BMW 3 series - thoughts?

franktennis · 29-12-2019 10:01PM #1

Never had a BMW Before. This caught my eye. I drive 9000 miles a year. Price no issue.

tdf7187 · 29-12-2019 10:03PM

Avoid the E90 run flats would be my advice.

franktennis · 29-12-2019 10:10PM

tdf7187 wrote: »

Avoid the E90 run flats would be my advice.

Thank you

franktennis · 29-12-2019 10:11PM

franktennis wrote: »

Thank you

Thank you

FAMLEE · 29-12-2019 10:12PM

franktennis wrote: »

Price no issue.

You'll have no problem running one then. Might aswell go for a 330i

FAMLEE · 29-12-2019 10:13PM

tdf7187 wrote: »

Avoid the E90 run flats would be my advice.

Most BMW owners dont replace with run flats after the first set is worn anyway.

franktennis · 29-12-2019 10:14PM

FAMLEE wrote: »

You'll have no problem running one then. Might aswell go for a 330i

I wish !!!

The chan chan man · 29-12-2019 10:14PM

Best and worst cars I’ve ever had. E46 and E92, best when they were working, great machines to drive. Worst when they weren’t working...which was in my case about 4-5 issues per year. It got expensive! Just my personal experience.

Have an E-class since and its been bulletproof to date... Guaranteed a catastrophic failure tomorrow now for saying that!!

franktennis · 29-12-2019 10:17PM

The chan chan man wrote: »

Best and worst cars I’ve ever had. E46 and E92, best when they were working, great machines to drive. Worst when they weren’t working...which was in my case about 4-5 issues per year. It got expensive! Just my personal experience.

Have an E-class since and its been bulletproof to date... Guaranteed a catastrophic failure tomorrow now for saying that!!

Thanks

Leonard Hofstadter · 29-12-2019 10:29PM

I wouldn't get a 330e, they have a tiny fuel tank, tiny boot and the electric range isn't that big, plus they weigh a lot more.

The 330d is the best buy, it has a six cylinder engine, more power, a proper boot and proper fuel tank. In the real world it will be more fuel efficient unless you plan on driving it around town all the time.

The 330i is only a four cylinder engine and has less power than the diesel, so it doesn't really make sense unless you absolutely do not want a diesel.

bazz26 · 29-12-2019 11:45PM

Some out dated information being posted in this thread about run flat tyres. Yes they were not great back in the day when they were a relatively new thing. Run flat tyres as well as the world has moved on since then. They current generation of run flat tyres are fine especially on something like a 330e.

FAMLEE · 30-12-2019 12:09AM

bazz26 wrote: »

Some out dated information being posted in this thread about run flat tyres. Yes they were not great back in the day when they were a relatively new thing. Run flat tyres as well as the world has moved on since then. They current generation of run flat tyres are fine especially on something like a 330e.

Each to their own opinion but usually after the manufacturer's set needs replacing (vast majority) won't replace with RFT's. Especially when the likes of the sz90's are around 160ish each for an 18", and a good conti or bridgestone would be around 120. Thats almost couple hundred saving on a set. & if they get punctured it can be repaired whereas a runflat has to be replaced.

FAMLEE · 30-12-2019 12:12AM

FAMLEE wrote: »

Each to their own opinion but usually after the manufacturer's set needs replacing (vast majority) won't replace with RFT's. Especially when the likes of the sz90's are around 160ish each for an 18", and a good conti or bridgestone would be around 120. Thats almost couple hundred saving on a set. & if they get punctured it can be repaired whereas a runflat has to be replaced.

OP quoted money no issue so tyres wont be a problem for him, in general though anyone with cars needing rft's usually have them on finance/pcp.. & when they hear the quote of the manufacturers recommended tyres prices go nuts lol "thats almost two moths payments" haha

kirving · 30-12-2019 12:55AM

Leonard Hofstadter wrote: »

I wouldn't get a 330e, they have a tiny fuel tank, tiny boot and the electric range isn't that big, plus they weigh a lot more.

The 330d is the best buy, it has a six cylinder engine, more power, a proper boot and proper fuel tank. In the real world it will be more fuel efficient unless you plan on driving it around town all the time.

The 330i is only a four cylinder engine and has less power than the diesel, so it doesn't really make sense unless you absolutely do not want a diesel.

While a 330d would suit me best personally, the 330e is hard to look past if you have a short commute (or in the city) and a place to charge at home or in work. 9k km per year would suggest a short commute.

Smoother, quieter, less problematic than a diesel on short runs, and ulta cheap motoring if you stay in electric.

bazz26 · 30-12-2019 01:00AM

FAMLEE wrote: »

Each to their own opinion but usually after the manufacturer's set needs replacing (vast majority) won't replace with RFT's. Especially when the likes of the sz90's are around 160ish each for an 18", and a good conti or bridgestone would be around 120. Thats almost couple hundred saving on a set. & if they get punctured it can be repaired whereas a runflat has to be replaced.

A run flat puncture can be repaired once its not on the sidewall (same as a normal tyre) and hasn't been driven very far when punctured. I'm driving cars with run flats for years now and the only puncture I got which I had repaired and the tyre was fine after the repair and lasted another 15000 km or so before it had to be replaced due to wear. I also weighed up the cost of replacing 4 run flat tyres with normal tyres and I'd easily have to spend the difference on a space saver wheel for the boot of the car that takes up space too.

FAMLEE · 30-12-2019 01:03AM

bazz26 wrote: »

A run flat puncture can be repaired once its not on the sidewall (same as a normal tyre) and hasn't been driven very far when punctured. I'm driving cars with run flats for years now and the only puncture I got which I had repaired and the tyre was fine after the repair and lasted another 15000 km or so before it had to be replaced due to wear. I also weighed up the cost of replacing 4 run flat tyres with normal tyres and I'd easily have to spend the difference on a space saver wheel for the boot of the car that takes up space too.

Was that a plug or patch repair? 99% of places wont repair them.

bazz26 · 30-12-2019 01:11AM

It was a patch repair on the inside.

dasilverfox · 30-12-2019 01:44AM

The chan chan man wrote: »

Best and worst cars I’ve ever had. E46 and E92, best when they were working, great machines to drive. Worst when they weren’t working...which was in my case about 4-5 issues per year. It got expensive! Just my personal experience.

Have an E-class since and its been bulletproof to date... Guaranteed a catastrophic failure tomorrow now for saying that!!

I had a 2004 320d e46 and never had any major problems with it. only issue I had in the 7 years I owned it was a fuel pump. sold it to my neighbour and it had 365,000mls on the clock. I now have a f30 320d and I just love the car. got it remapped 3 years ago makes a huge difference in power. Make sure you get Bimmercode, there's lots of features you can unlock. Yeah a 330d or 335 xdrive even better.

Idbatterim · 30-12-2019 02:31AM

Aren’t the 530e meant to be a better buy than the 330e? If importing at least

TimeToShine · 30-12-2019 02:46AM

I'd be surprised if the OP's "money no issue" was referring to a 320d with trim and a metallic paintjob rather than some of the suggestions here...if we're getting into suggesting 530s the OP may clarify what his budget actually is or go and get an M3.

sdanseo · 30-12-2019 02:48AM

What model are you looking at?

My biggest take away to date: if you don't justify diesel mileage try to find a petrol even though they can be like hens teeth in non poverty-spec. The experience is far superior.

Few known issues (I've had both currently in F30)

E90 - avoid the N47 engine, potentially serious timing chain issues
Cup holders will stick and fail, annoying as hell but cheap to sort
Wear and tear on the plasticised interior trims

F30 - a few rattles and hums which will drive you mad
door locking knob rattles in its housing
door seals
get it coded to turn off start stop in comfort mode - pissing me off at the moment, just waiting on a coder to sort

Both are great cars. Have a slush fund to cater for anything that WILL go wrong assuming it's OOW

Regarding tyres, I've messed around with RFT Potenzas (great), Pirellis (grand but nothing to write home about), and Bridgestone Driveguards which made the E90 drive like a yacht.
Also had Michelin Pilot Sport 4s (on a F20 LCI 1 series) which were unreal but noisy and significantly worsened fuel consumption.

Pilot sports win for fun but are just as noisy as the RFT and to be honest if it's a toss up between being stranded and the slightly cheaper tyre I'd go for the peace of mind all day.

dasilverfox · 30-12-2019 03:18AM

sdanseo wrote: »

What model are you looking at?

My biggest take away to date: if you don't justify diesel mileage try to find a petrol even though they can be like hens teeth in non poverty-spec. The experience is far superior.

Few known issues (I've had both currently in F30)

E90 - avoid the N47 engine, potentially serious timing chain issues
Cup holders will stick and fail, annoying as hell but cheap to sort
Wear and tear on the plasticised interior trims

F30 - a few rattles and hums which will drive you mad
door locking knob rattles in its housing
door seals
get it coded to turn off start stop in comfort mode - pissing me off at the moment, just waiting on a coder to sort

Both are great cars. Have a slush fund to cater for anything that WILL go wrong assuming it's OOW

Regarding tyres, I've messed around with RFT Potenzas (great), Pirellis (grand but nothing to write home about), and Bridgestone Driveguards which made the E90 drive like a yacht.
Also had Michelin Pilot Sport 4s (on a F20 LCI 1 series) which were unreal but noisy and significantly worsened fuel consumption.

Pilot sports win for fun but are just as noisy as the RFT and to be honest if it's a toss up between being stranded and the slightly cheaper tyre I'd go for the peace of mind all day.

Hi Sdanseo, why not code that start stop function using a vgate obd adapter and bimmercode yourself? I've done it myself it's dead easy. I could code it for ya if ya weren't too far away.

maddness · 30-12-2019 09:13AM

bazz26 wrote: »

Some out dated information being posted in this thread about run flat tyres. Yes they were not great back in the day when they were a relatively new thing. Run flat tyres as well as the world has moved on since then. They current generation of run flat tyres are fine especially on something like a 330e.

They are still awful compared to non fun flats.

Theboinkmaster · 30-12-2019 09:49AM

Leonard Hofstadter wrote: »

I wouldn't get a 330e, they have a tiny fuel tank, tiny boot and the electric range isn't that big, plus they weigh a lot more.

The 330d is the best buy, it has a six cylinder engine, more power, a proper boot and proper fuel tank. In the real world it will be more fuel efficient unless you plan on driving it around town all the time.

The 330i is only a four cylinder engine and has less power than the diesel, so it doesn't really make sense unless you absolutely do not want a diesel.

Nonsense

The new 330e that came out in September is a great car if you’re a city driver, plenty of power too

at9qu5vp0wcix7 · 30-12-2019 09:58AM

sdanseo wrote: »

What model are you looking at?

My biggest take away to date: if you don't justify diesel mileage try to find a petrol even though they can be like hens teeth in non poverty-spec. The experience is far superior.

Few known issues (I've had both currently in F30)

E90 - avoid the N47 engine, potentially serious timing chain issues
Cup holders will stick and fail, annoying as hell but cheap to sort
Wear and tear on the plasticised interior trims

F30 - a few rattles and hums which will drive you mad
door locking knob rattles in its housing
door seals
get it coded to turn off start stop in comfort mode - pissing me off at the moment, just waiting on a coder to sort

Both are great cars. Have a slush fund to cater for anything that WILL go wrong assuming it's OOW

Regarding tyres, I've messed around with RFT Potenzas (great), Pirellis (grand but nothing to write home about), and Bridgestone Driveguards which made the E90 drive like a yacht.
Also had Michelin Pilot Sport 4s (on a F20 LCI 1 series) which were unreal but noisy and significantly worsened fuel consumption.

Pilot sports win for fun but are just as noisy as the RFT and to be honest if it's a toss up between being stranded and the slightly cheaper tyre I'd go for the peace of mind all day.

That one little rattle gets me too! I actually can live with the stop start now, that's not a BMW-specific problem. OP should know that there's a button by ignition to turn it off once you started the car.

Only disappointment for me in owning an F30 is the tyres - two replaced prematurely from damage so far. One was fair enough, the other sustained no major trauma yet ballooned out.

Run flats are more expensive and there's no space for a proper spare (front and back are different sizes), and in general they can't be repaired.

The bonus is 50 miles of driving on flat to get you to a tyre shop only to pay for a new set, and you're far less likely to get a catastrophic failure i.e. blow out.

sunnysoutheast · 30-12-2019 11:23AM

On the topic of RFTs we replaced ours with Falkens on an F30 some time back, wasn't a huge difference tbh so we went back to Michelin RFTs. Bridgestone we found wore very quickly and Conti got very noisy as they wore.
Might be more of a difference on m-sport setup, I don't know, ours are 225/45/18.

I actually found a 320i m-s x-drive a lovely car to drive when I had one as a loaner, but I think it had the lowered suspension deletion. Either that or the adaptive suspension would would be a must-have for me in m-sport spec.

Good luck in finding a car, should be decent choice around in the UK, especially now G20 is out?

franktennis · 30-12-2019 06:16PM

I have a Mazda CX3171 and it has a resale value of €11000. A loan of €9000 should cover the rest. €21000 is my max.

CalamariFritti · 30-12-2019 06:30PM

Have a 3 series for the last 3 years. Had a 5 before but didn't like the fact the 5er was getting bigger all the time.
I'm happy with the 3. Have a 320 estate. Great and comfortable drive. Good on fuel. Looks really well. Not a beep out of it. I have not yet replaced a bulb even.

On the downside the iDrive could be more modern and isn't really upgradeable. But it'd does the job. And a few minor flaws with rubber bits; for instance the interior can have squeaky days depending on weather/temperature.

Yes she wants runflats and they are €190 if you replace like with like. But I knew that and they last a good while. I got mine 3 years ago as a 3 year old. The tyres weren't new and I just replaced the rears, doing about 12,000 a year. Thats pretty decent.

If someone flatted her in the morning outside my house I'd get another one again. Would recommend.

ShadowHearth · 30-12-2019 06:50PM

At what year BMW finally started doing Android auto?

And just out of curiosity, how would Spotify and audible work with BMW and without Android auto? Do you still have USB for at least charging or it would be just pure audio jack experience?

CalamariFritti · 30-12-2019 07:06PM

I dont know tbh. With BMW it seems they dont make decent software updates for older/existing hardware. Whatever they thing was able to do when you got it, thats what you're pretty much stuck with.

In my case its USB for charging and audio and also bluetooth audio and that works fine and I even have a bit of album art etc. But its all a bit flaky and standard stuff like radio looks rather dull. 2013 model here.

Having said that it works reliably and produces good sound. Just a bit yesterday and no updates in years.

bazz26 · 30-12-2019 07:09PM

BMW push Apple Car Play rather than Android Auto and it was only available on certain models from about 2016/2017 onwards. BMW give you Car Play for free for 1 year but after that they charged an annual subscription. They recently dropped the subscription charge in the UK due to customer complaints, not sure how it works here though.

BMW 3 series - thoughts?

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