Class Refinement

[cologne2792]

I was looking towards an E92 330d manual as my next daily driver.
I've driven an E90 in the distant past and liked it very much so was fairly sure of what I was doing.

I subsequently drove an E63 630i auto and was blown away by the comfort, refinement, enjoyment and ride quality. Really not what I was expecting at all.

I then drove an E60 525d auto and was hugely impressed with that as well for the same reasons as the Six Series.

The question is then; are the 5 and 6 series above a massive step forward in refinement and comfort from the comparable 3 series and if buy an E92 will I always be thinking I should have bought bigger ?

Also, I've never been a fan of auto gearboxes until I drove the 5 and 6 series with the ZF 6 speed. Quite brilliant and definitely adds to the flavour. What are the opinions of ownership, use and reliability in manual v auto for the 3.0 d ?

[Obison]

I've had lots of older BMWs, E36 and E46 in all models, touring, saloon, convertible and with engines from 323i, 328i and 330i.
My current (still old) car is an auto E90 330i and i love it, its comfortable (m-sport) so seats etc are great, very well screwed together and its still a quick car in manual mode.
Has all the things i need as I'm not a fan of touch screens etc
Reliable, and still looks good.
Can't think of anything else for the money that could replace it.

[gizlaroc]

cologne2792 said:

The question is then; are the 5 and 6 series above a massive step forward in refinement and comfort from the comparable 3 series .......?

Yes.


A well specced LCI 5 series E60 is a very nice thing. 6 series same.

cologne2792 said:

........and if buy an E92 will I always be thinking I should have bought bigger ?

Not sure really.
You will get used to it, and off run flats on 18" wheels with the suspension sorted, they are pretty comfy still.

Main issue is most are not shagged suspension wise after years on run flats.

[cologne2792]

Thank you both for your very useful info, experiences and thoughts, much appreciated.

Logically I should buy an E60. There's plenty within budget and it would certainly be the most practical.

Unfortunately, I'm very fond of the E63 and whilst I was extremely impressed by the E60 it was just a little too mainstream for my liking, hence the liking for coupes.

The other issue are my two kids. My 12 year old daughter is already 5'7" and only just about fits in the back of the E63.
The E92 has considerably more leg and head room despite being smaller overall.

I don't how long we'd all fit in an E63 for and my usual plan is to buy and then maintain and keep for a long time.

More thinking needed.

[Mr Tidy]

I moved from an E46 325ti to an E91, then an E90 and thought they were very refined!

I really wouldn't want more refinement than that, and any E6* model is going to be bigger and a bit heavier but the Coupe and Convertible don't seem to be any bigger, so there doesn't seem to be any benefit although they may be a bit more "wafty".

But from what I have read a post March 2006 630i would cost you over £200 more a year in road tax compared to an E92 330i.

I think it depends what you really want, and what price you are prepared to pay for it!

[RobM77]

I've just gone from 150k in two E90s back to back to an F10 5 series, which I've done about 10k in now (sorry, can't speak for the previous model 5). The road noise at speed (40mph+) is greater in the F10 thanks to the stupid wheels and tyres they fit them with (19" diameter and a totally unnecessary width) and the fact my E90s both wore little 205/16s, but in all other ways it's a huge step up in refinement and in all round quality. Handling is not as good, of course, given the difference in kerb weight and CofG, but it's not as much of a drop as you'd expect - the whole car feels like it's had much more engineering effort expended on it.