[aspiring335]

Just booked a time to drop off my 330i at BMW Toronto. My lease is up on March 6th, so I'm booked in for March 5th...

My new E91 arrives in early April, so we'll be juggling one car for a month or so.

Thought it would be interesting to go through the likes / dislikes over the 39 months I've had the car.

Things I liked about the E90:

Best engine in any car I've ever owned. Possibly the best "all round" engine in any car I've driven. By that I mean it's the perfect balance of power, refinement, reliability and economy (and I've driven lots of amazing cars, including a 911 C2S, Boxster and Cayman, a Cayenne GTS, an Audi R8 and S5, E46 M3...). I sincerely wish the new 272 hp 330i engine was (a) available in Canada and (b) offered in the wagon.

Peerless handling in its class. Infiniti, Lexus and Audi still don't get nearly close enough to BMW's ability to connect the driver to the car, transfer his inputs to the road and send feedback on what's happening. If you choose one of these brands over a BMW, it will almost certainly be for reasons other than pure driving enjoyment. The gap may be narrowing, but it's still there.

Active steering. I'll simply say that there are those who love it and those who don't. I'm in the former category.

Looks. The E90 really was a return to form for BMW. Perfect proportions, exactly the right balance between elegance, poise and aggression. Very sensitive to wheel type and size, though, and it's amazing how much better a ZSP-equipped 330i looks compared to a 325i running on 16s.

Auto transmission. If you're going auto (which I wish I hadn't...) the ZF model in the E90 330i is hard to beat for effortless driving in D and aggressive driving in DS.

Economy. I know I already dealt with this in part in my discussion of the engine, but what other 255 hp sports sedan can get over 900 km on a single 60-ish litre tank? OK, that's with very gentle highway driving, but still, pretty great.

Sports seats. The adjustable side bolsters really made the E90's a huge step up from those in my E46. No BMW is complete without them (unless you've got Comfort Seats in an X, 5 or 7...).

Things I didn't like:

Various electrical / electronic and other miscellaneous glitches. Just little things such as a steering lock that randomly wouldn't disengage, flaky comfort access, broken driver's door lock, creaking from the steering, and a persistent check engine light. Nothing that was the end of the world, but collectively enough to be very irritating.

Ride quality. If only I'd changed tires sooner. My ZSP bridgestones were truly awful. The car bumped and crashed and tramlined. The situation got much better when I put PS/2s on last year, but still the ride quality of the RFTs leaves a lot to be desired for a very marginal safety / convenience benefit. Jaguar knows how to build cars that handle extremely well and have a cossetting ride. BMW needs to pay attention here, particularly as our urban roads get worse by the year.

Cabin trim quality. The leather is looking really worn on the driver's side seat and I had peeling trim on the door panel. The clips that hide the isofix mountings snapped off like twigs.

Colour. OK, this one was completely my fault, but red / black / burl is not a combo that's held up well over time, and I only got it because of the discount (one of the last 330i models that was in stock, and the only one with Bluetooth). If the car was manual, with a blue, grey or black metallic, I'd be much more inclined to keep it.

Trunk access. The opening is too small, which is the main reason I'm going back to a wagon.

Last Words

The positives far outweigh the negatives. The e9x is not just the class leader but really defines this section of the market. One of the greatest things about getting an E9x is that deep down you can be sure you chose what is fundamentally the best car.

[bunnn]

Maybe I missed it somewhere, but I'm surprised they didn't let you lease the car for a month more till your car arrives...I've seen this happen many times, and my dad experienced it first hand. In fact, he was able to lease it for 2 more months awaiting his cars arrival. So if you haven't already, maybe you should discuss this with them.

[Tonybest]

Originally Posted by aspiring335

...
Looks. The E90 really was a return to form for BMW. Perfect proportions, exactly the right balance between elegance, poise and aggression. ....

Great write-up

but when you say "The E90 really was a return to form for BMW" what do you mean? Compared to the E46?

I still prefer the E46 lines over the E90.. but that is my opinion.

[aspiring335]

Originally Posted by bunnn

Maybe I missed it somewhere, but I'm surprised they didn't let you lease the car for a month more till your car arrives...I've seen this happen many times, and my dad experienced it first hand. In fact, he was able to lease it for 2 more months awaiting his cars arrival. So if you haven't already, maybe you should discuss this with them.

Yes, it is just me being cheap. We can live with one car for a month, but I did know about the lease extension option.

[aspiring335]

Originally Posted by Tonybest

Great write-up

but when you say "The E90 really was a return to form for BMW" what do you mean? Compared to the E46?

I still prefer the E46 lines over the E90.. but that is my opinion.

More that the e90 was a much more coherent design than the e60 and other bangle bmws. I also liked the e46.

[Oulixes]

Originally Posted by aspiring335

Just booked a time to drop off my 330i at BMW Toronto. My lease is up on March 6th, so I'm booked in for March 5th...

My new E91 arrives in early April, so we'll be juggling one car for a month or so.

Thought it would be interesting to go through the likes / dislikes over the 39 months I've had the car.

Things I liked about the E90:

Best engine in any car I've ever owned. Possibly the best "all round" engine in any car I've driven. By that I mean it's the perfect balance of power, refinement, reliability and economy (and I've driven lots of amazing cars, including a 911 C2S, Boxster and Cayman, a Cayenne GTS, an Audi R8 and S5, E46 M3...). I sincerely wish the new 272 hp 330i engine was (a) available in Canada and (b) offered in the wagon.

Peerless handling in its class. Infiniti, Lexus and Audi still don't get nearly close enough to BMW's ability to connect the driver to the car, transfer his inputs to the road and send feedback on what's happening. If you choose one of these brands over a BMW, it will almost certainly be for reasons other than pure driving enjoyment. The gap may be narrowing, but it's still there.

Active steering. I'll simply say that there are those who love it and those who don't. I'm in the former category.

Looks. The E90 really was a return to form for BMW. Perfect proportions, exactly the right balance between elegance, poise and aggression. Very sensitive to wheel type and size, though, and it's amazing how much better a ZSP-equipped 330i looks compared to a 325i running on 16s.

Auto transmission. If you're going auto (which I wish I hadn't...) the ZF model in the E90 330i is hard to beat for effortless driving in D and aggressive driving in DS.

Economy. I know I already dealt with this in part in my discussion of the engine, but what other 255 hp sports sedan can get over 900 km on a single 60-ish litre tank? OK, that's with very gentle highway driving, but still, pretty great.

Sports seats. The adjustable side bolsters really made the E90's a huge step up from those in my E46. No BMW is complete without them (unless you've got Comfort Seats in an X, 5 or 7...).

Things I didn't like:

Various electrical / electronic and other miscellaneous glitches. Just little things such as a steering lock that randomly wouldn't disengage, flaky comfort access, broken driver's door lock, creaking from the steering, and a persistent check engine light. Nothing that was the end of the world, but collectively enough to be very irritating.

Ride quality. If only I'd changed tires sooner. My ZSP bridgestones were truly awful. The car bumped and crashed and tramlined. The situation got much better when I put PS/2s on last year, but still the ride quality of the RFTs leaves a lot to be desired for a very marginal safety / convenience benefit. Jaguar knows how to build cars that handle extremely well and have a cossetting ride. BMW needs to pay attention here, particularly as our urban roads get worse by the year.

Cabin trim quality. The leather is looking really worn on the driver's side seat and I had peeling trim on the door panel. The clips that hide the isofix mountings snapped off like twigs.

Colour. OK, this one was completely my fault, but red / black / burl is not a combo that's held up well over time, and I only got it because of the discount (one of the last 330i models that was in stock, and the only one with Bluetooth). If the car was manual, with a blue, grey or black metallic, I'd be much more inclined to keep it.

Trunk access. The opening is too small, which is the main reason I'm going back to a wagon.

Last Words

The positives far outweigh the negatives. The e9x is not just the class leader but really defines this section of the market. One of the greatest things about getting an E9x is that deep down you can be sure you chose what is fundamentally the best car.

I have a 330xi and drive it with a stick, so it is a different car than the 330i, which I wish my car were. Never mind - the engine, the engine is the same as the one OP writes about - it is something that defines a class of its own. Thanks, aspiring335 - you composed a great read - and I've re-printed it on purpose.

[Bimmer Al]

Enjoyed your balanced reply and assessment. Agreed, the engine is in a class on its own. The balance of power, refinement and fuel economy is amazing. Although getting 900kms on one tank? WOW! Best I every got was 714kms.

[aspiring335]

Originally Posted by Bimmer Al

Enjoyed your balanced reply and assessment. Agreed, the engine is in a class on its own. The balance of power, refinement and fuel economy is amazing. Although getting 900kms on one tank? WOW! Best I every got was 714kms.

Yea, I have to confess that was a geeky mileage run (mostly holding steady at 90 - 100 km / h on the 401 with a few diversions here and there). It only works out to just under 7l / 100 km or 34 mpg (US).

I took a couple of pics of the speedometer / trip computer at the time:





Not particularly good evidence since I didn't follow it all the way down to zero, but you can see that with careful driving I was able to go nearly 200 km and still show 871 km remaining. Note the annoying check engine light...

If you really pushed it, I'm sure it would be possible to crack 1,000.

[mimik]

Thanks for the inspiring write up, Aspiring335. I knew I should have picked up the 330i since the one I have is my first bmw. I also was surprised at the kilometrage as I think I can do around 500km on high driving with an auto and xi.

[aspiring335]

Dropped off the E90 today. Will see if I get dinged for any additional charges beyond what was on the original datascan report. E91 should be here at the end of March...

[goldn]

you are going to love you're E91.
worth the wait.