[Yeltzer]

325i every time. Sound some much smoother and for the price differential compared to the MPG difference, its a no brainer!

[SiKkBaSs]

Had a 325i for going on 3 years now since age of 20.

Not a bad word to say about it at all. Petrol > Diesel any day of the week for me. Got friends now who have bought 320d's and I still prefer the 325i just for the sound.

Mod your 325i nicely and there's more than enough fun to be had easily. No contest for me.

Good luck.

[Tunna_uk]

Originally Posted by SiKkBaSs

Had a 325i for going on 3 years now since age of 20.

Not a bad word to say about it at all. Petrol > Diesel any day of the week for me. Got friends now who have bought 320d's and I still prefer the 325i just for the sound.

Mod your 325i nicely and there's more than enough fun to be had easily. No contest for me.

Good luck.

+1

Love it.
Could not live with a 4 pot diesel.
I bought a BMW for the legendary 6 cyl petrol and it lives up to that legend. Sweet !

[E60525d]

Originally Posted by Yeltzer

325i every time. Sound some much smoother and for the price differential compared to the MPG difference, its a no brainer!

Sounds a like a honest opinion there from a diesel owner. Me also being a diesel owner, would reccomend the 325i.

[dxb335d]

Why not save a little longer and get a 330i?

[jwbmw]

Originally Posted by MEGA

Yes it is. All I could insure at age 22. What's the excuse for your mid life crisis?


Anyway. The point I was trying to make, was the OP's choice of cars are between the two. So I'd suggest if you think both of his choices are shit: It'd be much more.. you know, decent. To not post up what you did?

Not a mid life crisis! A highly rated car by the motoring press. Anyhow, E class not fast or agile, F10 handles poorly with RFT IMHO and E9X / C class / Audi A4 /5 near end of life.

I stand by my comments and would not chose either. Have driven 320D and it is noisy and has minimal character in its engine. 325i formerly in our fleet did have character but can be gutless in the mid-range.

As Carl just said, save up for the 330i if possible. the extra oomph will make a huge difference.

[PoppyStaff]

Two months ago, I would have said 'BORE OFF DIESEL'.

My 330i is sick and nobody seems to know what the problem is!

I would never buy a BMW petrol engine again. When they work they are great, but mine and plenty of others have a shit load of problems with them. Completely spoiled my driving experience, plus wank after care.

As soon as mine is credible for sale, it's gone.

Audi S4 3.0 TFSI next.

[NFS]

Originally Posted by PoppyStaff

My 330i is sick and nobody seems to know what the problem is!

You have been rather unlucky. Most people do not have problems with the N52 engined 325i / 330i.

Mine never missed a beat in 60k miles.

[RichJ]

N53 330i is another issue as some of us have found out...!!

[Mani59]

I've had a 320d and a 325i (both auto's) previously, and the 325i was miles better than the 320d. If you are after economy, the the diesel is better, but it does sound like a tractor (IMO), but for performace and a better sounding engine as others have mentioned, i'd for for the 325i.

[Swiller]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

Why not save a little longer and get a 330i?

Spot on suggestion. You could also consider 330i se instead of 325i msport. Which will be the same price.
Get one with sports seats and leather.
Remember, the 330i is the same mpg, similar to insure and tax, has better brakes and loads more oomph.

I have one and it is a fucking sensational motor.

[Logic108]

I drive a 320D and thought that it was just o.k when I first had it. I added coilovers (Bistein pss10) and had the obligatory remap. So now I can't recommend it enough. The changes I've made transform the car. If you read the reviews for the Alpina D3 you will see how much motoring journalists and drivers like the car. Well with a few changes on the 320D you can get close to the D3.
So you need to factor in the fact that if you get a 320D you will need to change out the suspension and do some performance upgrades to the car come alive.
BMW have designed the 320D to be economical and to please long-distance motorists. As stock it's not a 'performance' model. With a few changes it comes alive and my modded 320D keeps up with pretty much any other car in normal driving conditions.
Getting a car with more bhp is not always good. You need to consider what the speed limits are on the roads that you drive. It's not a joke to say that getting a 3 litre engine in your car can cause a lot of problems. When you put your foot down in these cars you can be going too fast too soon. This means that to get 'fun' out of the car you will very often be over the speeding limit.
In my 320D I can push it all the way - foot to floor - and still be reasonably in control. I can have fun and control the speed in normal driving conditions.
This is particularly important for me because where I live the speeding fines are related to your income and getting a speeding ticket of over 500 euros is not unheard of - in fact it's common. Plus there is a safety issue - go to fast and lose control and you can cause an accident that might ruin someone's life If you think this is not true then take a look over at the pistonheads forum to hear stories about this.
So I would say that the point is not to get the 'fastest' car. Where does it stop? Save for a 330i or continue saving for an M3? The point is that you need to get the car with the right mix of qualities.
1. It should be a safe car to drive.
2. The speed should come in manageable amounts.
3. For fun you will get more out of a decent wheels and suspension set-up than you will just bhp figures.
4. It should be economical to run - and insure and have a decent resale value.

Changes for my 320D that make it fit into the above 4:
Coilovers - safety and fun. Remap - more speed but still manageable 195bhp/411nm (0-60 in 7.5 seconds) plus still economical to run. Future upgrades - Quaife LSD and sways and bushings - safety + fun.

So yeah the 320D is a bit boring as stock - it was designed that way. But with a few upgrades that improve safety and fun then it's a stunning car - perhaps all that is needed in a car for mixed street and motorway driving. Make a few mods and you have close to an Alpina D3 which is rated 15/20 on topgear and received a lot of praise from Evo. The 325i is great car too but getting a 6 cylinder car is not always the best way to go.

[Cocktails]

Originally Posted by Logic108

Getting a car with more bhp is not always good. You need to consider what the speed limits are on the roads that you drive. It's not a joke to say that getting a 3 litre engine in your car can cause a lot of problems. When you put your foot down in these cars you can be going too fast too soon. This means that to get 'fun' out of the car you will very often be over the speeding limit.
In my 320D I can push it all the way - foot to floor - and still be reasonably in control. So I would say that the point is not to get the 'fastest' car. Where does it stop? Save for a 330i or continue saving for an M3? The point is that you need to get the car with the right mix of qualities.
1. It should be a safe car to drive.
2. The speed should come in manageable amounts.
3. For fun you will get more out of a decent wheels and suspension set-up than you will just bhp figures.
4. It should be economical to run - and insure and have a decent resale value.

Changes for my 320D that make it fit into the above 4:
Coilovers - safety and fun. Remap - more speed but still manageable 195bhp/411nm (0-60 in 7.5 seconds) plus still economical to run. Future upgrades - Quaife LSD and sways and bushings - safety + fun.

.

I would like to tastefully disagree with almost all of the above........ Whilst I agree that you can ruin lives with too much speed, you could achieve that in a 1 litre diesel corsa if you drove like a prick (foot to the floor).
If you have 3 litres, you have a smoother, more controlable amount of power. Of course you will have people drive like they stole it but with the traffic on our roads thats rarely possible. I just chopped in my Lexus IS200 which was painfully underpowered and resulted in me driving by pushing it all of the way - foot to the floor...... I then drove a 335i and it changed my driving style... Yes, you can drive like an idiot, but the knowledge that you have the power in case you need it made me smoother and safer instantly. I would strongly recommend a more powerful car but not neccesarily tune it. There is power if you need it but smoother and safer in normal driving mode.

[kaishang]

Originally Posted by Cocktails

I would like to tastefully disagree with almost all of the above........ Whilst I agree that you can ruin lives with too much speed, you could achieve that in a 1 litre diesel corsa if you drove like a prick (foot to the floor).
If you have 3 litres, you have a smoother, more controlable amount of power. Of course you will have people drive like they stole it but with the traffic on our roads thats rarely possible. I just chopped in my Lexus IS200 which was painfully underpowered and resulted in me driving by pushing it all of the way - foot to the floor...... I then drove a 335i and it changed my driving style... Yes, you can drive like an idiot, but the knowledge that you have the power in case you need it made me smoother and safer instantly. I would strongly recommend a more powerful car but not neccesarily tune it. There is power if you need it but smoother and safer in normal driving mode.

+1

More power equals:
1. More in reserve and more relaxing to drive. It's a lot of work driving a 1.5 litre car all day on the open road. 3 litires (or 2.5 in this case) is effortless.
2. Easier to overtake; more overtaking opportunities. Not overtaking like an idiot but getting up to overtaking speed and back onto the correct side of the road in a shorter distance.

I also don't personally like the idea of spnding a large amount of money on a 4-cylinder car. It would annoy me every time I got in the car. As I mentioned above, if I was limited to 4-cylinders, I'd get a Honda Civic as I think I'd enjoy it more than a 4-cyl BMW.

[beemerbird]

Originally Posted by Cocktails

I would like to tastefully disagree with almost all of the above........ Whilst I agree that you can ruin lives with too much speed, you could achieve that in a 1 litre diesel corsa if you drove like a prick (foot to the floor).
If you have 3 litres, you have a smoother, more controlable amount of power. Of course you will have people drive like they stole it but with the traffic on our roads thats rarely possible. I just chopped in my Lexus IS200 which was painfully underpowered and resulted in me driving by pushing it all of the way - foot to the floor...... I then drove a 335i and it changed my driving style... Yes, you can drive like an idiot, but the knowledge that you have the power in case you need it made me smoother and safer instantly. I would strongly recommend a more powerful car but not neccesarily tune it. There is power if you need it but smoother and safer in normal driving mode.

+2.

O/P - FWIW I'd try and stretch to a 330i. I realise PoppyStaff is very unfortunately having problems with his but then Paul (M3Fast) had problems with his 325i engine. Like NFS, I had an E90 330i (06) and had no problems at all, although I only did 13k miles from new before I got the 335d.

My thoughts are that the 330i requires a degree of revving to get the most out of it so would assume the 325i needs to be worked harder still. The extra bhp in the 330i would always be welcome for my driving, but that's just my choice. It does sound nice and is silky smooth.

[philreid]

I have a 325i (albeit the 3L one) and it's brilliant. If you can get that AND a higher spec then I'd recommend it. I also test drove the 325i 2.5L and I couldn't really tell the difference between them in terms of drive quality.

BUT you mentioned the fueling system.

I have had shocking problems with my car, it has been in FOUR times for new injectors, coils, plugs, O2 sensor, software upgrade and some kind of retune. Other than that, the car is a dream and is now back up and running properly since I got the Service Manager involved. Different engine from the one you're considering though.

[Vaheed1]

Originally Posted by jwbmw

Faster than your rep mobile

That's what the 's' driver thought this morning...until I left him for shit. Lol!

[Vaheed1]

In regards to the speed issue/argument - it's the same principle as having a gun. It's there, but it will never use itself. If you have more power, then the trigger is your foot.

Safe driving all

[Cocktails]

huh?!

[dxb335d]

Miss daisy.

[jwbmw]

Originally Posted by Vaheed1

That's what the 's' driver thought this morning...until I left him for shit. Lol!

Driving a 320D were you and what do you mean by 'S'?

[Vaheed1]

Originally Posted by jwbmw

Driving a 320D were you and what do you mean by 'S'?

No, 30, The 'S' is Jags Twin turbo diesel engine. Without sounding bitchy, i'm quite not sure why the Jag has had so much ass licking off the press. When I drove the xf (3.0 diesel) it felt like a boat. The 5 is miles better as a drivers car IMO. Although, I have a feeling the 'R' will be pretty good, as the last generation Jags in 'R' disguise were allot better than bog standard models.