BMW 330d vs 328i

username?!

I' m in the market for a BMW 330d 2013 I've decided I have to make the trip to England to pick one up.

VRT is coming in at about 7,000 and cars are going for around 23500 gbp for a decent spec one with low miles.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of diesels and have always drove performance petrol cars I have come to terms with it as running costs of high tax and sub 15mpg was getting to me. I was hoping the power of the 330d would keep me happy even though its a diesel.

But...

I've just come across the 328i

Engine size 1997 cc
Engine power 245 bhp
Top speed 155 mph
Acceleration (0-62mph) 5.9 seconds
Average mpg 44 mpg
Co2 emmissions (g/km) 151 g/km
Road Tax C


These can be picked up at least 3,000 sterling cheaper. I can't find it in the VRT calculation but I do know its high on co2 so at 20% tax band and not 18% but I'd imagine it will depreciate quicker so OMSP should be lower. Worse case scenerio the VRT will be around the same.


My main concern with the 328i is depriciation. I know it will be heavier on fuel but I'm coming from a v8 so will be an improvement to me.

Any thoughts here?

Gumbo

In a few years time all these low tax petrol cars will be very appealing to car buyers i would imagine.

Foxhole Norman

I actually don't think depreciation over here would be as bad as you think. I reckon there'll be a demand for a car like that in the future, I know if I was looking for an F30 it'd be one of them, they just never sold them here really.

bazz26

The only problem is thought that an F30 328i is a 4 cylinder engine.

username?!

kceire wrote: »

In a few years time all these low tax petrol cars will be very appealing to car buyers i would imagine.

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

I actually don't think depreciation over here would be as bad as you think. I reckon there'll be a demand for a car like that in the future, I know if I was looking for an F30 it'd be one of them, they just never sold them here really.

I never thought of it that way.

bazz26 wrote: »

The only problem is thought that an F30 328i is a 4 cylinder engine.

That is a downside but having a petrol turbo would over rule that for me.

The more and more I think about it, the more I'm leaning toward the idea. I have also checked and my insurance is around 500+ euro cheaper on the 328i.

Can anyone confirm if I am right about the VRT being at 20%?

bazz26

Get the car's co2 emission figure from the seller and make sure it matches that on the VRT calculator. Just be aware that you will also be liable for VRT on any factory extras fitted to the car, the VRT calculator will not take that into account.

Idbatterim

In a few years time all these low tax petrol cars will be very appealing to car buyers i would imagine.

I totally agree, a huge amount of us couldnt afford to buy this car new, but in a few more years, would love to be able to buy a quick enough petrol one, for dirt cheap tax in comparison to what we are used to...

the below might be of use op!

http://vrt.ie/vrtDetail.php?page=14

the 330 in auto is 129g/km according to autotrader - so E270 a year tax. 18% VRT - the petrol is €390 to tax and 23% VRT. So there is as good as no difference in motor tax, VRT will be 5% higher rate, but OMSP of the diesel may well be higher...

limpopo

Hi OP,

Have a 328i myself (living in the UK with almost a year) and couldn't recommend one enough. Coming from a 318D for 5 years the refinement of a petrol engine is a revelation.

Quite reasonable on fuel day to day and a light(ish) foot on a long journey will see 45+ mpg easily. I drove mine from East Cork to Hertfordshire 2 weeks ago and used less than half a tank of petrol for c. 300 miles!

They're a rare enough car to find here if you're after a high spec one, I wasn't able to haggle much off the price when I bought but it was exactly what I wanted with Prof. Media package, Xenons, Sports Auto and Heads Up Display.

commited

I'd pick the 328 overall, but I think a deal could be done on the below:

http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/bmw/3-series/used-2013-131-bmw-3-series-330-msport-dublin-fpa-201214376709182710
Ditch the matt black (hopefully just a wrap), get the wheels powdercoated silver and there is a nice, low mileage car..

zizou_

I would rule out the 328i unless revenue can confirm the VRT in advance. Given that there are none for sale I don't know how the OMSP would be calculated and/or challenged. The VRT could cancel out any savings you make on the purchase price vs the 330d.

kay 9

What's the torque & bhp of the derv in comparison to the petrol? From what I remember those 330 & 335ds can be remapped relatively easily with impressive gains (not saying they ain't good enough as are)

166man

The 330d engine is an absolute peach. Honestly few other engines can touch it.


I haven't any experience with the 328...

Roger Mellie Man on the Telly

bazz26 wrote: »

The only problem is thought that an F30 328i is a 4 cylinder engine.

Didn't realise that. Do the inline 6's start with the 330i ?

bmstuff

Careful with buying locally, seen a lot of f30 crashed in the UK and been brought over and repaired rather poorly recently
So make sure you double check history and impact/repair/condition of engine bay/bumpers.

username?!

commited wrote: »

I'd pick the 328 overall, but I think a deal could be done on the below:

http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/bmw/3-series/used-2013-131-bmw-3-series-330-msport-dublin-fpa-201214376709182710
Ditch the matt black (hopefully just a wrap), get the wheels powdercoated silver and there is a nice, low mileage car..

I've driven this one to get a feel for a 330D. lovely car and it is all a wrap.

166man wrote: »

The 330d engine is an absolute peach. Honestly few other engines can touch it.


I haven't any experience with the 328...

Agreed it is a brilliant engine. I'd imagine the 328 engine would feeel similar to the engine in a Audi S3 / Golf GTI.

username?!

kay 9 wrote: »

What's the torque & bhp of the derv in comparison to the petrol? From what I remember those 330 & 335ds can be remapped relatively easily with impressive gains (not saying they ain't good enough as are)

Differences:

328i Petrol 2.0 4 cyl
Power: (from primary fuel) 180 kW , 245 HP DIN @ 5,000 rpm; , 350 Nm @ 1,250 rpm

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201507295619205?price-to=25000&radius=1500&postcode=se145bb&page=1&channel=cars&model=3_series&search-target=usedcars&engine-size-cars=2l_to_2-5l&fuel-type=petrol&sort=default&price-from=17000&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&make=bmw&keywords=328i&logcode=p



330d Diesel 3.0 6cyl
Power: (from primary fuel) 190 kW , 258 HP DIN @ 4,000 rpm; , 560 Nm @ 2,000 rpm

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201507295619651?radius=1500&model=3_series&channel=cars&postcode=se145bb&search-target=usedcars&sort=default&price-from=17000&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&price-to=25000&body-type=saloon&page=1&maximum-age=up_to_2_years_old&saved-search-id=2c921aed4ed962cc014ed966b3e40002&make=bmw&keywords=330d&logcode=p



Big difference in torque but also 2500gbp in price.

Idbatterim

the 0-100 according to autotrader. is 5.6 for auto diesel and 5.9 for the petrol. So nothing in it, I know the 3d is 6 cylinder, but the 4 cylinder doesnt run on tractor juice...

username?!

I'm trying to work out the price of a 328i the only problem is I can't calculate the VRT as it is not listed on the website.

I have came up with my closest estimate I can which is the based on:

Make BMW 320 Petrol Auto Version F30 I LUXURY 4DR AUTO
Same Year / Month / Mileage as the car I am looking at.



Co2 for 320 Luxury is 141 (23%)
Co2 for 328i is 147 (23%)


Price according to www.carzone.ie new car section:

2.0 320I LUXURY AUTO Auto 4 dr € 48,077
2.0 328I M SPORT AUTO Auto 4 dr € 53,947

Difference: €5870

Luxury Model:
Current OMSP after 21% deprecation is: €32497
VRT payable 23% of this: €7474


328i Model:
5870 more expensive
depreciation on extra cost @ 21%: €4637
VRT on this extra amount after depreciation @ 23%: €1066

€7474 + €1066

Approx vrt on 328i = €8540


This is obviously excluding extras, but is this somewhat close or way off?

Tea 1000

Roger Mellie Man on the Telly wrote: »

Didn't realise that. Do the inline 6's start with the 330i ?

No 330i anymore, and the I6's are turbo also.

@ OP, to be honest, I'd be going with the 6 cylinder diesel, even though I'm not a diesel fan. I'd bank on it being more reliable too.

Leonard Hofstadter

I really don't like diesels but there is absolutely no comparison between a piddly little 2.0 four cylinder petrol and a 3.0 diesel, especially a BMW straight six, the engine the company is famous for.

I can't believe anyone would choose a four pot petrol over a six cylinder engine given the choice, BMW's six pot diesels are lovely. Now if it was a like for like comparison and we were comparing a 330d (or even a 335d) to a 335i then yes of course the petrol would win every time

The 330i is back by the way for the LCI F30, but it's only a 2.0 four pot (replacing the 328i), the 330d thankfully retains its six cylinder engine and is actually more powerful than the petrol (and will be 10 times nicer to drive because it's got a six cylinder engine).

BMW's whole marking with the petrol engines is a load of b0****ks anyway, a 318i has only a 1.5 litre three cylinder engine which is bad enough, but worse, it has the same power and torque as the previous 316 but at least that was a four cylinder engine. Now how do you lose a cylinder, 0.1 of a litre, gain absolutely no power or torque whatsoever yet according to the badge it's gone from a 316i to a 318i? Today's 318i is in fact less powerful than a 318i from 2000 :eek:. The 318d has a 2.0 litre four cylinder engine with 148 bhp (there wasn't even a 318d back then, but when the 318d first appeared about 10 or so years ago it had only 120 bhp), the 318i has a mere 1.5 litre three cylinder with only 134 bhp. The pre-LCI 316i had exactly the same power output but yet it's now a 318i despite having one less cylinder and a smaller engine yet no change to power or torque. In fact, today's x16i models have a lot less power, being down to a measly 108 bhp (this is really the replacement for the 114i etc as they had only 101 bhp). The last time a x16i BMW had so little power was back in 2000, when they were still using 8 valve engines. A 316i in 2000 had 101 bhp, then when the E46 LCI came out in late 2000 the 316 was upped to 115 bhp. Yet 15 years later a 116i has only 108 bhp. The 320i has less power than the 320d, 181 vs 187 of the diesel. Admittedly that is better than the E46 LCI 320i, as that had 168 bhp, but it does show how little the petrols have moved on.

Between 2000 and 2015, the 320i has gone from 168 bhp (and a silky smooth NA six cylinder engine) to 181 bhp (and a four cylinder turbo engine) yet the 320d has gone from 148 bhp to 187 bhp (and is still a 2.0 four pot diesel as it was back then). The 330i in 2000/2001 had a 3.0 NA six pot with 228 bhp, the latest 330i admittedly has more power as well, with 248 bhp but that's hardly any progress. A 330d from 2001 had 189 bhp, today's version has 255 bhp, so the petrol should be miles ahead. In fact, when the first E90 came out, a 330i (which still had a proper six pot engine) had more power at 255 bhp to the current car's 248 bhp.

The 340i is another bad example, it's really the replacement for the 335i yet somehow BMW thought because they brought out a new engine it gave them poetic licence to add half a litre to the supposed engine displacement. It's actually hardly any more powerful than the 335d, only 7 bhp in it.

If there was even the slightest bit of common sense, the badging for the petrol engines should be like this:

316i - 1.5 three cylinder 134 bhp (instead of 318i)
318i - 2.0 four cylinder 181 bhp (instead of 320i)
325i - 2.0 four cylinder (cringe, should be a six pot at this level) 248 bhp, at least that would be progress on the 218 bhp you got from a 325i 10 years ago instead of 330i
330i - 3.0 six cylinder with about 290 bhp (after all, in 2008 you got 272 bhp from your 330i), detuned B57 engine, actually it would be nice if they could detune it even more for a 325i (as described above)
335i - 3.0 six cylinder with 322 bhp (instead of the stupid 340i branding)

carsfan

OP
I was wondering if you went ahead and bought a 330d in the UK and if so how it went and how was the vrt on it?
I am thinking along similar lines for next year.
thanks
Carsfan

username?!

carsfan wrote: »

OP
I was wondering if you went ahead and bought a 330d in the UK and if so how it went and how was the vrt on it?
I am thinking along similar lines for next year.
thanks
Carsfan

I actually never went ahead with it. I picked up something completely different as a spur of the moment purchase and couldn't be happier!

Tea 1000

username?! wrote: »

I actually never went ahead with it. I picked up something completely different as a spur of the moment purchase and couldn't be happier!

Go on then... this is a motoring forum... Tell us!

MetzgerMeister

carsfan wrote: »

OP
I was wondering if you went ahead and bought a 330d in the UK and if so how it went and how was the vrt on it?
I am thinking along similar lines for next year.
thanks
Carsfan

There's a UK import (Estoril Blue) on Carzone at the moment if you want to get an idea on pricing.

I'm picking up mine next week hopefully but it's original Irish.

carsfan

Are you buying 330d or 328i?
What year and spec?

MetzgerMeister

2013 330d M Sport.

carsfan

Lovely.
Had a touring bought from new in 2013 but traded it in 10 months later.
Beautiful engine and fast yet economical.
I'm thinking of going back to a secondhand one next year hence my interest. The one on carzone is for sale for more than I got for my 10 month old one in 2013. At the time one BMW dealer offered 35k for it. I paid 60k
Are you buying from a dealer?

bazz26

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

2013 330d M Sport.

Where the feck did you manage to find one of them, they are rare as hen's teeth here?

MetzgerMeister

bazz26 wrote: »

Where the feck did you manage to find one of them, they are rare as hen's teeth here?

Down the back of the couch :pac:

carsfan

There is another user who posts that I think is trading a 2013 330d for a 430 gram coupe soon so that might be coming up?
Estoril blue too if I remember correctly.

bazz26

I think that's Crowded House iirc.

MetzgerMeister

carsfan wrote: »

There is another user who posts that I think is trading a 2013 330d for a 430 gram coupe soon so that might be coming up?
Estoril blue too if I remember correctly.

carsfan

aha!
That will be a well cared for car I bet.
Best of luck with it. They are a rare find in Ireland.

carsfan

Did you pick up your 330 yet?
if so are you happy?
I see on another thread Crowded house got the 430 the other day.

MetzgerMeister

I drove it on Saturday and inspected it with a fine-tooth comb

All 6 cars I've had since I started driving have been petrol and manual. This is my first diesel and auto and I can tell you this much - I fooken loved it! It's not a big lump of power in one go and then nothing, it's spread out very well over the rev range. With the 8 speed I was almost thinking "jaysus I've too many gears to chose from", a bit like going into a shop and trying to pick out a chocolate bar from the 10's that are in front of you.

If that drive was anything to go by, I think I'm really going to like it.

I'm picking it up this Saturday.

carsfan

Sounds great and I don't think you will miss manual at all.
enjoy!

MetzgerMeister

Just said I'd give a quick update on this in case anyone is interested.

Just over a week in and I am absolutely loving the 330d. Still getting used to the engine over the petrols but it does sound really good for a diesel! The torque is superb, especially in sport mode and the engine keeps going from the start to finish of the rev range. The whole thing of "diesel power delivered in a small lump" just does not apply to this car. Also, more torque on tap than the F30 M3

Bad points:

In order to lift the wipers off the windscreen, you have to do a procedure which dry wipes the screen twice before the come to a stop upright on the passenger side.

The M brakes are very dusty.

Marty McFly

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

The M brakes are very dusty.

That must absolutely destroy your soul

MetzgerMeister

Marty McFly wrote: »

That must absolutely destroy your soul

Yes! After a day's driving (not far) I can wipe my finger on the front alloys and leave a bright clean mark

The good thing is that the alloys are brand new and I have yet to give them a C5 treatment followed by CG Wheel Guard and 845. Currently they have C2V3 on them so it's very easy to clean them anyway but a wheel-off detail is what I'm going for.

Leonard Hofstadter

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

The whole thing of "diesel power delivered in a small lump" just does not apply to this car.

Ah yes, but you're driving one of the best diesels there is, BMW's six pot diesels are really excellent and very un-diesel like in every way (they even sound nice ffs), try one of the piddly little four cylinder diesels with a manual gearbox and you'll realise what torture most of them are;). Even within four cylinders size matters, the larger capacity ones are considerably less bad than the smaller capacity ones (but they're still dire). Even on the piddly little ones an automatic makes an enormous difference. Of course their six pot petrols are in another league again, but there's an awful lot to like about a car like the 330d.

Best of luck and congrats:).

MetzgerMeister

I've come from an e92 335i and I'm not an easy person to make happy or impress when it comes to cars.

Marty McFly

captainspeed wrote: »

Ah yes, but you're driving one of the best diesels there is, BMW's six pot diesels are really excellent and very un-diesel like in every way (they even sound nice ffs), try one of the piddly little four cylinder diesels with a manual gearbox and you'll realise what torture most of them are;). Even within four cylinders size matters, the larger capacity ones are considerably less bad than the smaller capacity ones (but they're still dire). Even on the piddly little ones an automatic makes an enormous difference. Of course their six pot petrols are in another league again, but there's an awful lot to like about a car like the 330d.

Best of luck and congrats:).

This 100 tomes over I tried a four cylinder diesel it lasted about 7 weeks hated everything about it was a horrible car to drive no power and sounded horrendous.


Again though I went from a straight 6 petrol to the 4 cylinder diesel I really didn't think that one through.

But now droving s 530 yes it mightnt be as smooth or refined or sound as good but certainly doesn't lack power and I don't hate it.

Be interesting to see how the e60 530 which is a nice cruiser compares to the f30 330d.

Tea 1000

The 6 cylinder diesels are good alright, but I still prefer petrol any day!

166man

captainspeed wrote: »

Ah yes, but you're driving one of the best diesels there is, BMW's six pot diesels are really excellent and very un-diesel like in every way (they even sound nice ffs), try one of the piddly little four cylinder diesels with a manual gearbox and you'll realise what torture most of them are;). Even within four cylinders size matters, the larger capacity ones are considerably less bad than the smaller capacity ones (but they're still dire). Even on the piddly little ones an automatic makes an enormous difference. Of course their six pot petrols are in another league again, but there's an awful lot to like about a car like the 330d.

Best of luck and congrats:).

Oh man give over will you? You spend your days harping on about cars not having the correct wheel drive and only a four cylinder engine.

BMW is a great example. The 2.0 diesel with a manual box in 1/3/4/5 guise is absolutely brilliant car to drive and the engine is excellent. Driven plenty of them.

2.0 diesel four cylinders have come a long way and the new ones with 190bhp and an 8 speed box is most of the power you'll ever need.


@Metzer - the car is gorgeous, absolutely stunning! No doubt it will be minded like a baby. Best of luck with it, I think your 335 went to a good home too.

MetzgerMeister

I think it did alright, the main thing that was spoken of when he came to view it and to buy it was mechanical sympathy :P