Anybody own a BMW 330D?

Fierce1979

I'm potentially looking at a 330D Touring, but only have a budget of £5k max

For that, I'm looking at approx 2004 with a shedload of miles, over 100k anyway

What are peoples opinions of buying a car of that age and with that mileage? If it were anything other than a BMW/similar quality car then I wouldn't bother, but as a father to be I need a bigger car and have noticed that for what I was expecting to pay for a Focus/Astra/Mazda 3 etc, I could potentially have the BMW

I'm worried about the age/mileage and the fact that at this age, things are likely to start going wrong and be expensive to fix

Thoughts please?

Trebor16

almillar wrote: »

OK there's just one slight problem with 'my old petrol car vs this lovely new diesel' - that is, you're comparing an old car to a new one. Petrol engines have made advances too - lots of direct injection, variable timing stuff going on.
Fact remains - if you do short journeys only, your diesel won't get up to temperature properly, and won't be giving you that lovely MPG from the brochure. Petrols warm up faster and are better, sorry, less bad, for short journeys. And petrols sound better. And your hands don't get so smelly at the pumps. And you don't give out soot when you accelerate...

Diesels warm up far more effectively than a petrol engine over a short distance and they do give decent MPG. My Golf easily shows average MPG in the mid 50's on some of the short runs I do around my town.

A petrol engine with a catalytic converter will take a lot longer to warm up and will be a lot less efficient on a shorter journey.

sunshinetours

Fierce1979 wrote: »

I'm potentially looking at a 330D Touring, but only have a budget of £5k max

For that, I'm looking at approx 2004 with a shedload of miles, over 100k anyway

What are peoples opinions of buying a car of that age and with that mileage? If it were anything other than a BMW/similar quality car then I wouldn't bother, but as a father to be I need a bigger car and have noticed that for what I was expecting to pay for a Focus/Astra/Mazda 3 etc, I could potentially have the BMW

I'm worried about the age/mileage and the fact that at this age, things are likely to start going wrong and be expensive to fix

Thoughts please?

How many miles will you be doing p.a? Will a diesel be worthwhile?

If it were me I would consider the smaller models in the range 320d or 318i petrol on that sort of budget. Don't be ut off by the smaller engines

If something does go wrong it will be more expensive on the flagship models and if budget is a limiting factor I would stick with more "base" models

try a BMW forum for more specilised advice than on here

www.bmwland.co.uk is one
www.bimmerfest.com another but not UK centric

sunshinetours

Trebor16 wrote: »

Diesels warm up far more effectively than a petrol engine over a short distance and they do give decent MPG. My Golf easily shows average MPG in the mid 50's on some of the short runs I do around my town.

A petrol engine with a catalytic converter will take a lot longer to warm up and will be a lot less efficient on a shorter journey.

Not sure that is entirely true. Many short journeys in any car won't be good for the engine but never getting the diesel up to full temperature will certainly shorten its life especially if it has a DPF

Small petrol engine best round town as will have quickest heat up time but even that will siffer with just town driving

rodenal

Normally that advice would be sound but the 320d has reall issues - google butterfly valve, 320d. You're actually far better off with the 330d unless you can find a 320 that you're certain has had the valve removed.

318i would be fine but it's really not much to drive, better off with a reasonably engined focus / mondeo

sunshinetours

rodenal wrote: »

Normally that advice would be sound but the 320d has reall issues - google butterfly valve, 320d. You're actually far better off with the 330d unless you can find a 320 that you're certain has had the valve removed.

318i would be fine but it's really not much to drive, better off with a reasonably engined focus / mondeo

Presumably that is the same as swirl flaps which were an issue on the early E60 5 series? Easy enough job to get fixed though and rest of car is good, although point taken

Nothing wrong with 318 on the E90 model as its 2l - yes it won't be tearing up the traffic lights but its a decent enough engine and the interior and driving experience is much nicer than a larger engine Focus etc IMO (although the Focus is a decent enough car to drive as well)

Trebor16

sunshinetours wrote: »

Not sure that is entirely true. Many short journeys in any car won't be good for the engine but never getting the diesel up to full temperature will certainly shorten its life especially if it has a DPF

Small petrol engine best round town as will have quickest heat up time but even that will siffer with just town driving

A diesel will work more efficiently in the early stages of its journey than a petrol engine, but it is fair to say a diesel with DPF does need long journeys from time to time at a high engine speed to allow the DPF to regenerate. But a non DPF diesel will be better for short journeys than a petrol engine.

rodenal

sunshinetours wrote: »

Presumably that is the same as swirl flaps which were an issue on the early E60 5 series? Easy enough job to get fixed though and rest of car is good, although point taken

Nothing wrong with 318 on the E90 model as its 2l - yes it won't be tearing up the traffic lights but its a decent enough engine and the interior and driving experience is much nicer than a larger engine Focus etc IMO (although the Focus is a decent enough car to drive as well)

Exactly that sorry, no idea why butterfly valve popped into my head (probably because it is one but swirl flaps is the right term). I agree it's not particularly hard or expensive to fix but it's the kind of thing that owners put off doing.

sunshinetours

Trebor16 wrote: »

A diesel will work more efficiently in the early stages of its journey than a petrol engine, but it is fair to say a diesel with DPF does need long journeys from time to time at a high engine speed to allow the DPF to regenerate. But a non DPF diesel will be better for short journeys than a petrol engine.

Yes it will but you said it would "warm up" quicker which is exactly the opposite of what the diesel engine does. Petrol engine will generally warm up to full temperature quicker however I do accept that as they also run a richer fuel micture when cold (unlike diesels) that is where petrol engines will be at their worst fuel economy wise

Happychappy

I run three 330d tourer manuals at work also 2 x Audi A4 3.0d, all are 08/09/10 reg.

Over a three month average, the BMW does 32mpg and the Audi around the same, on runs where they are not driven firmly, we have averaged just over 40, motorway and dual carriageways etc however, normally they are all driven very hard and both have similar performance which is excellent, sure footed and good torque mid range, although the BMW is a lot firmer ride due to run flats and has a far higher rear tyre than the Audi.

The load capacity of the BMW tourer is poor compared to the Audi, also access for the driver and front passenger feels cramped getting in and out compared to the Audi. I don't know anything about the pre 06/07 model