust and well built, so should last longer, but they also make less power and are slightly more thirsty. On the other hand, there are plenty of the N57s with more than 200k on them. As long as they have no missed oil changes and have been used correctly (i.e. plenty of long motorway journeys, not short start-stop city use) they should be reliable.

Here are some comments on the N57 that this 330d uses:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...