Any Bmw 330ci Drivers?

[Blazin]

I am thinking of selling my Civic Type-R and getting something with more low end torque. I hardly use the VTEC these days. Its just not practical for every day driving.

So my options are a 1998/1999 Skyline R34 GT-T or a 2000/2001 BMW 330Ci. Even though its slower (0-60 6.5secs compared to 6.2secs on the Skyline), I prefer the 330Ci because I think its more refined and looks better, and more economical as well.

Are there any 330Ci drivers here who can shed some light on what the handling is like?

[milindu]

330Ci def for day to day. In good ole SL ....its the 318i (E46)...but its a great drive anyway.

[dhp]

Are there any 330Ci drivers here who can shed some light on what the handling is like?

I am not sure if there any options different in UK vs. US for the 330 but assuming ur talking about the coupe and not the convertible, its an awsome car! I test drove a MT and inside city it was nimble and tons of fun. If you can find one with the sports pkg, it should handle like its on rails. Unfortunately settled for a more practical (in snow esp.) e39 2.8. Therefore most of what I say applies to the 39 than the 46

3.0(S##) has more power than the 2.8 (M52) engine but there are rumors of the Al block 3.0 having some issues. Also since 00/01 is w/o CPO, look for any signs of trouble like vanos cold start issues. I personally prefer the bulletproof 2.8 engine

330 is the next best thing to an M3 without the headaches of high mntnc costs - depends on car and how u care for and drive it ofcourse. good luck!!

Edited December 20, 2006 by dhp

[Blazin]

I've read quite a few reviews, but never came across the engine trouble issues. Thanks man, I need to look into that.

I think a car with the sports package would be good, I test drove one without the sports package and it was a bit sloppy compared to the Type-R. And there seems to be so many autos around, so bloody hard to find a manual.

[gunat]

Given any thought to the 330cd? There was an impressive Top Gear test pitting the 330d against the 330i...and it was behind just by whiskers length.

Add better economy and tax break to the kudos, it might be the way to go...?

[Blazin]

Given any thought to the 330cd? There was an impressive Top Gear test pitting the 330d against the 330i...and it was behind just by whiskers length.

Add better economy and tax break to the kudos, it might be the way to go...?

Yea its a great car for a diesel, but its way too expensive in the second hand market. But also, problem with diesels are you get all that torque but the high end power doesn't last long enough to use it properly because you need to change gears so quickly.

Anyways, to further complicate things, I've been offered a 2000 Audi S3 for a lot less than the price of 330ci. The stock S3's not that quick (210bhp) but you can easily remap the ECU to 260bhp! My only concern is, its had an engine change but carried out by Audi under warranty. So the car's done 87k miles but the engine's done less than 10k. Do you guys think this will add to the value or devalue the car?

[gunat]

Yea its a great car for a diesel, but its way too expensive in the second hand market. But also, problem with diesels are you get all that torque but the high end power doesn't last long enough to use it properly because you need to change gears so quickly.

Actually, it does top out early...but the point is all that fabulous torque (more than a 750i)- you spend LESS time changing gears because there's so much grunt from lower end (stick 'it in 3rd and go!)

Anyways, to further complicate things, I've been offered a 2000 Audi S3 for a lot less than the price of 330ci. The stock S3's not that quick (210bhp) but you can easily remap the ECU to 260bhp! My only concern is, its had an engine change but carried out by Audi under warranty. So the car's done 87k miles but the engine's done less than 10k. Do you guys think this will add to the value or devalue the car?

At face value, a new engine sounds fabulous...but the bigger question would be, why it was replaced in the first place? Check the history of the car (engine fire? Blown? Electrical?)

As for the value of the car- the depreciation in UK is all too well known; so i'd have to say, first find out what the car's history is...

[Blazin]

As for the value of the car- the depreciation in UK is all too well known; so i'd have to say, first find out what the car's history is...

Apparantly, it was a problem with the cam belt. So I guess the belt must have gone and screwed the engine.

I'm going to go and have a look at it and check out all the paper work to if it adds up. But even if its all coesher, I'm just worried that I won't be able to sell it on because of the engine change.

[The Don]

Hi Blazin,

I guess the decision also depends on milleage that you run per year and when you expect to outgrow the car. As you and I both know as soon as you too 100K miles in the UK, the devaluation percentage increases, this obviously depends on the model too.

Modern cars thesedays should be able to sweat 200K and more without breaking a sweat, my experience is more than milleage what matters is the vehicle is regularly used and well serviced.

I guess from the sounds of it the audi must have been maintained by the dealers from the begining, but the fact it broke a cambelt worries me, cos if it was maintained by the dealers, they would have replaced the cambelt long before it would have expired, unless it broke because of a manufacturers defect on the belt.

Also be careful with the dealerships Blazin, the more complicated the electrics become, the more dependent the dealerships become on their wizardary and diagnostic equipment. Recently my boss who runs a BMW 525 Sport had some serious issues with his BMW with only 50K miles on it, which Victoria BMW billed him well over a grand and still could not fix, but then he took the car into the other BMW dealership in town, and the nice people told him what the problem is (was a 4 way switch or something) and he got it fixed for 175 pounds. Apparently a common problem with Beamers of that generation.

The Don

[Blazin]

Yea, thats true, I think if I do buy it I'll have to keep it for a while. But if the engine's only done 7k then I can tune the hell out of it!

[GTAm]

Yea its a great car for a diesel, but its way too expensive in the second hand market. But also, problem with diesels are you get all that torque but the high end power doesn't last long enough to use it properly because you need to change gears so quickly.

Anyways, to further complicate things, I've been offered a 2000 Audi S3 for a lot less than the price of 330ci. The stock S3's not that quick (210bhp) but you can easily remap the ECU to 260bhp! My only concern is, its had an engine change but carried out by Audi under warranty. So the car's done 87k miles but the engine's done less than 10k. Do you guys think this will add to the value or devalue the car?

You're right about the diesels. But then again you'll miss the top end only on a track.

Foget the Audi I know the S3 is a v quick hatch but none of the new Audi's I've driven recently have a finesse of a BM. And the 330i said to be a cracker. It's the E46 right? If so it's also a good looking car unlike the new 3.

3.0 straight six vs a turbo four?? The choice is too easy.

[Blazin]

You're right about the diesels. But then again you'll miss the top end only on a track.

Foget the Audi I know the S3 is a v quick hatch but none of the new Audi's I've driven recently have a finesse of a BM. And the 330i said to be a cracker. It's the E46 right? If so it's also a good looking car unlike the new 3.

3.0 straight six vs a turbo four?? The choice is too easy.

Yea its the E46. Man, you've got me thinking again. I'm never going to come to a decision over this! You are right, you can't compare the S3 with a 330ci, the 330 is on another level. Only thing with the S3 is that it can be tuned very easily to a sub 6 second 0-60. But then I won't be able to sell it on afterwards. And the other thing is Audi has a better image than BMWs, specially for young drivers. I mean look at the Top Gear 'Cool Wall' for instance, there isn't a single BMW on the cool side.

[Overdrive]

Yea its the E46. Man, you've got me thinking again. I'm never going to come to a decision over this! You are right, you can't compare the S3 with a 330ci, the 330 is on another level. Only thing with the S3 is that it can be tuned very easily to a sub 6 second 0-60. But then I won't be able to sell it on afterwards. And the other thing is Audi has a better image than BMWs, specially for young drivers. I mean look at the Top Gear 'Cool Wall' for instance, there isn't a single BMW on the cool side.

Forget about the cool wall man, No doubt the S3 is a good car but i think you should go with the 330, its more car for ur money. And it looks absolutely stunning. and can't go wrong with 290 bhp!! The thing in uk is you never get your money back for the upgrades you put in to a car, when it come to selling it. BTW came a cross a E46 M3 for 15k some time back.!! would have been great but a little high on the milage.

I know what you mean with the type r, by the time the vtec kicks in you have embarresed your self by everyone on the streets staring at you like ur some boy racer!

[The Don]

ha ha, and I don't think Geremy Clarkson is in the best position to say whats cool and whats not with that hair cut of his ha ha ha

[GTAm]

Yea its the E46. Man, you've got me thinking again. I'm never going to come to a decision over this! You are right, you can't compare the S3 with a 330ci, the 330 is on another level. Only thing with the S3 is that it can be tuned very easily to a sub 6 second 0-60. But then I won't be able to sell it on afterwards. And the other thing is Audi has a better image than BMWs, specially for young drivers. I mean look at the Top Gear 'Cool Wall' for instance, there isn't a single BMW on the cool side.

Yeah I guess the image of BMW in the UK is really bad thanks to its huge success. In fact I don't like the image myself even though I know the cars are great.

I'm not really happy with modern Audis they have unnecessarily hard ride and no soul. The only thing I like about them is the build quality and the interior.

What's your budget? Thought about a Golf R32? Mazda RX8 or a Alfa GT 3.2?(My choice )

ha ha, and I don't think Geremy Clarkson is in the best position to say whats cool and whats not with that hair cut of his ha ha ha

I totally agree !

[Blazin]

Forget about the cool wall man, No doubt the S3 is a good car but i think you should go with the 330, its more car for ur money. And it looks absolutely stunning. and can't go wrong with 290 bhp!! The thing in uk is you never get your money back for the upgrades you put in to a car, when it come to selling it. BTW came a cross a E46 M3 for 15k some time back.!! would have been great but a little high on the milage.

I know what you mean with the type r, by the time the vtec kicks in you have embarresed your self by everyone on the streets staring at you like ur some boy racer!

Ha ha, yea that's exactly what I mean! And to make things worse the guy who I bought it off has put a noisy exhaust as well!

[Blazin]

Yeah I guess the image of BMW in the UK is really bad thanks to its huge success. In fact I don't like the image myself even though I know the cars are great.

I'm not really happy with modern Audis they have unnecessarily hard ride and no soul. The only thing I like about them is the build quality and the interior.

What's your budget? Thought about a Golf R32? Mazda RX8 or a Alfa GT 3.2?(My choice )

I totally agree !

Yea Jeremy Clarkson is a bit a of a geek.

I'm think of spending about £10k max. I though I could get about 9K for my Civic but because of the new Type-R the second hand value of the old one's have dropped sh*t loads. Its worth about £7500 now!

Oh man, the Alpha GT looks amazing but its still too new so way too expensive right now. And the 3.2 is pretty thirsty. I like the facelift Alpha 156 as well.

Golf R32 are ok, only just slightly quicker than the Type-R but a lot less economical, and I don't think they handle as well. And I can't get insured on anything above Insurance group 17 till next July. So the Subaru's, Evo's, S4 and the M3's are out of the question.

[Overdrive]

Yea Jeremy Clarkson is a bit a of a geek.

I'm think of spending about £10k max. I though I could get about 9K for my Civic but because of the new Type-R the second hand value of the old one's have dropped sh*t loads. Its worth about £7500 now!

Oh man, the Alpha GT looks amazing but its still too new so way too expensive right now. And the 3.2 is pretty thirsty. I like the facelift Alpha 156 as well.

Golf R32 are ok, only just slightly quicker than the Type-R but a lot less economical, and I don't think they handle as well. And I can't get insured on anything above Insurance group 17 till next July. So the Subaru's, Evo's, S4 and the M3's are out of the question.

But i thought the civic/integra type r and the s2000 were all insurance group 19? Good luck hunting? not many 330Ci manuals around for sale hah?

[Blazin]

But i thought the civic/integra type r and the s2000 were all insurance group 19? Good luck hunting? not many 330Ci manuals around for sale hah?

Nah, Civic Type-R is 17. I think Integra is 18, as well as Accord Type-R. not sure bout s2000

[Pericles]

The 330Ci is the coupe, right? bmwusa only lists a 330Ci Convertible in its list.

I had a ride in a 325Ci when I was in the US last year, and it was a fantastic car. In ur place I'd be leaning towards with BM too. I gotta say, what with the BM market in UK these days, the Skyline would probably be more exclusive. But EOD, everyone will give u respect for the badge on the BM, and the ppl who would know better about the exclusive status of the Sky would know u don't have the top spec, so even among ppl who would give u respect for the Sky, it will be dampened.

[Overdrive]

The 330Ci is the coupe, right? bmwusa only lists a 330Ci Convertible in its list.

I had a ride in a 325Ci when I was in the US last year, and it was a fantastic car. In ur place I'd be leaning towards with BM too. I gotta say, what with the BM market in UK these days, the Skyline would probably be more exclusive. But EOD, everyone will give u respect for the badge on the BM, and the ppl who would know better about the exclusive status of the Sky would know u don't have the top spec, so even among ppl who would give u respect for the Sky, it will be dampened.

Then again with the skyline blazin you are looking at unforgiving insurance! Some places don't even insure skylines. Bad rep!

[The Don]

Hi Peri,

I am sure Blazin and Overdrive will confirm this, but over here Japanese cars still have a bit of an image problem somewhat sometimes, and though everybody seems to accept that The Skylines Evos and STI's (I think atleast in my part of the country the STI's are the most common, followed by believe it or not RX8's have become very popular) are exceptional automobiles, they are still sometimes referred to as (as a work collegue of mine did, when I was trying to persuade her to get a Type R) "Those Japanesy things". Instead she bought herself a Mini Cooper S a BMW (crashed it recently and was written off).

So sometimes driving a Japanese sports car sometimes imposes on you the identity of a Boy racer he he, not always of course.

BMW on the other hand I think is a victim of its own success, there are massive amounts of BMW's here so many that driving one isn't quite exclusive or anything of the sort. But at the same time I don't think anybody would perceive somebody driving a sporty BMW a boy racer.

Executive saloons always achieve very high depriciation and BMW is no exception, 5 years on even with modest milleage cars will cost less than 1/3 its original value. For example my Boss's BMW 525 Sport (which has the so called M kit factory fitted M alloys Steering etc) which cost him somewhere arround 30 grand when purchased and he is now thinking about selling it under 10grand i think. I would reccomend the car to Blazin since its only done about 50K miles, full BMW service history, but its an AUTO !!!!. Sadly a lot of sporty BMW's are driven by baldy middle aged men ha ha ha (hope my boss doesnt read this!).

Incidentally the new Audi S4 got a rave review on Top Gear, when the afore mentioned Mr Clerkson said it might even be better than a M3, well thats his opinion, what do you think ? is Volkswagen finally balancing these cars out ?. Has anybody had the plessure of driving one yet ?.

The Don

[Pericles]

I only mention the Sky coz the choice in the first post was a Sky R-34 GT-T and the 330Ci

[sharkster]

The 330Ci is the coupe, right? bmwusa only lists a 330Ci Convertible in its list.

the 330Ci came as both coupe and convertible... my uncle owned a convertible 330Ci with the sport package (M alloy wheels and the works) which he bought brand new and sold almost a year later due to poor mileage... you can blame central london congestion for that... the car was superb and it was my first experience with a GPS system never got a chance to drive it but i'd pick it over the S3...

machan OD... the 330Ci has 230bhp... not 290 from what i remember

[Blazin]

Pericles, you are right about the Skyline man. Even if I learned to live with the Boy Racer image, the Gt-t doesn't look that nice. I don't know what it is but the Gt-R looks amazing!

Yea japanese cars still have a bad image over here, even though they are so much better than the regular european car (apart from the Germans). The problem with the Mercs and the BMWs are that they have that snob factor. I think Audi has got the right ballance with their new range.

My other option is to forget buying something new and spend the extra money on modding the Type-R. I've learned to live with that boyracer image now anyway.