E91 Straight Six Bearding
Discussion
paulguitar said:
I got an E92 330I today. The Dakota is nothing special, but perfectly acceptable. The N53 is a lovely engine, loads of torque which makes it feel relaxing to drive. Mine's a manual. Here it is:
Looks very nice the E36 coupe I had years ago was a 323i in silver with cloth and I loved it. Every thing just felt right with that car.Got T-boned at a junction which ended it, thankfully no one was in the passenger seat.
Fulla said:
Can't agree more on the tyres, it's the contact point and if they are not good quality brands that are the same all around I would also walk. If your not willing to spend on the right tyres then it tells a story for the rest of the maintenance. Thank you for your input.
OE tyres on these are Bridgestone RE050A RFTs. They are unfortunately a bit crap. I replaced the ones on my wife's E91 with Goodyear Eagle F1 RFTs and the ride is much better, grip is very decent.g3org3y said:
OE tyres on these are Bridgestone RE050A RFTs. They are unfortunately a bit crap. I replaced the ones on my wife's E91 with Goodyear Eagle F1 RFTs and the ride is much better, grip is very decent.
I had run flats on a Mini Copper S, that was the 1st thing I got ride of and it transformed the ride. Fulla said:
g3org3y said:
The 325 felt under powered to me when I took an N52 325i Saloon for a test drive. Needed a lot of revs to get a shift on. That was in comparison to an E36 328 I was dailying at the time, let alone the E91 330 which is definitely a step up.
Do not bother with the 4 cylinder models.
Ok so look's like the consensus is 6 cylinder 330. I have seen a newer 328i which looked nice but it was near £9k and if I can get something at £5k or under that would be perfect....Do not bother with the 4 cylinder models.
And are there must have specs?
Question on the leather - seems the nicer stuff which starts at Nappa on BMW's is a unicorn spec on the 3 series. What does the Dakota feel like? From the pictures none of the 3 series leather looks that nice.
Does have me looking at 5-series as well as there seems to be a few with very comfy looking seats. Plan to get out a view test a few from next weekend. Am in no rush so will just keep looking and hope more will become available in the New Year.
I bought a manual E91 325i in 2018 but fund that if I got baulked on a motorway it took ages to get back up to speed if I left it in 6th. I would have got a 330i, but I couldn't find any that weren't silly money.
Anyway I got fed up with it after a year and as I still couldn't find an affordable manual 330i Touring I talked myself into a manual E90 330i on the basis it had the split/fold rear seat option! And I've used the electric sunroof more than I thought I would.
Mine has the Dakota leather which doesn't feel nearly as nice as the Nappa in my Z4M Coupe, but I suspect it may be harder wearing. Both my 3 Series are SE models so have the standard seats - I'd have liked the M-Sport seats in a Sport model but I might still be waiting!
Good luck finding the right one.
Mr Tidy said:
Like g3org3y said the 325i does feel gutless, even if it is partly down to the stuidly long gearing BMW gave it.
BMW manufactured it as a de-tuned 330. Certainly capable of 200 kmh all day longon the home territory autobahn, yet still capable of 250 kmh when the occasion demands it.
Sure it has long gearing, but then it is an autobahn cruiser, what did you expect ?
Those fuel consumption figures don't come from nowhere.
Mr Tidy said:
I bought a manual E91 325i in 2018 but fund that if I got baulked on a motorway it took ages to get back up to speed if I left it in 6th. I would have got a 330i, but I couldn't find any that weren't silly money.
Manual gear change paddles and sport mode are available if you find over 200 BHP not enough.
Mr Tidy said:
Anyway I got fed up with it after a year and as I still couldn't find an affordable manual 330i Touring I talked myself into a manual E90 330i on the basis it had the split/fold rear seat option! And I've used the electric sunroof more than I thought I would.
The vast majority of 3 series are the four cylinder 320 and below. Very few (< 10 % ?) are six cylinder. If you wedded to six cylinder, then maybe
5 series might do, but in these days of UK extensive speed enforcement,
anything beyond two litres in the UK is looking IMHO increasingly pointless.
Mr Tidy said:
Mine has the Dakota leather which doesn't feel nearly as nice as the Nappa in my Z4M Coupe, but I suspect it may be harder wearing. Both my 3 Series are SE models so have the standard seats - I'd have liked the M-Sport seats in a Sport model but I might still be waiting!
Mine's a SE on cloth seats. It's fine. Horses for courses, but I wouldn'thave leather seats or Sports suspension if you paid me.
Sadly the time has come after almost 8 years of e91 ownership to sell up. Honestly i'm still in two minds on selling it as it has been the best car i've ever owned....
If anyone fancies a nice, honest (if a little scruffy in places) 330i M-sport touring it is now live on autotrader (it's the Sparkling Graphite one with 124k on the clock...)
I just hope it goes to a good home :-(
If anyone fancies a nice, honest (if a little scruffy in places) 330i M-sport touring it is now live on autotrader (it's the Sparkling Graphite one with 124k on the clock...)
I just hope it goes to a good home :-(
Funnily enough, I've just spotted something on autotrader!
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202009083...
What do we think? Nice history, that's for sure.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202009083...
What do we think? Nice history, that's for sure.
Think we're up to 23 in the book now!
Fulla said:
If I could go for cloth I would. I loved the almost corduroy cloth in my old 320 from the 80's. But...we have a dog that will occasionally sit on the sets so leather is just more practical.
I much prefer cloth too, it's just a nicer place to be unlike leather which is cold in winter, hot in summer and you slide around on it during spirited driving. My E46 has the alcantara sports seats and they are lovely. You have pointed out the one drawback of cloth and that's keeping them clean, so unfortunately I will be going for leather for my next car as family duties dictate that they need to be wipe clean.dcb said:
Mr Tidy said:
BMW manufactured it as a de-tuned 330. Certainly capable of 200 kmh all day long
on the home territory autobahn, yet still capable of 250 kmh when the occasion demands it.
Sure it has long gearing, but then it is an autobahn cruiser, what did you expect ?
Those fuel consumption figures don't come from nowhere.
not enough.
Very few (< 10 % ?) are six cylinder. If you wedded to six cylinder, then maybe
5 series might do, but in these days of UK extensive speed enforcement,
anything beyond two litres in the UK is looking IMHO increasingly pointless.
have leather seats or Sports suspension if you paid me.
The N53 325i was a detuned 3 litre, but mine was an 06 plate with the N52 engine so it was actually a 2.5 litre - when the model numbers still had some correlation to the engine size. on the home territory autobahn, yet still capable of 250 kmh when the occasion demands it.
Sure it has long gearing, but then it is an autobahn cruiser, what did you expect ?
Those fuel consumption figures don't come from nowhere.
Mr Tidy said:
I bought a manual E91 325i in 2018 but fund that if I got baulked on a motorway it took ages to get back up to speed if I left it in 6th. I would have got a 330i, but I couldn't find any that weren't silly money.
Manual gear change paddles and sport mode are available if you find over 200 BHP not enough.
Mr Tidy said:
Anyway I got fed up with it after a year and as I still couldn't find an affordable manual 330i Touring I talked myself into a manual E90 330i on the basis it had the split/fold rear seat option! And I've used the electric sunroof more than I thought I would.
The vast majority of 3 series are the four cylinder 320 and below. Very few (< 10 % ?) are six cylinder. If you wedded to six cylinder, then maybe
5 series might do, but in these days of UK extensive speed enforcement,
anything beyond two litres in the UK is looking IMHO increasingly pointless.
Mr Tidy said:
Mine has the Dakota leather which doesn't feel nearly as nice as the Nappa in my Z4M Coupe, but I suspect it may be harder wearing. Both my 3 Series are SE models so have the standard seats - I'd have liked the M-Sport seats in a Sport model but I might still be waiting!
Mine's a SE on cloth seats. It's fine. Horses for courses, but I wouldn'thave leather seats or Sports suspension if you paid me.
So far as the high gearing is concerned you may be right about fuel consumption, but it may have been more about keeping them in Band K for RFL.
No paddles for me, all my 3 Series have been manuals - which seems to make them even harder to find!
I know what you mean about the Sport models though - in an ideal world I'd have an SE with M-Sport seats, but I'm sure I'd be waiting even longer.
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