[pugxs]

Morning all,

Been looking for a while for an E92 330i but haven't had any luck finding what I want.

However of late I've started to wonder if I should consider diesel. The reason I initially discounted it was because I mostly use the car for work and heard that short cold journeys can clog the DPF which is then costly to replace.

However I have since signed up to an 11aside team which is about 40mins drive up the A38 from me so will be doing longer journeys once a week.

My usual commute consists of:

1) 8 miles to work along a main road at around 40 - 50 mph once get going. Takes no more than 15 mins from door to door.

2) 8 miles back again along the same route but because of the time of day usually spend quite a bit sat in traffic and takes about 40mins.

3) the occasional drive into town etc on the weekends.

I will now also be doing the following once a week:

4) drive up the A38 (70 or 80mph cruising) on match day for anywhere between 40 mins and 1.5hours at a time and back again.

My question is will this new addition of longer trips be enough to regenerate the DPF and keep it healthy? Will I be doing more damage than good with my short journeys to work during the week?

Any help would greatly be appreciated as I would like to open up my options by considering a diesel but only if it's not going to be at the detriment of the condition of the engine etc.

Thanks very much.

[Kerr]

Unless you do big miles per year, no.

The driving experience of a diesel car has nothing on a nice smooth petrol engine.

[Ligumo]

I'd go with petrol, and if I lived only 8 miles from work I'd get a road bike, save some money and get fit at the same time!

Although I'm happy driving diesel, if I was only doing mostly short journeys I'd go petrol for the reasons Kerr gives and just grin and bear the cost of the occasional long trip. You'll enjoy the car more.

[dxb335d]

330d all day long over a 330i.

Then re-map it.

[Carjack]

Originally Posted by Kerr

Unless you do big miles per year, no.

The driving experience of a diesel car has nothing on a nice smooth petrol engine.

Correction!
I say the driving experience of a 320D diesel is vastly superior to the driving experience of a 320i petrol!
The torque is sooooo much greater!
It just depends what your are comparing.

[leetennis]

I would say that my journeys are rather closely mimicked to what you are describing as your own.

I have a 320d and so do my parents and I happened to have a ride in theirs last night which is notoriously driven over very short journeys at only 30mph speeds and over road bumps. It gets an occasional blast on the m20 and once a year to the south of France. Both cars are 320d msport around 2years old. They recently had a fault with the egr valve which I'm sure someone here can say if it's related.

I was only thinking the other day how smooth my motor was running (kiss of death now) and a 6pot must be exceptionally silky. I only use vpower and although there is no hiding it's a diesel I think it's one of the better sounding 4pot diesels by a long way much like the 4pot in the audi tt, so a 6pot must be fantastic.
My parents does idle a little rougher but either car once at 2nd gear speed the sound inside the cabin is much like a similar sized petrol engine.

I'm getting 45mpg which sky rockets the moment it sees the motorway, the shorter stop start journeys it's no better mpg that a petrol.

If I bought another 3series and it was a 4pot although the new 320i now has similar performance to the d, which it never use to, so i would prob test drive but end up going d again if I went 6pot then I would prefer a petrol

[Kerr]

Originally Posted by Carjack

Correction!
I say the driving experience of a 320D diesel is vastly superior to the driving experience of a 320i petrol!
The torque is sooooo much greater!
It just depends what your are comparing.

The 320i isn't a good petrol engine though.

The smooth 6 cylinder in the 330i is.

[HighlandPete]

The motor industry is full of issues with diesels being used for the wrong sort of trips. Mostly the short, cold start type. There are reports of BMW 4-pot engines needing 'decokes' as the valves become clogged with coke and soot, to the point of losing performance and even compression. EGR valve issues are another major sticking point (pun intended), and of course the infamous DPF regeneration.

The problem with regenerations, they are on demand, so if it can't get a proper burn, it will try on the next run, it that can't trigger you are looking at issues, even if you have a trip next weekend. Say the car triggers the regeneration on a Monday morning and can't complete one during the short trips, unless you know one has started and are willing to overshoot your destination to get it to complete. If not, you could have a warning light by the weekend.

I assure you local use of diesel cars is a major issue. My local recovery shop, also a Vauxhall garage, has special facilities to force regenerations as the problem is now so common. He says it can be a brutal operation and they have heat shields and special floor coverings to prevent fires. Plus there's the oil dilution problem. He was telling me they recommend a much shorter oil service interval (which doesn't go down well) to a lot of their customers, due to regeneration issues, as he's even drained up to twice the volume from a sump when customer car's have been trying unsuccessfully to initiate active regenerations. BTW, BMW suffer this as well. Can destroy an engine in the extreme cases.

Torque may be great stuff, and a few more mpg an attraction, but think twice before going the diesel direction is my advice. 8-miles in winter time won't even get the engine up to working temperature, let alone run efficiently and cleanly.

HighlandPete

[G82Dude]

330 - eye and then you won't become a diesel bore! LOL

[BMJ]

Originally Posted by pugxs

Morning all,

Been looking for a while for an E92 330i but haven't had any luck finding what I want.

However of late I've started to wonder if I should consider diesel. The reason I initially discounted it was because I mostly use the car for work and heard that short cold journeys can clog the DPF which is then costly to replace.

However I have since signed up to an 11aside team which is about 40mins drive up the A38 from me so will be doing longer journeys once a week.

My usual commute consists of:

1) 8 miles to work along a main road at around 40 - 50 mph once get going. Takes no more than 15 mins from door to door.

2) 8 miles back again along the same route but because of the time of day usually spend quite a bit sat in traffic and takes about 40mins.

3) the occasional drive into town etc on the weekends.

I will now also be doing the following once a week:

4) drive up the A38 (70 or 80mph cruising) on match day for anywhere between 40 mins and 1.5hours at a time and back again.

My question is will this new addition of longer trips be enough to regenerate the DPF and keep it healthy? Will I be doing more damage than good with my short journeys to work during the week?

Any help would greatly be appreciated as I would like to open up my options by considering a diesel but only if it's not going to be at the detriment of the condition of the engine etc.

Thanks very much.

BMW diesels are great, toq kicks it and they don't drive how you think a diesel drives... they have some guts.. 330D and 335D are rockets... if the 330D was cheaper when i was looking for my car i would have taken it over the 335i.

330D with a simple plug in chip gets you close to 600 TOQ

[BMJ]

Originally Posted by Kerr

The 320i isn't a good petrol engine though.

The smooth 6 cylinder in the 330i is.

agree drove a 330i was very impressed.

[BanziBarn]

My 330d does mainly town driving and has never had an issue with the DPF - 20k miles in.

But, I know that others haven't been so lucky.

If it was between a 330i and 330d I'd not be able to accept the performance of the 330i - it sounds great but the shove of the 330d is too much fun to turn down. If I was going for a petrol 3, it would have to be the 335i - but even then, around town, the soot chucker 330 feels quicker in situations where you can't really open the car up.

So, in balance, I'd go for the diesel but make sure you give it propper beans regularly!

[E60525d]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

330d all day long over a 330i.

Then re-map it.

Here we go again

Originally Posted by Carjack

Correction!
I say the driving experience of a 320D diesel is vastly superior to the driving experience of a 320i petrol!
The torque is sooooo much greater!
It just depends what your are comparing.

I completely agree with you there with comparing the 320i to 320d. I would choose the d even if I was doing limited milleage as it think it is vastly superior.

But when comparing the 330i to 330d, IMO i think choosing is that bit more difficult.

[phil200tdi]

It will cost more to buy and run a diesel on your journeys, this is a fact - don't expect to save money..

You can remove the dpf for £500 including a remap. So not really of major concern.

In terms of the i/d debate. The new 320/328i 2.0 turbo changes the balance in the favour of the petrol. High fuel economy plus with some mods you can expect nigh on 300bhp. Not such a nice noise as the 6cyl though.

[pugxs]

Thanks for all the responses guys!

The thought of buying a diesel isnt to save money it's to give me more options when purchasing.

I'm looking for a manual 330i sport coupe and there aren't a lot around (less than 10 on autotrader in my price range!). If I included a manual 330d it would increase my chances of finding a car i liked. (post remap torque is also a plus point!!!)

So the concensus seems to be stick to petrol?

[Hotcoupe]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

The motor industry is full of issues with diesels being used for the wrong sort of trips. Mostly the short, cold start type. There are reports of BMW 4-pot engines needing 'decokes' as the valves become clogged with coke and soot, to the point of losing performance and even compression. EGR valve issues are another major sticking point (pun intended), and of course the infamous DPF regeneration.

The problem with regenerations, they are on demand, so if it can't get a proper burn, it will try on the next run, it that can't trigger you are looking at issues, even if you have a trip next weekend. Say the car triggers the regeneration on a Monday morning and can't complete one during the short trips, unless you know one has started and are willing to overshoot your destination to get it to complete. If not, you could have a warning light by the weekend.

I assure you local use of diesel cars is a major issue. My local recovery shop, also a Vauxhall garage, has special facilities to force regenerations as the problem is now so common. He says it can be a brutal operation and they have heat shields and special floor coverings to prevent fires. Plus there's the oil dilution problem. He was telling me they recommend a much shorter oil service interval (which doesn't go down well) to a lot of their customers, due to regeneration issues, as he's even drained up to twice the volume from a sump when customer car's have been trying unsuccessfully to initiate active regenerations. BTW, BMW suffer this as well. Can destroy an engine in the extreme cases.

Torque may be great stuff, and a few more mpg an attraction, but think twice before going the diesel direction is my advice. 8-miles in winter time won't even get the engine up to working temperature, let alone run efficiently and cleanly.

HighlandPete

Originally Posted by pugxs

Thanks for all the responses guys!

The thought of buying a diesel isnt to save money it's to give me more options when purchasing.

I'm looking for a manual 330i sport coupe and there aren't a lot around (less than 10 on autotrader in my price range!). If I included a manual 330d it would increase my chances of finding a car i liked. (post remap torque is also a plus point!!!)

So the concensus seems to be stick to petrol?

Reread Highlandpete's post above,HP's comments would echo my own on petrol vs diesel in your specific requirements,a diesel car makes no sense for you.