Discussion
So I’ve had the car a few months now, thought I’d post an update now I’ve had it a while and had more chance to get to know it a bit better.
First off, while it’s no supercar (or M3) performance is impressive. You’re not left wanting for more power very often, to be honest it’s bordering on ‘too fast’ (hand in my PH card?) for the road, it’s easy to get carried away and into trouble very quickly if not paying attention. The engine is flexible, it pulls well from low revs and is happy to plod about at sub 1500 rpm without complaint but when pushed keeps pulling to the redline. The ZF box is a masterpiece, it does the lazy auto act very well but when you want to have a bit of fun it bangs through the gears quickly and efficiently. There’s an engineered ‘thud’ when you put it in sport or manual mode, I’m not sure how I feel about it tbh, it’s a bit artificial. It’s an 8 speed box but does well not to feel like it’s changing all the time, when cruising at 70-80 the revs are nice and low.
Cornering wise, I’m no driving god but it goes around bends well, it’s got that feel that you could keep going faster and faster around bends and it’ll never lose grip. It’s a little soft when pushing on a bit harder but it’s manners and ride when driving about our potholed roads are pretty good, even with the RFTs it rides better than an E90 M Sport.
Inside is a nice place to be, the seats are decnet, they’re not a patch on my mates S3 ‘super sport’ seats but they are comfortable and hold you well enough. The iDrive thing is cracking, BMW have been at it long enough now to know how it needs to be, zero complaints in that department. The pro nav screen looks great and I love the steering wheel, thick enough, buttons are to hand and looks smart with the small air bag. Quality is decent, everything feels well put together and switches have a satisfying solid feel to them. Sat nav seems ok, although I might use GMaps for my euro trips.
The car has various ‘driving modes’, Eco pro, Comfort, Sport & Sport +. The settings change the steering weight, throttle feel, noise from the exhaust (and fake noise too) and gearbox behaviour. On the whole they work well but they could do with a little more customisation, they’re all preset so I can’t have heavier steering with comfort gearbox & throttle for example. It’s not the end of the world but VW/Audi allow you to make a profile with whatever settings you want, it’d be nice to have that choice on the BM. One thing I do like though is the gearbox behaviour when ‘Sport’ is selected, it sits nicely between the lazy comfort setting and the proper sport setting (stick moved over to the left). You can drive around town and it doesn't hold the revs stupidly high but it’s ready to go when you prod the throttle.
Options wise the H&K speakers sound great, need to play the with the equaliser but it’s still very good, plenty of punch to it. Active cruise is decent and makes stop start traffic easy, it should come into it’s own on my drive to Spain.
Overall I’m chuffed, I still look fondly at a Golf R/Leon Cupra when I see one on the road but I think for me I made the right choice. My mate bought an M140i and while it's great, I wanted something a little more grown up, it's still 90% of the fun though I reckon. I’m really enjoying being fairly anonymous (well, as much as I can be in an Orange BMW) looking like a 320d BUT it still has enough about it that I have to look back at the car when I’m walking away from it.
There’s a few bits I’d like to tweak on it, every car looks better lower so a small drop and some nice wheels are on the list, plus an exhaust that makes a bit more noise. The M Performance one seems to sound spot on and I think the 360bhp from the MPPSK will be enough for me power wise too so that’s still the top choice, hopefully I’ll get that later this year.
Aside from that I just wanna drive it, got a week in Spain so that’s about 3k miles then come back for 3 days and back off to the Ring for a long weekend so plenty of seat time in it to come!
First off, while it’s no supercar (or M3) performance is impressive. You’re not left wanting for more power very often, to be honest it’s bordering on ‘too fast’ (hand in my PH card?) for the road, it’s easy to get carried away and into trouble very quickly if not paying attention. The engine is flexible, it pulls well from low revs and is happy to plod about at sub 1500 rpm without complaint but when pushed keeps pulling to the redline. The ZF box is a masterpiece, it does the lazy auto act very well but when you want to have a bit of fun it bangs through the gears quickly and efficiently. There’s an engineered ‘thud’ when you put it in sport or manual mode, I’m not sure how I feel about it tbh, it’s a bit artificial. It’s an 8 speed box but does well not to feel like it’s changing all the time, when cruising at 70-80 the revs are nice and low.
Cornering wise, I’m no driving god but it goes around bends well, it’s got that feel that you could keep going faster and faster around bends and it’ll never lose grip. It’s a little soft when pushing on a bit harder but it’s manners and ride when driving about our potholed roads are pretty good, even with the RFTs it rides better than an E90 M Sport.
Inside is a nice place to be, the seats are decnet, they’re not a patch on my mates S3 ‘super sport’ seats but they are comfortable and hold you well enough. The iDrive thing is cracking, BMW have been at it long enough now to know how it needs to be, zero complaints in that department. The pro nav screen looks great and I love the steering wheel, thick enough, buttons are to hand and looks smart with the small air bag. Quality is decent, everything feels well put together and switches have a satisfying solid feel to them. Sat nav seems ok, although I might use GMaps for my euro trips.
The car has various ‘driving modes’, Eco pro, Comfort, Sport & Sport +. The settings change the steering weight, throttle feel, noise from the exhaust (and fake noise too) and gearbox behaviour. On the whole they work well but they could do with a little more customisation, they’re all preset so I can’t have heavier steering with comfort gearbox & throttle for example. It’s not the end of the world but VW/Audi allow you to make a profile with whatever settings you want, it’d be nice to have that choice on the BM. One thing I do like though is the gearbox behaviour when ‘Sport’ is selected, it sits nicely between the lazy comfort setting and the proper sport setting (stick moved over to the left). You can drive around town and it doesn't hold the revs stupidly high but it’s ready to go when you prod the throttle.
Options wise the H&K speakers sound great, need to play the with the equaliser but it’s still very good, plenty of punch to it. Active cruise is decent and makes stop start traffic easy, it should come into it’s own on my drive to Spain.
Overall I’m chuffed, I still look fondly at a Golf R/Leon Cupra when I see one on the road but I think for me I made the right choice. My mate bought an M140i and while it's great, I wanted something a little more grown up, it's still 90% of the fun though I reckon. I’m really enjoying being fairly anonymous (well, as much as I can be in an Orange BMW) looking like a 320d BUT it still has enough about it that I have to look back at the car when I’m walking away from it.
There’s a few bits I’d like to tweak on it, every car looks better lower so a small drop and some nice wheels are on the list, plus an exhaust that makes a bit more noise. The M Performance one seems to sound spot on and I think the 360bhp from the MPPSK will be enough for me power wise too so that’s still the top choice, hopefully I’ll get that later this year.
Aside from that I just wanna drive it, got a week in Spain so that’s about 3k miles then come back for 3 days and back off to the Ring for a long weekend so plenty of seat time in it to come!
Good read, glad you're enjoying it. It doesn't feel massively down on power compared to the M3 actually, I'd say it certainly rides better. Interested to know how it fares on the Ring, have you had the back end kick out yet? I remember on a local B-Road going at a tight corner carrying some speed and the back end came out, had TCS off but it never felt like it was out of control, bit of corrective steering and it just came back in beautifully. Don't know if the chassis or the engine are my favourite bits of the car. Never liked the steering, miles better on the M3, it's overly light and artificial for my liking. How are you finding the running costs so far? It amazed me how good they were for what it was, gone are the days where you have to choose performance over daily costs. Got any pictures of it lately?
aaron_2000 said:
Good read, glad you're enjoying it. It doesn't feel massively down on power compared to the M3 actually, I'd say it certainly rides better. Interested to know how it fares on the Ring, have you had the back end kick out yet? I remember on a local B-Road going at a tight corner carrying some speed and the back end came out, had TCS off but it never felt like it was out of control, bit of corrective steering and it just came back in beautifully. Don't know if the chassis or the engine are my favourite bits of the car. Never liked the steering, miles better on the M3, it's overly light and artificial for my liking. How are you finding the running costs so far? It amazed me how good they were for what it was, gone are the days where you have to choose performance over daily costs. Got any pictures of it lately?
I have been pretty steady in it tbh, I switched everything off and spun the wheels up just to see how easy it was 
When it finally rained the other day the TC was flashing at every junction. I've had a couple of twitches but nothing major. I dont mind the steering in sport mode but it's too light in comfort, I agree it feels artificial but I can cope with it. I notice the difference when I get in my E90 though! Thats got perfectly weighted steering for me.
Running costs are really impressive, I had to do a last minute airport dash for a mate, picked him up from one and dropped him at another after his flight was cancelled. It averaged 40mpg and that wasn't hanging about either, even around town if I can resist being a knob for long enough it returns 30mpg.
I forgot to add a couple of pictures, I was trying to show the difference in how the colour looks in different light, first was after a back road blast and the second was after a wash in the sun.
Brooks1989 said:
Stunning car OP. Love that colour!
Been looking at these, so your post if very helpful.
Driving a 3 Door S3 at the moment, so this seems like a nice compromise to go to the Mrs with! Looking for a more family friendly car at the moment...
Where in the world are you based? If near me can show you around mine if you want, I'm Yorkshire. Also if you want to know more bimmer post has a great wealth of experience and people happy to share in the UK Region. Been looking at these, so your post if very helpful.
Driving a 3 Door S3 at the moment, so this seems like a nice compromise to go to the Mrs with! Looking for a more family friendly car at the moment...
Brooks1989 said:
Stunning car OP. Love that colour!
Been looking at these, so your post if very helpful.
Driving a 3 Door S3 at the moment, so this seems like a nice compromise to go to the Mrs with! Looking for a more family friendly car at the moment...
We had a 340i Touring for 2 years as our family car, couldn't ask for anything more. Been looking at these, so your post if very helpful.
Driving a 3 Door S3 at the moment, so this seems like a nice compromise to go to the Mrs with! Looking for a more family friendly car at the moment...
richatnort said:
Where in the world are you based? If near me can show you around mine if you want, I'm Yorkshire. Also if you want to know more bimmer post has a great wealth of experience and people happy to share in the UK Region.
Down in sunny Southend unfortunately! Very kind of you to offer though 
6 month update!
Cars been fantastic, on the daily grind it's easy to drive, returns decent economy and makes me smile. Now the weather has turned cooler I've noticed the factory Bridgestones are horrific, they spin up if you even so much as look at the throttle and are just generally crap so I wont be sad to see the back of them.
I went on a trip to Germany a couple of months back with my mate in his Golf. The car was perfect, quiet and smooth, stuck the active cruise on and just followed the back of his car most of the way. I made a slight error and followed another Golf off the autobahn without realising resulting in a Top Gear style end to the trip with us arriving from different directions for a photo finish They arrived to find me sat watching Mickey Flanagan on the pro nav (handy at Calais too to pass time!). We had stopped for my mate to fill up with fuel on the route but I managed to make a single tank last me all the way, the fuel light pinged on as I arrived in Adenau averaging 40 mpg. I had toyed with going round the track but as the weather was awful and trying to follow the Golf up the hill from town was hard work, l didn't bother. We watched the VLN though which was great!
On our return the next trip had already been planned, but before that I stumbled upon a cracking deal. A dealer up north had a few MPPSK kits available and since the F30 had just been taken off sale they wanted shot of the ASAP. The kit retailed at £3200 ish I think, most dealers would do the kit for £1750 or so. I bought the kit for £1250 then paid £250 for fitted. The kit consists of an extra 35bhp and a full cat back exhaust, it still has valves fitted, when shut in comfort they send the gases through the back box, when they're open in sport mode they send the gases straight out the back, the system has no resonators or boxes aside from the back box. The extra 35bhp was noticeable too, in the mid range especially and part of the coding removes the fake sound pumped into the cabin, since it's no longer needed!
After spending 2 days watching videos of cars I went to collect mine. First thing I done was inspect the tips, I wasn't sure about the carbon trim on them but they didn't look too bad on the car. Started it up and the car sounded noticeably deeper from the off, I drove away and it sounded similar in comfort as it did in sport before the kit was fitted. Once it was warmed up I put it in sport mode, instant grin on my face! Really deep tone through the car, pops and burbles on the overrun and some crackles on up changes through the gears too.
A couple of days later I was off to the 'ring again, another early start. The drive there wasn't too bad, I did make a slight mistake and ended up driving through Brussels centre, total nightmare but the tunnels made up for it a bit. A few delays on the way (mates car broke) so we ended up arriving after a long long days driving. Woke up the next morning and went to watch the track action, I was torn about going round myself. I wasn't fussed about my own skills, but I was worried about getting caught up in someone else's accident and ending up with a £35k pile of twisted metal.
After seeing how quiet it was though I thought f
k it, it's now or never so dumped all my stuff and went for it. It was freezing cold and damp over 90% of the track so far from ideal conditions but I made it round without too much of an issue. The rest of the weekend went well, managed a clear run on the autobahn and hit 150, I was shocked at how quickly it got there tbh.
When we arrived in Calais I realised my mates hire car would be getting dropped off so we had to fit us all in the F30. It coped well, it's obviosuly not the most spacious car but we were comfortable enough for the drive home (4 hours thanks to the M20 being shut!). The book swallowed all our crap with relative ease too.
Since then it's been back to the daily grind, the exhaust has added that extra something that was missing, a little drama and noise to match the performance. I know a lot of the old skool guys dont like the modern cars with flaps and 'added' noise but it offers the best of both worlds with the ability to turn it down when you want a bit of quiet on a long drive. Next car related purchase will be getting it ceramic coated then maybe some little interior bits. I've never been a big fan of carbon being plastered everywhere but I like the open V wheel trim with the carbon from the M3 and I saw a few pictures of the M Perf gearstick and it looked tidy but I'm undecided. The car is still begging to be lowered but until it's nearer being out of warranty that isnt going to happen.
Sorry for the waffeling
Cars been fantastic, on the daily grind it's easy to drive, returns decent economy and makes me smile. Now the weather has turned cooler I've noticed the factory Bridgestones are horrific, they spin up if you even so much as look at the throttle and are just generally crap so I wont be sad to see the back of them.
I went on a trip to Germany a couple of months back with my mate in his Golf. The car was perfect, quiet and smooth, stuck the active cruise on and just followed the back of his car most of the way. I made a slight error and followed another Golf off the autobahn without realising resulting in a Top Gear style end to the trip with us arriving from different directions for a photo finish
They arrived to find me sat watching Mickey Flanagan on the pro nav (handy at Calais too to pass time!). We had stopped for my mate to fill up with fuel on the route but I managed to make a single tank last me all the way, the fuel light pinged on as I arrived in Adenau averaging 40 mpg. I had toyed with going round the track but as the weather was awful and trying to follow the Golf up the hill from town was hard work, l didn't bother. We watched the VLN though which was great!On our return the next trip had already been planned, but before that I stumbled upon a cracking deal. A dealer up north had a few MPPSK kits available and since the F30 had just been taken off sale they wanted shot of the ASAP. The kit retailed at £3200 ish I think, most dealers would do the kit for £1750 or so. I bought the kit for £1250 then paid £250 for fitted. The kit consists of an extra 35bhp and a full cat back exhaust, it still has valves fitted, when shut in comfort they send the gases through the back box, when they're open in sport mode they send the gases straight out the back, the system has no resonators or boxes aside from the back box. The extra 35bhp was noticeable too, in the mid range especially and part of the coding removes the fake sound pumped into the cabin, since it's no longer needed!
After spending 2 days watching videos of cars I went to collect mine. First thing I done was inspect the tips, I wasn't sure about the carbon trim on them but they didn't look too bad on the car. Started it up and the car sounded noticeably deeper from the off, I drove away and it sounded similar in comfort as it did in sport before the kit was fitted. Once it was warmed up I put it in sport mode, instant grin on my face! Really deep tone through the car, pops and burbles on the overrun and some crackles on up changes through the gears too.
A couple of days later I was off to the 'ring again, another early start. The drive there wasn't too bad, I did make a slight mistake and ended up driving through Brussels centre, total nightmare but the tunnels made up for it a bit. A few delays on the way (mates car broke) so we ended up arriving after a long long days driving. Woke up the next morning and went to watch the track action, I was torn about going round myself. I wasn't fussed about my own skills, but I was worried about getting caught up in someone else's accident and ending up with a £35k pile of twisted metal.
After seeing how quiet it was though I thought fk it, it's now or never so dumped all my stuff and went for it. It was freezing cold and damp over 90% of the track so far from ideal conditions but I made it round without too much of an issue. The rest of the weekend went well, managed a clear run on the autobahn and hit 150, I was shocked at how quickly it got there tbh. When we arrived in Calais I realised my mates hire car would be getting dropped off so we had to fit us all in the F30. It coped well, it's obviosuly not the most spacious car but we were comfortable enough for the drive home (4 hours thanks to the M20 being shut!). The book swallowed all our crap with relative ease too.
Since then it's been back to the daily grind, the exhaust has added that extra something that was missing, a little drama and noise to match the performance. I know a lot of the old skool guys dont like the modern cars with flaps and 'added' noise but it offers the best of both worlds with the ability to turn it down when you want a bit of quiet on a long drive. Next car related purchase will be getting it ceramic coated then maybe some little interior bits. I've never been a big fan of carbon being plastered everywhere but I like the open V wheel trim with the carbon from the M3 and I saw a few pictures of the M Perf gearstick and it looked tidy but I'm undecided. The car is still begging to be lowered but until it's nearer being out of warranty that isnt going to happen.
Sorry for the waffeling
Edited by Pizzaeatingking on Tuesday 27th November 15:49
PorkRind said:
Does it have a limited slip diff? I love the colour, why not the coupe?!
No LSD, it's a 'M Performance' dealer fit option but I dont drive it in a way that needs it tbh, not on the road and I have a track car for track days. I'm not a fan of the coupe, I dunno why but I've always preferred a 4 door saloon.
What'd you think of this one? Looks pretty mean, don't like the wheels though
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
aaron_2000 said:
What'd you think of this one? Looks pretty mean, don't like the wheels though
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
Looks great, wheels aside, but I'd say rather overpriced for a 66 plate. You could spec a year-old BMW approved car with the decent M Performance options (junking the pointless ones like those hideous wheels) and still have enough change for some decent wheels and a long-weekend city break. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
aaron_2000 said:
What'd you think of this one? Looks pretty mean, don't like the wheels though
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
As nice as that looks, it's strong money. I know I dont have all the M performance kit on but mine with a similar level (money terms) of factory options only cost me £2k more brand new. Unless you really want that spec I'd be tempted to look about at others. I'd personally rather a Shadow Edition over all those extras, if really wanted they can be added later easy enough. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
Something to note, if you want the MPPSK then anything built from June(ish) onwards will have a particulate filter and the MPPSK isnt compatible.
Ours was about £45k new, a silver touring, pretty much base spec except the M Plus pack, Media pro pack, brown leather and black wood trim and electric mirrors. It was one of the first 340i's on the road on a 65 plate, a factory order. They weren't doing good deals on them at the time, and they had no touring demos at all.
richatnort said:
Only just seen this but welcome to the club.
I picked up my F31 340i in March and absolutely love it. Like you said in comfort it's really subtle and gentle however touch that tab button into sport or sport+ and it's like a whole other animal.
We're getting a combined of about 24mpg at the moment but I haven't quite got bored of hearing the burbles and pops and driving in sports.
My only gripes i'd say is 1. The turbo lag is pretty bad but i'm slowly getting used to it now but when you put the pedal to the bottom it takes 5 seconds to kick in which is a tad annoying, 2. There isn't enough sound in the cabin for my liking, 3. The wind noise with the windows down and pushing is just mental.
I think 2 & 3 will be solved next year when i get MPPSK fitted but at £1800 fitted it's a bit steep for me at the moment.
Other than that I love it like yourself.
Here's a pic of mine
Wow. Amazing (little) family car. I picked up my F31 340i in March and absolutely love it. Like you said in comfort it's really subtle and gentle however touch that tab button into sport or sport+ and it's like a whole other animal.
We're getting a combined of about 24mpg at the moment but I haven't quite got bored of hearing the burbles and pops and driving in sports.
My only gripes i'd say is 1. The turbo lag is pretty bad but i'm slowly getting used to it now but when you put the pedal to the bottom it takes 5 seconds to kick in which is a tad annoying, 2. There isn't enough sound in the cabin for my liking, 3. The wind noise with the windows down and pushing is just mental.
I think 2 & 3 will be solved next year when i get MPPSK fitted but at £1800 fitted it's a bit steep for me at the moment.
Other than that I love it like yourself.
Here's a pic of mine
Francis85 said:
Wow. Amazing (little) family car.
Thanks I'm also still loving mine. Again as the OP has said the Bridgestones are crap in this cold wet weather but the wife wouldn't allow me to get any winter wheels so that doesn't help.How's the MPG around down OP I only seem to average between 25-28 if I'm careful.
richatnort said:
Thanks I'm also still loving mine. Again as the OP has said the Bridgestones are crap in this cold wet weather but the wife wouldn't allow me to get any winter wheels so that doesn't help.
How's the MPG around down OP I only seem to average between 25-28 if I'm careful.
My commute is about 8 miles/20 min, I average about the same as you without trying too much, if I go for comfort and drive like a cab driver I can get up to 34 mpg which for the performance is pretty impressive I think. How's the MPG around down OP I only seem to average between 25-28 if I'm careful.
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