So I have completed the 1200 mile run in over the last week, the car pretty much stays below 3500rpm on its own but I wasnt precious about not exceeding it so its been round the rev counter a few times, kick down once or twice. I've done these miles in mostly comfort mode with some sport mode driving. The majority of the miles have been motorway with good runs on A/B roads. My spec is:-
330d sdrive M Sport
Adaptive suspension
EBII, black leather, black gloss trim with alu hex
In the last few years I have driven E90 320d (~4yrs), E70 3.0d X5 (~4 yrs), E90 118d (2 weeks), and Ive been comparing my experience in the F30 to those cars.
My choice was either a loaded 320i/320d or a basic 328i/330d - drove them all but fell in love with the 330d mainly for the effortless feel in its power delivery, the petrol just needed revving more and I guess over the years I've just got used to the way a diesel drives. My spec is decidedly poverty compared to pretty much everyones on here but I just couldnt justify the options, and dont really need them tbh. Its a company car so what mattered was monthly tax, looks, speed and ride quality, I do mostly A/B road driving in NI and Ireland and wanted on tap overtaking powder and the ability to handle varied road surfaces (the southern Ireland roads are shocking!) plenty of hp/ft lb, adaptive suspension and leather seats for kid spew were the only must haves. I wanted the M Sport for the steering wheel and it comes with leather seats so it made sense to select M Sport, and it looks better imo.
Ride/Handling - Coming from an E70 X5 in terms of a drive its night and day, and I really appreciate what I have missed out on driving that tank. Lots of people have mentioned the weight of the lump of iron up front but the car feels pretty light to me and very well balanced. I was in an E90 118d for the last few weeks before I got the F30 and although it definitely does feel a bit different in cornering it still takes bends at speed with confidence, no doubt it cant carry quite as much into the bend and you can feel it weighs more on braking (although that may be that I am carrying more speed into the braking phase ;) ) but its not that different and once the apex is past it gets the power down well and thunders out of the bend.
I specd the adaptive suspension and it has delivered well beyond my expectations. Its a step up in ride quality from the E90 MSport which I found quite crashy. The suspension really does adapt, I had to make a hard swerve last week to avoid an object in comfort mode and there was no sensation of body roll like you would expect given how soft the ride is in comfort, it handled the whole movement very flat. I have also noticed that in sport if you hit a pot hole it soaks up the bump very well and on undulating roads in both modes the damping is excellent. There is a difference though in general handling between the two modes, the sport corners very flat where as there is some body roll in comfort (although like I said it was not present when I swerved hard). I drove some lovely roads with increasing confidence in Derbyshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Down over the last week (the cat and fiddle road has been spoilt, fecking average speed cameras, the tight bends were still fun) had a blast! and the car didnt put a single tyre wrong. Its a refined cruiser with a hooligan waiting to be unleashed at the push of a button. It will wheel spin readily though, ive not tried the launch control yet but I will at some point (will probably video the 0-100kmph as Im convinced its faster than the 5.6 sec quoted by BMW).
The power - This is the fastest car Ive owned, and its faster than almost all the cars you will come fly past on the roads (obviously not all!). I do notice that there is a small amount of power lag on hard acceleration as the 8SAT reacts and gets the revs up and the turbo kicks in, maybe a half second in comfort, less in sport but that is very much less than I found in the E90 or E70 (the X5 had at least 2 seconds of annoying and dangerous lag). Maybe Im expecting too much but its noticeable and I've found a couple of flicks of the down shift paddle before I call on the power sorts it out, obviously this only works when you can anticipate the need is coming. I just think it also holds the revs a wee bit low in sport (just under 2K), if it held them another 200-300 rpm higher the response would be more rapid. Maybe this will change as the engine loosens more and the box adapts to my style with more A/B road driving.
This is just being picky though as the 8SAT is a great auto box, much much better than the 6AT in my X5 that never really learnt to drive. Overtaking is such a joy, in fact the car almost encourages you to do it but given its so adept at shifting pace it actually makes the process much much safer. Ive set the speed alarm at 89mph just in case (obviously I've not herd the sound it makes if you breach this yet ;) )
Clatter - The 3.0 diesel sounds great once its warm, its good when cold but the diesel grind and clatter is still just there at idle and in low revs until its warmed up. Im really surprised by just how smooth and refined this engine is for a diesel though, at the lights the other day my wife asked me why Id not switched the annoying start/stop off this time the engine was still running and she couldnt hear/feel it, its just so quiet (barely audible) and pretty much no vibration whatsoever, quite remarkable. I got 42mpg from the 1,200mls on motorways/A/B roads. Thats with plenty of good spirited spurts and fast motorway speeds.
Drive train modes - My little boy loves the fact we have a sport mode button and there is definite drama for the driver to switching it on as the car sort of lurches to life and accelerates (if you maintain the same throttle position). The X5 had the M/S push across which did change the gear change points and made the car drop a cog depending which gear I was already in but it never really jumped to its feet and screamed "yeh lets f-ing do this" like the 330d does in sport mode. I just loved my wee boys face the first time I said shall we go into sport mode, mine probably had the same expression as his! ECO-Pro - not tried it at all. Id say I will drive about most of the time in sport as I do mostly open country A/B road driving and use comfort for when the wife is in the car, motorways, towns and when the surface is bad (also probably in winter just to calm the beast a bit). MPG is not really a concern, I'd rather have fun than save a few quid given I only do 15-17K per annum, I could have had the petrol but like I said I just preferred the way the 330d drove.
Ergonomics - The cabin is well laid out, feels much bigger than the E90 (I think its only 2cm wider but that makes all the difference). Its a nice solid place to be. Feels a bit less opulent/special than the X5 I had and obviously smaller but its comfortable and mostly well built (hate the sun visors cheap crappy things). BMW leather is OK, its functional. Things I dont like are the fact there is no wee cup as the door handle in this generation, I found that handy for putting stuff in. The cup holders being under a tray is a bit crap hardly the height of design, I also dont like the fact I cant see the whole instrument cluster through the steering wheel, I have to either sacrifice the view of the bottom wee display or the top of the speed/rev counter its not the end of the world but its a bit annoying. There is little to get excited about though, its all OK bar the MSport wheel which I do like a lot. All the switches are in the right places though and the seats are very comfortable (more so than the E90 sport seats I think).
Storage - In the cabin its OK, not the best but OK. The boot is a different story though. the E90 boot was always ridiculously small and the wifes A4 always put it to shame. I think its a big improvement here. We easily managed 2 big cases, 2 rucksacks, a few carrier bags (of easter eggs), coats and a buggy in the boot for the road trip. I considered a hearse ( ;) )but I prefer the shape of a saloon and if I need to cart anything big I have a trailer.
Standard equipment - So I dont have any toys in the car beyond the standard Msport 330d kit and adaptive suspension. I am though happy with the kit. Its all I need. I do very little night driving (although Xenons do look cool), not really a music buff, only I drive the car, and I know where places are. So I dont really need Xenons, HK, heated e-seats or sat nav. My X5 had all these (except HK) and I rarely used any of them. If Id bought the car Id have got them mainly for the ease of re-sale but given its a company car and Id have had to pay the cash difference for them (I had maxed out the monthly allowance on the engine :) ) it was not worth it. The USB music interface is good though and the sound from the standard stereo is fine to me, I dont really like the DAB though, I found it cuts out a bit as I was driving around which seems a backward step to me. The DRLs are ugly so I will probably change the bulbs in them at some point. Xenons should be standard on a car in this class I think, maybe the lci will have them (I think the 4 has them as standard).
Exterior - EBII is the dogs! end of. Id say it was popular in Yorkshire, its popular near where I live in NI but its not in Cheshire, I didnt see one other EBII car the whole time I was there. But its still pretty rare vs all the white/black/silver/grey you see on the road (no offence intended, F30s look great in whatever colour). It also stays clean very well, I gave it a quick jet wash water blast half way on the trip and it looked like it had just been detailed. The 18s look fine and ride well, 19s look better - just a fact but given I will no doubt annoyingly kerb them anyway at some point the 18s will at least have less risk of that (in fact they have already saved me this horror on one occasion). I will also fit winters so for half the year it will be on 17s or 18s anyway.
Regrets - None really, maybe I sort of wish Id gone superman (may have been my only chance who knows) as resale is irrelevant to me, and I will no doubt always look at MS+ cars and wish I had the 19s . Ive already tinted the rear half which looks great.
Any of you boys waiting for your cars wont be disappointed, I am just so happy with it!
Thanks for reading hope it was worth it.
330d sdrive M Sport
Adaptive suspension
EBII, black leather, black gloss trim with alu hex
In the last few years I have driven E90 320d (~4yrs), E70 3.0d X5 (~4 yrs), E90 118d (2 weeks), and Ive been comparing my experience in the F30 to those cars.
My choice was either a loaded 320i/320d or a basic 328i/330d - drove them all but fell in love with the 330d mainly for the effortless feel in its power delivery, the petrol just needed revving more and I guess over the years I've just got used to the way a diesel drives. My spec is decidedly poverty compared to pretty much everyones on here but I just couldnt justify the options, and dont really need them tbh. Its a company car so what mattered was monthly tax, looks, speed and ride quality, I do mostly A/B road driving in NI and Ireland and wanted on tap overtaking powder and the ability to handle varied road surfaces (the southern Ireland roads are shocking!) plenty of hp/ft lb, adaptive suspension and leather seats for kid spew were the only must haves. I wanted the M Sport for the steering wheel and it comes with leather seats so it made sense to select M Sport, and it looks better imo.
Ride/Handling - Coming from an E70 X5 in terms of a drive its night and day, and I really appreciate what I have missed out on driving that tank. Lots of people have mentioned the weight of the lump of iron up front but the car feels pretty light to me and very well balanced. I was in an E90 118d for the last few weeks before I got the F30 and although it definitely does feel a bit different in cornering it still takes bends at speed with confidence, no doubt it cant carry quite as much into the bend and you can feel it weighs more on braking (although that may be that I am carrying more speed into the braking phase ;) ) but its not that different and once the apex is past it gets the power down well and thunders out of the bend.
I specd the adaptive suspension and it has delivered well beyond my expectations. Its a step up in ride quality from the E90 MSport which I found quite crashy. The suspension really does adapt, I had to make a hard swerve last week to avoid an object in comfort mode and there was no sensation of body roll like you would expect given how soft the ride is in comfort, it handled the whole movement very flat. I have also noticed that in sport if you hit a pot hole it soaks up the bump very well and on undulating roads in both modes the damping is excellent. There is a difference though in general handling between the two modes, the sport corners very flat where as there is some body roll in comfort (although like I said it was not present when I swerved hard). I drove some lovely roads with increasing confidence in Derbyshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Down over the last week (the cat and fiddle road has been spoilt, fecking average speed cameras, the tight bends were still fun) had a blast! and the car didnt put a single tyre wrong. Its a refined cruiser with a hooligan waiting to be unleashed at the push of a button. It will wheel spin readily though, ive not tried the launch control yet but I will at some point (will probably video the 0-100kmph as Im convinced its faster than the 5.6 sec quoted by BMW).
The power - This is the fastest car Ive owned, and its faster than almost all the cars you will come fly past on the roads (obviously not all!). I do notice that there is a small amount of power lag on hard acceleration as the 8SAT reacts and gets the revs up and the turbo kicks in, maybe a half second in comfort, less in sport but that is very much less than I found in the E90 or E70 (the X5 had at least 2 seconds of annoying and dangerous lag). Maybe Im expecting too much but its noticeable and I've found a couple of flicks of the down shift paddle before I call on the power sorts it out, obviously this only works when you can anticipate the need is coming. I just think it also holds the revs a wee bit low in sport (just under 2K), if it held them another 200-300 rpm higher the response would be more rapid. Maybe this will change as the engine loosens more and the box adapts to my style with more A/B road driving.
This is just being picky though as the 8SAT is a great auto box, much much better than the 6AT in my X5 that never really learnt to drive. Overtaking is such a joy, in fact the car almost encourages you to do it but given its so adept at shifting pace it actually makes the process much much safer. Ive set the speed alarm at 89mph just in case (obviously I've not herd the sound it makes if you breach this yet ;) )
Clatter - The 3.0 diesel sounds great once its warm, its good when cold but the diesel grind and clatter is still just there at idle and in low revs until its warmed up. Im really surprised by just how smooth and refined this engine is for a diesel though, at the lights the other day my wife asked me why Id not switched the annoying start/stop off this time the engine was still running and she couldnt hear/feel it, its just so quiet (barely audible) and pretty much no vibration whatsoever, quite remarkable. I got 42mpg from the 1,200mls on motorways/A/B roads. Thats with plenty of good spirited spurts and fast motorway speeds.
Drive train modes - My little boy loves the fact we have a sport mode button and there is definite drama for the driver to switching it on as the car sort of lurches to life and accelerates (if you maintain the same throttle position). The X5 had the M/S push across which did change the gear change points and made the car drop a cog depending which gear I was already in but it never really jumped to its feet and screamed "yeh lets f-ing do this" like the 330d does in sport mode. I just loved my wee boys face the first time I said shall we go into sport mode, mine probably had the same expression as his! ECO-Pro - not tried it at all. Id say I will drive about most of the time in sport as I do mostly open country A/B road driving and use comfort for when the wife is in the car, motorways, towns and when the surface is bad (also probably in winter just to calm the beast a bit). MPG is not really a concern, I'd rather have fun than save a few quid given I only do 15-17K per annum, I could have had the petrol but like I said I just preferred the way the 330d drove.
Ergonomics - The cabin is well laid out, feels much bigger than the E90 (I think its only 2cm wider but that makes all the difference). Its a nice solid place to be. Feels a bit less opulent/special than the X5 I had and obviously smaller but its comfortable and mostly well built (hate the sun visors cheap crappy things). BMW leather is OK, its functional. Things I dont like are the fact there is no wee cup as the door handle in this generation, I found that handy for putting stuff in. The cup holders being under a tray is a bit crap hardly the height of design, I also dont like the fact I cant see the whole instrument cluster through the steering wheel, I have to either sacrifice the view of the bottom wee display or the top of the speed/rev counter its not the end of the world but its a bit annoying. There is little to get excited about though, its all OK bar the MSport wheel which I do like a lot. All the switches are in the right places though and the seats are very comfortable (more so than the E90 sport seats I think).
Storage - In the cabin its OK, not the best but OK. The boot is a different story though. the E90 boot was always ridiculously small and the wifes A4 always put it to shame. I think its a big improvement here. We easily managed 2 big cases, 2 rucksacks, a few carrier bags (of easter eggs), coats and a buggy in the boot for the road trip. I considered a hearse ( ;) )but I prefer the shape of a saloon and if I need to cart anything big I have a trailer.
Standard equipment - So I dont have any toys in the car beyond the standard Msport 330d kit and adaptive suspension. I am though happy with the kit. Its all I need. I do very little night driving (although Xenons do look cool), not really a music buff, only I drive the car, and I know where places are. So I dont really need Xenons, HK, heated e-seats or sat nav. My X5 had all these (except HK) and I rarely used any of them. If Id bought the car Id have got them mainly for the ease of re-sale but given its a company car and Id have had to pay the cash difference for them (I had maxed out the monthly allowance on the engine :) ) it was not worth it. The USB music interface is good though and the sound from the standard stereo is fine to me, I dont really like the DAB though, I found it cuts out a bit as I was driving around which seems a backward step to me. The DRLs are ugly so I will probably change the bulbs in them at some point. Xenons should be standard on a car in this class I think, maybe the lci will have them (I think the 4 has them as standard).
Exterior - EBII is the dogs! end of. Id say it was popular in Yorkshire, its popular near where I live in NI but its not in Cheshire, I didnt see one other EBII car the whole time I was there. But its still pretty rare vs all the white/black/silver/grey you see on the road (no offence intended, F30s look great in whatever colour). It also stays clean very well, I gave it a quick jet wash water blast half way on the trip and it looked like it had just been detailed. The 18s look fine and ride well, 19s look better - just a fact but given I will no doubt annoyingly kerb them anyway at some point the 18s will at least have less risk of that (in fact they have already saved me this horror on one occasion). I will also fit winters so for half the year it will be on 17s or 18s anyway.
Regrets - None really, maybe I sort of wish Id gone superman (may have been my only chance who knows) as resale is irrelevant to me, and I will no doubt always look at MS+ cars and wish I had the 19s . Ive already tinted the rear half which looks great.
Any of you boys waiting for your cars wont be disappointed, I am just so happy with it!
Thanks for reading hope it was worth it.
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