[class2ldn]

Hi guys, only had my 330i around 4 months now and I absolutely love it.
Me and the Mrs are on about having one car and she would be using it for work. She currently drives a Peugeot 207 gti and it's drinking fuel faster then her finances can keep up now her commute is twice as far.. Did suggest just getting rid of it and using my 330i but obviously it's not much better on fuel.
She does around 40-45 miles a day with a mix of motorway and town driving. I'm currently averaging 30.7 from my 330i which is great but would the 330d get much more on mpg. I've seen people writing that 38 is about the lowest people get and that's pushing on a fair bit. I only use the car around twice a week so it's perfectly adequate for me but if it was our main car then obviously the fuel costs would be higher. Would a diesel be a sensible option with the mileage she's doing? I reckon she's probably doing about 12-13k a year plus whatever I'd be using on top of that aswell.
Currently in talks with bmw in high Wycombe about one I've seen which is well loaded but it's got the smaller wheels. I've asked about swapping my 313s over onto it and it's a possibility but just depends on the deal they can can come up with. At the moment we are both paying nearly £500 for the two cars so if we can cut that down to just one outlay then two it will be great. The extra fuel would help aswell.

Here's the car ive been looking at. Ideally would have liked red seats like mine but you can't have it all lol

Saw this car on Auto Trader’s Android App. Thought you might be interested. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...01503191876817

Also this one which is perfect colour combo but a fair bit dearer and no tinted windows
Saw this car on Auto Trader’s Android App. Thought you might be interested. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...01505193581666



Any replies would be appreciated
Cheers

[tomwh85]

Out of those two I would go for the second option. Colour combo and wheels do it for me,

[class2ldn]

Well ive already got the wheels on my 330i so would look to swap them over as part of the deal but I agree it's a lovely combo

[Ess]

I got my 335d after 20k miles in a 207 gti (which o absolutely loved by the way) and my commute at the time was about 80 miles mostly motorway. I averaged about 36 mpg in the 207 which I thought was quite good for a nippy 1.6T petrol. When I swapped to my 335d and sticking to 70 with cruise control I was getting 40+. I have no doubt that you will do better still with a 330d.

The only thing I'd say is don't underestimate the cost of change. If all this car swapping is going to cost you several thousand pounds, think of how many tanks of petrol you could get with that cash if you stick with your current car situation...

[class2ldn]

Oh yeah definitely which is why ive said il only do it of the figures stack up, no point wasting loads to save it lol. Would love a 335d but most of them are still mid 20s so monthly payments would be too much.
Also seen this 330d but it's pre lci bit I do like the highline editions. Think it's got the updated cic aswell.

Saw this car on Auto Trader’s Android App. Thought you might be interested. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...01505143463248

[The_Bear_Yid]

I'd take a look at the 325d up for sale by Marshall in the classifieds in here. He's said he'll take £10k. That's half the price of those but not half the car, admittedly I've not compared specs. I think his is older and on 60k.

[class2ldn]

The 125 looks half decent, not completely sold on looks but good performance. Even the 120 is a smidge over 7 secs to 60

Saw this car on Auto Trader’s Android App. Thought you might be interested. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...01505103333041

[Aragorn30d]

It really depends on the specifics of the commute.

I've just gone from a 1.8T A4 Quattro to a 330D. The A4 would return whole tank averages of around 32mpg, the 330D is doing 40 on the same commute. Best i ever had out the A4 on a solid motorway run was around 35-36, i've not had a similar run with the 330d yet, but the drive home returned 42 with a broken thermostat.

My commute is about 40miles, mostly motorway but its the typical busy traffic where you speeds varying a lot between 50 and 70 and sometimes much slower, especially on the way home.

In reality the difference between 32 and 40 in fuel terms isnt huge, barely noticeable really when you factor in diesel being more expensive than petrol. 30 to 50 would probably be more noticable, and theres no way you could justify going from 32 to 40mpg on fuel savings alone.

[Dace64]

I had. 330D several cars ago and got great economy after having it mapped. Late 30's early 40's for sure. I have now just purchased a 335D and also very pleased with the mpg coupled with the sublime performance!

[class2ldn]

Well I'd be going to see my daughter in it aswell which would be at least twice a week and thats a round trip of around 60-65 miles and thats all motorway and dual carriageway. Was looking at the 320d but not sure I could stomach the drop in performance, never driven one so may be a bit of a sweeping statement. Reading up about the 125d it's had good reviews, better mpg aswell then the 330 d.
Also been looking at mercs. Mrs really likes the a class. Also the 250 cdi c class is a possibility but need to drive them all. Obviously still want a car with a decent shove in the back but gives fairly decent mpg returns.

[CraigUK]

If fuel economy is the driving factor for change then personally I think a 320D would be a good choice. When remapped I don't think that it will feel that much slower than your 330i because of the extra torque it has. Swapping from a sweet 6 pot petrol to a 4 pot diesel may be hard to stomach though.

I've got an f11 520d and my long term average is 49.7mpg. Best economy figure from a cold start on my way to work was 70mpg over 22 miles. Can't argue with that!

[class2ldn]

No thats true but a remap will be out the question because of warranty. Like you say a 4 pot may be a big change. Luckily my mates got a 330d so he's going to let me have a good spin in it. If i drive tge 320d then may be the torque will help it not feel as slow. Also can get a higher specced 320d for less.
I guess sometimes you just have to stomach the loss of one thing to gain more. Ultimately we want to get a house and this would help us save a fair whack more without having to buy some old shed.

[CraigUK]

The later 184bhp 320d's can be mapped to about 230bhp and if linked to an auto box can be faster than most would think for a 320d.

How long do you keep your cars? The warranty will only be valid for the first year anyway after that then you'll be able to do as you please. There's always running boxes too.

Without a doubt the 330d is a great car but at a slightly greater cost both from a purchase price and mpg standpoint. I suppose it's a case of understanding exactly how important fuel consumption is to you.

[class2ldn]

Well the Mrs will be using it the most and her main complaint with the 207 is fuel costs so maybe the 320 would be a good idea. I managed to blag two years warranty on this 330i so I'd be looking for the same on the new one. It would be interesting to see how much of a saving the 330d would be over the 330i. Obviously the 320 would save a fair whack more bit at the cost of performance and noise. Need to drive them all and decide. May be pleasantly surprised with the 320.

[Ess]

Originally Posted by class2ldn

Well the Mrs will be using it the most and her main complaint with the 207 is fuel costs so maybe the 320 would be a good idea. I managed to blag two years warranty on this 330i so I'd be looking for the same on the new one. It would be interesting to see how much of a saving the 330d would be over the 330i. Obviously the 320 would save a fair whack more bit at the cost of performance and noise. Need to drive them all and decide. May be pleasantly surprised with the 320.

In my opinion the cost of change will outweigh any MPG savings, even if you go for a 320d, unless you plan on keeping the car for a very long time. I used the "saving money from fuel economy argument" to justify the expense of changing cars several times in the past, and then got bored with the cars after a year or two and looking back I'm pretty certain the cheapest option in all cases would have been not to change cars. Just sayin'.

Build yourself a quick calculator spreadsheet on Excel or look for one online, you'll see that unless you are doing huge mileage or going from a very low MPG car to a very high MPG car (i.e. none of the cars discussed in this thread) then you really have to do crazy miles or keep the cars a really long time for it to pay off. I also expect taxes on diesels to get much worse over the next few years with all this demonization of diesels going on recently (I have a diesel ). If cash is the only reason for wanting to change, just do the maths and you'll have your answer, don't take a punt!

[Mogwai888]

I've recently moved from a e90 330i pre LCI to e90 330d LCI.

My thoughts are that you will definitely miss the engine noise and revvy nature of the 330i. However, it's not always easy to use the potential of the car in traffic and it was thirsty. Mine did high 20s mpg.

The 330d engine is more torquey than a 330i which makes it's easy to make progress and you're not having to chase the redline, but the 330d lci engine is quite revvy for a diesel. I think it's easier to make progress in a 330d than a 330i. Mpg wise on I get low to mid 40s in the 330d and that's with quite a heavy right foot so reckon it would easily do mid to high 40s.

As Ess said I wouldn't move for cost reasons alone unless you're going to be doing silly mileage.

With the 330d I would recommend getting one with an upgraded speaker package though to drown out the diesel rattle! That said the 330d makes a pleasant noise.

They both have good engines, but have completely different characteristics. A 330d is one you buy with you head, but the 330i is the one with you heart.

[Not a Diesel!!!]

Let your Mrs use your 330i for a week and work out true fuel costs.

My wife is light footed admittedly but gets 37mpg out of my 330i (N53, Manual) on her 50 mile round trip commute which was only marginally more than her 130i (N52, Manual)

Bother were better on Fuel than her RS 200 & 197 Clio's & much better than her 96bhp SportKa from years ago.

If she drives 10 mph slower 65 vs 75 that is about a 20% saving in Fuel. How you drives is more important than what your drive ( Watch Top Gear Prius v's E90 M3)

[Not a Diesel!!!]

I get about 22 mpg when I drive around town. If I had a 330d I would be knackering the DPF.

[SO8]

I had a 330d LCI E92 for 3 years and loved it. Nothing went wrong (unlike my current N54 engined Z4) and I miss the car. It looked great and the performance once it passed about 10K miles was great.

Economy wise I never got below 36mpg and that was with a heavy right foot on journeys each way in mixed conditions and speeds for 10 miles. On a bit of a longer run like you will be using it for I would expect mid 40's.

FWIW I took the car 60 miles along the M3 once (when I got it remapped / rolling roaded at DMS). I left at about 5.30am and bimbled along at 55-50 ... and got 63mpg for those 60 miles ! Using my right foot on the way back it went down somewhat !

[SO8]

As has been mentioned - in traffic solely is not good for mpg or car with DPF ! A cold run up the north circular to a training course in heavy traffic saw 24mpg for me one week ... but it was one of those kind of journeys.

[class2ldn]

Well to give you an idea of the journey she will do,for those that know it, we live near three bridges in West Sussex and she works near wallington in Surrey so straight out onto the m23 and then a23 virtually all the way up. My journey to my daughter consists of m23,m25,a20 or a2 so as you can see most of the journeys we do will involve the motorway at some point. Just got off the phone to my mate who works at mercedes and he reckons he can get me some good deals. Obviously not something I want but the new c class he can get with 7k off for a brand new model but like I say slightly irrelevant lol. Will have do some proper number crunching and see. I like the 330d as it's a great all rounder and it's got to be better on fuel then the 330i.
Waiting for a few dealers to get back to me aswell so will see what they say.