E46 320td Compact to E92 335d - What to expect...?
E46 320td Compact to E92 335d - What to expect...?
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BigAz

Original Poster:

11 posts

176 months

Saturday 24th March 2012
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Hey, first post, please go easy on me smile Haha.

Currently drive a E46 320td compact manual. (photo at the bottom if anyone's interested)

Hoping to upgrade to an E92 335d Coupe in a few weeks time.

Just wondering what to expect. Obviously it's going to be a lot quicker. Hoping to remap it at some point, hear Simon at e-maps is a good fella. But what about the little things? MPG-wise (I do a lot of town driving, don't use the motorway too often). Smoothness of the ride? Etc...

Anyone else upgrade from an E46 320d to the 335d?

Any known, potentially expensive, common issues?

I know some people frown upon fast diesels, but come on, the figures speak for themselves. The combination of economy when driving gently and the mind-boggling torque when you put the hammer down is just brilliant!

Look forward to hearing what people think smile

Cheers,
Aaron.

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i374/heeaar05/...

Edited by BigAz on Sunday 25th March 00:00

BE57 TOY

2,628 posts

178 months

Sunday 25th March 2012
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I'm surprised there aren't any comments yet saying a 330d isn't fast, or that its going to cost you thousands replacing turbos / DPFs etc!

:-)

The 330d is a nice car but I would buy a warranty from BMW-warranty.co.uk if it doesnt already come with one. At least for the first year just in case you're buying a car someone else has off loaded due to an imminent fault. Bills on these new diesel engines can get expensive.

Other than that a 3 litre BMW should be good for 250,000 miles.

rassi

2,518 posts

282 months

Sunday 25th March 2012
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If you do a lot of town driving and little motorway driving, I question the logic of having a diesel let alone a 335d...?

Vee

3,109 posts

265 months

Sunday 25th March 2012
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Don't kid yourself that they're powerful AND economical.
Around London I don't see more than 28mpg from a 335d, which is not much better than I used to get from an E46 330i manual.

Neil.D

2,878 posts

237 months

Sunday 25th March 2012
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The 35d engine is solid and reliable with no current specific issues.

There are a few things u can do however to hopefully prevent problems.

1) De flap the engine manifold

2) change both thermostats, BMW thermostats often fail in the open position in a lot of models. cool running will create more soot and not allow DPF regen.


Boost hoses can perish owing to them being looped over the turbos and cause sudden power loss often confused with a blown turbo.

As stated though, constant town driving isn't good for them, they need a regular steady motorway run to regen the DPF.

BigAz

Original Poster:

11 posts

176 months

Sunday 25th March 2012
quotequote all
rassi said:
If you do a lot of town driving and little motorway driving, I question the logic of having a diesel let alone a 335d...?
Thanks for all the replies!

I think I'm set on a diesel because of my comparison between my current 320d and the petrols I've driven like the Mini Cooper S and the Volvo 850 T5 (I know a T5 may not be the best benchmark to use for fuel economy).

I live in Coventry, and do a lot of driving on the outskirts of town, and towards the neighbouring villages. So there's a fair mix of residential 30 zones and national speed limit A and B roads.

My Beemer gives me around 40 mpg, so I'd normally get through about £40 of V-Power Diesel in a week.
The Mini has got through £30 of V-Power Petrol in the last 2 days! And that's not by doing excessive mileage, it's the usual that I'd normally do in my diesel.

And on the rare occasion I use the motorway, at 77mph, I get 70 mpg! And at regular motorway speeds, it's easily close to 60mpg. Modern petrol engines I can see getting close to them, but I'm looking at used cars around 5 years old, and can't think of much that'll match those stats.

Hope this clears up why I'm after a diesel.

gizard

2,272 posts

314 months

Monday 26th March 2012
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You will not get anything above 35mpg ish unless you drive like a granny the whole time.... our 335d gets driven about 40 - 50 miles a day on a commute of which about 60% is motorway speeds and the rest in town and we get around 500 miles out a tank...

Leins

10,505 posts

179 months

Monday 26th March 2012
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I went from a 325ti to an E92 335d, and have to be honest when I look back I miss the 325ti more. At the time I was doing about 18k miles a year, and ended up saving about £100 a month on fuel as a result of the swap

However, that's not the main reason I went for the 335d, it was more to experience that torque. Whatever anybody else says, this is a fast car, but more to the point it is a fast car that can get you into trouble unbelievably easily. The combination of auto box, lack of noise on the move and all that torque means you would hit 100mph without realising it all the time. It was a faster car than the CSL I replaced it with for 95% of scenarios, if that makes sense?

Saying that, it was a bit too big and heavy for my liking, lacking the handling poise of the Compact, and in the wet on the RFTs it could be a handful when you didn't want it to be

As a daily driver it's a great choice, refined, quick and with good economy. Could handle a summer Sunday blast around B-roads fairly well too, if not really its thing. It just didn't grab me like some of my other cars have done

Fox-

13,575 posts

277 months

Monday 26th March 2012
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What to expect? Crappy build quality, squeeky trim and rattles. And loads of orange peel on the paint.