Anybody knowledgeable on BMW 3 series?

geordiepaul2001 · 12 October 2016 at 10:56AM

Hi all,

I am in the market for a second hand BMW 3 series and as it will be my first BMW I am a little lost among the trim levels etc.

I am hoping someone can give me pointers on the following;

I'm looking for parking sensors, full leather, cruise control and heated seats - are there any trim levels that give me all of these or does it depend largely on the added extras that people chose?

When it comes to leather some of the adverts seem to be making a song and dance about Dakota leather - is there much difference in quality?

What are the major service levels for these cars, such as for timing belts etc?

Thanks in advance,

Paul

straighttalker · 12 October 2016 at 11:04AM

Age, model, engine size and whether petrol or diesel would help.

Head_The_Ball · 12 October 2016 at 11:38AM

BMW dealerships are usually knowledgeable and sell a wide range of used BMWs.

You will pay more than for a private sale but you do get security and a warranty or guarantee.

They probably won't sell older models if that is what you are looking for but are still worth a try.

BMW 3 Series is a good choice of car. I had one for many years and was very pleased with it. I now have a 1 Series bought nearly new from BMW.

Good luck.

neilmcl · 12 October 2016 at 11:48AM

geordiepaul2001 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am in the market for a second hand BMW 3 series and as it will be my first BMW I am a little lost among the trim levels etc.

I am hoping someone can give me pointers on the following;

I'm looking for parking sensors, full leather, cruise control and heated seats - are there any trim levels that give me all of these or does it depend largely on the added extras that people chose?

When it comes to leather some of the adverts seem to be making a song and dance about Dakota leather - is there much difference in quality?

What are the major service levels for these cars, such as for timing belts etc?

Thanks in advance,

Paul

Go to your local dealer and get the latest brochures & price lists. That'll give you an idea of what packages contain what options etc, at least for the latest models but will point you in the right direction nontheless. Leather seats are an option in their own right, 'Dakota" is just the name for their standard leather, nothing special.

How old are the cars you're looking at?

geordiepaul2001 · 12 October 2016 at 11:59AM

Apologies for the lack of detail.
I'm looking at 2011 onwards (preferably 2012 as I believe this is when one of the facelifts occurred).
I've been looking preferably at the 320D or efficient dynamics, and I'm swaying towards an M Sport is possible.

My commute is around 50 miles per day and I plan to keep the car for between 5 and 7 years - hence the thinking behind getting a diesel variant.

agrinnall · 12 October 2016 at 2:32PM

I hope you are buying with an awareness of the potential issue with the timing chain on N47 engines?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_N47#Timing_chain_problems

Iceweasel · 12 October 2016 at 5:39PM

The LCI (facelift) e90 320d with the N47 engine built after April 2011 has a MUCH less chance of having any timing chain problems.

Forget the ED extra-low mpg model - it's overpriced on the 2nd hand market - and it's pithless compared to the normal engined models.

The M-Sport will come with leather sports seats and reversing sensors as standard and almost all of them will have heated seats and cruise control.

It also has 1" lower suspension and better aerodynamics.

My advice would be to join a decent BMW owners forum and ask questions there.

This is a good one for starters (very friendly to newbies):

http://www.bmwlander.co.uk/index.php?forums/

Others are available- as they say.

Good luck in finding a nice example of an M-Sport

RichardD1970 · 12 October 2016 at 6:26PM

geordiepaul2001 wrote: »

I've been looking preferably at the 320D or efficient dynamics, and I'm swaying towards an M Sport is possible.

Hate the way that the "M" badge has become a trim level. Degrading to the proper "M" cars IMHO.

Sorry, off topic, rant over :rotfl: (and no, I'm not DM

)

TadleyBaggie · 12 October 2016 at 6:51PM

I drove (as company cars) both the E90 (318d 2011) and F30 (320d 2014) models. The older model was hands down a better car to drive, felt like it was on rails. They did something to the steering on the later models and it felt like you were using a remote. Saying that the later model had a much nicer cabin.

Iceweasel · 12 October 2016 at 7:26PM

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

I drove (as company cars) both the E90 (318d 2011) and F30 (320d 2014) models. The older model was hands down a better car to drive, felt like it was on rails. They did something to the steering on the later models and it felt like you were using a remote. Saying that the later model had a much nicer cabin.

'They' didn't do anything - it's different options.

I would suggest that likely your E90 had standard hydraulic power steering and the F30 was specced with the optional 'Servotronic' electric power steering.

It's all a matter of feel and personal preference and also what tyres the car has - many folks hated the Bridgestone runflats with a passion (me included) and many folks didn't like the heavy feel of the E90 steering without servotronic.

Then of course there is 'Active' steering - but that's a story for another day.

TadleyBaggie · 12 October 2016 at 8:23PM

The company was quite stingy on company cars (at my level at least), the only option we got was front/rear parking sensors. We didn't even get run flats. However I wasn't the first driver of the older car, so it may have been uprated.

Anybody knowledgeable on BMW 3 series?

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