CDTi Rich
06-Apr-2008, 04:45 PM
Well it’s been six weeks and 2000 miles so far with the new car (BMW 330D M-Sport) and here are a few thoughts of mine. Yes it is a good car and betters the ZT in most areas – as I would hope for twice the cost!! The car is fantastic to drive and I am getting used to the auto box with steptronic. It makes quick get a ways from the lights so easy and fast it’s hard to believe that the manual version is slightly quicker. The paddle controls on the steering wheel are ideal for manually kicking down a gear before over taking. The gearbox also learns your driving style and will adapt accordingly.
The car pulls very well from low revs and cleanly to the red line at 4,800 rpm. Yes it’s fast – the power is just seamless with a chest squashing surge of torque. The engine note is also sportly – it sounds like a petrol flat 6 in may ways.
This car is NOT good on short journeys – expect around 22-28mpg around town! But on longer routes it is currently returning about 40MPG, not bad considering it’s an auto. Cruising on the Motorway at 80MPG sees 43MPG and that’s on a tight engine in the middle of winter. I would expect to see 45MPG once loose and in warmer weather. The new Efficient Dynamics really helps here! Interestingly the MPG is worse at 60mph than 80mph due, I guess, to the very long gearing of 40mph/1000rpm in 6th.
Xenons are a big improvement on those I had on the ZT. Illuminated door handles are a nice touch as is the voice control – I can control almost any function without touching anything. The system doesn’t even have to “learn” your voice.
So there is the good points, what about the bad:-
The boot is useless! On paper it’s bigger than the ZT but in practice the shape makes it very difficult to use. This is not really a family car.
Wheel hubs are rusting after 6 weeks – it’s a common problem with BMW’s at present and they don’t want to do anything about it.
The NAV system only have 4 digit postcode search – very poor in this day and age.
Paint quality is suspect - several large stone chips already. Rust on all four wheel hubs, this is not acceptable!!
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/evansrj/BMW_010.jpg
The handling is very good but there is no warning when your about to “lose it”. The ZT would under steer a bit to tell you to back off if going too quickly into a corner. The BM can just “snap” and catch you out, but you have to be pressing on really hard to do this.
The last point is a strange one – I can’t really “connect” with this car like I did the ZT. To me it doesn’t have a soul like the ZT did. So overall very happy and can’t wait to get it chipped. This will see 280BHP and 600nm and will also improve the MPG by about 3MPG. This will bring the 0-60 just below the six second mark and will give a top speed around 160MPH mark (not that it matters).
A few pictures now that I have finally got a chance to clean it!
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/evansrj/BMW_009.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/evansrj/BMW_006.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/evansrj/BMW_004.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/evansrj/BMW_007.jpg
The car pulls very well from low revs and cleanly to the red line at 4,800 rpm. Yes it’s fast – the power is just seamless with a chest squashing surge of torque. The engine note is also sportly – it sounds like a petrol flat 6 in may ways.
This car is NOT good on short journeys – expect around 22-28mpg around town! But on longer routes it is currently returning about 40MPG, not bad considering it’s an auto. Cruising on the Motorway at 80MPG sees 43MPG and that’s on a tight engine in the middle of winter. I would expect to see 45MPG once loose and in warmer weather. The new Efficient Dynamics really helps here! Interestingly the MPG is worse at 60mph than 80mph due, I guess, to the very long gearing of 40mph/1000rpm in 6th.
Xenons are a big improvement on those I had on the ZT. Illuminated door handles are a nice touch as is the voice control – I can control almost any function without touching anything. The system doesn’t even have to “learn” your voice.
So there is the good points, what about the bad:-
The boot is useless! On paper it’s bigger than the ZT but in practice the shape makes it very difficult to use. This is not really a family car.
Wheel hubs are rusting after 6 weeks – it’s a common problem with BMW’s at present and they don’t want to do anything about it.
The NAV system only have 4 digit postcode search – very poor in this day and age.
Paint quality is suspect - several large stone chips already. Rust on all four wheel hubs, this is not acceptable!!
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/evansrj/BMW_010.jpg
The handling is very good but there is no warning when your about to “lose it”. The ZT would under steer a bit to tell you to back off if going too quickly into a corner. The BM can just “snap” and catch you out, but you have to be pressing on really hard to do this.
The last point is a strange one – I can’t really “connect” with this car like I did the ZT. To me it doesn’t have a soul like the ZT did. So overall very happy and can’t wait to get it chipped. This will see 280BHP and 600nm and will also improve the MPG by about 3MPG. This will bring the 0-60 just below the six second mark and will give a top speed around 160MPH mark (not that it matters).
A few pictures now that I have finally got a chance to clean it!
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/evansrj/BMW_009.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/evansrj/BMW_006.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/evansrj/BMW_004.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/evansrj/BMW_007.jpg