BMW E46 320d, front or back wheel drive?

mag · 26-12-2009 12:27PM #1

Can anybody tell me if the BMW E46 (2002) 320d is front or back wheel drive? Thanks.

Anan1 · 26-12-2009 12:27PM

It's rear wheel drive. I can't think of any BMW that isn't either RWD or AWD, although there may be some obscure model somewhere just to prove me wrong.

unkel · 26-12-2009 12:31PM

There are no FWD BMWs - not of recent times anyway.

mag · 26-12-2009 12:35PM

thanks guys

mike65 · 26-12-2009 12:43PM

AugustusMaximus · 26-12-2009 02:06PM

unkel wrote: »

There are no FWD BMWs - not of recent times anyway.

IIRC, the only FWD car in the entire BMW Group is the Mini.

Mr Benevolent · 26-12-2009 02:14PM

The Rover 75 is based on an unused BMW FWD chassis.

AugustusMaximus · 26-12-2009 02:24PM

Confab wrote: »

The Rover 75 is based on an unused BMW FWD chassis.

BMW were planning a large FWD car :eek:

SpannerMonkey · 26-12-2009 02:24PM

rear wheel drive, all current bmw's are rear with only a few SUV's being 4 wheel drive , but apparently bmw have done the unthinkable :eek: the sacreligious:mad: the dark days have come they are going building a front wheel drive nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

SpannerMonkey · 26-12-2009 02:25PM

AugustusMaximus wrote: »

BMW were planning a large FWD car :eek:

no they are planning a 1 series fwd nothing bigger

AugustusMaximus · 26-12-2009 02:33PM

davy_b wrote: »

no they are planning a 1 series fwd nothing bigger

I would have thought a Rover 75 chassis would have been considerably bigger than a 1 series.

SpannerMonkey · 26-12-2009 02:34PM

it is a lot bigger but as far as i know they only used the engine from the rover 75 in the 320d the chassis is BMW thankfully
they also have fettled with the engine to tune it up as the rover one was seriously underpowered iaround 110 bhp while the latest version from bmw has 177 bhp

AugustusMaximus · 26-12-2009 02:35PM

davy_b wrote: »

it is a lot bigger but as far as i know they only used the engine from the rover 75 in the 320d the chassis is BMW

That's not what Confab was pointing at though.

JHMEG · 26-12-2009 02:39PM

davy_b wrote: »

the dark days have come they are going building a front wheel drive

Makes a lot of sense: cheaper, safer handling, more interior room, more economical.

I would imagine the majority of BMW owners don't know or care which are the driven wheels.

SpannerMonkey · 26-12-2009 02:41PM

sorry just seeing that now doesnt change the fact that there has never been a fwd in bmw range maybe an obscure modle i dont know about but if it did exist it was VERYshort lived

SpannerMonkey · 26-12-2009 02:43PM

JHMEG wrote: »

Makes a lot of sense: cheaper, safer handling, more interior room, more economical.

I would imagine the majority of BMW owners don't know or care which are the driven wheels.

i know and this saddens me it would ruin the companys motto
ask anyone that owns one for a reason other than brand name
i have owned 8 and i could never go FWD again

AugustusMaximus · 26-12-2009 02:55PM

I would have thought the safer handling of a FWD car (more likely to understeer) could easily be mimicked by using TC and ESP ?

SpannerMonkey · 26-12-2009 02:57PM

sorry dont know what you mean by micked ???

AugustusMaximus · 26-12-2009 02:58PM

davy_b wrote: »

sorry dont know what you mean by micked ???

Mimicked. (Bloody keyboard :rolleyes:)

SpannerMonkey · 26-12-2009 03:04PM

probably but the chassis is very very good on them you really have to push them very hard to get the rear to slide out and safer/understeer isnt as good to drive , , unless there is ICE then they are bloody lethal

bazz26 · 26-12-2009 03:21PM

The MINI is fwd.

SpannerMonkey · 26-12-2009 05:40PM

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Pretty much all modern cars are setup for understeer even the RWD ones.

Maybe so but I can vouch that any BMW I ever had oversteered , never had any understeer only once with crap Tyres

and mini ain't BMW just owned by them dames as rolls Royce

Seweryn · 26-12-2009 06:31PM

Anan1 wrote: »

It's rear wheel drive. I can't think of any BMW that isn't either RWD or AWD, although there may be some obscure model somewhere just to prove me wrong.

There were (and sill are) 4WD BMWs since E30 and E34 models (3 and 5 series built in '80 and up)...

Anan1 · 26-12-2009 06:47PM

Seweryn wrote: »

There were (and sill are) 4WD BMWs since E30 and E34 models (3 and 5 series built in '80 and up)...

AWD = All Wheel Drive.;)

jayok · 26-12-2009 06:54PM

Seweryn wrote: »

There were (and sill are) 4WD BMWs since E30 and E34 models (3 and 5 series built in '80 and up)...

Yep, more popular in the states though. E46s, E60s, etc, I think they use "x" in the name designation. E.g. 330xi

Seweryn · 26-12-2009 06:59PM

jayok wrote: »

Yep, more popular in the states though. E46s, E60s, etc, I think they use "x" in the name designation. E.g. 330xi

It is rather 330iX (not xi). And that's E30 325iX:

26-12-2009 07:42PM

Confab wrote: »

The Rover 75 is based on an unused BMW FWD chassis.

I reckon you are wrong there, the Rover 75 was developed from scratch by Rover with very little input from BMW.

jayok · 27-12-2009 12:21AM

Seweryn wrote: »

It is rather 330iX (not xi). And that's E30 325iX:

Yep, and the E46+ is the 330xi. Follow the link

unkel · 27-12-2009 12:39AM

jayok wrote: »

Yep, and the E46+ is the 330xi

New to me too. Every day is a school day on here

xi is 4WD petrol
xd is 4WD diesel

these days...

JHMEG · 27-12-2009 12:59AM

unkel wrote: »

New to me too. Every day is a school day on here

xi is 4WD petrol
xd is 4WD diesel

these days...

They've been around a while... even I knew about them

unkel · 27-12-2009 02:39AM

JHMEG wrote: »

They've been around a while... even I knew about them

Fair play to ya

BMW E46 320d, front or back wheel drive?

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