BMW 3-Series E46 (1998 - 2005) - 330ix - available in the uk?

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Sun 30 Sep 2007 22:58
330ix - available in the uk? - Humperdink
when i was in Belgium I saw an estate BMX 330ix I understand the x means all wheel drive, would this model be available in the UK? if not why not?
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Sun 30 Sep 2007 23:11
BMW - Manatee
My theory would be marketing.

If they sold it here, with an appropriate price differential from the rest of the range, it would be so expensive that they would hardly sell any. The alternative would be to reduce the prices of all the overpriced models they currently sell, which would ruin the super-profits from thei rmost lucrative market - the UK.

I did wonder if the predicted volume doesn't justify the RHD development and tooling, but it seems to work for Audi.

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Sun 30 Sep 2007 23:14
BMW - boxsterboy
It's the same with Mercedes. 4x4 versions of the E class have been available in Europe in the past, but never here - the only non-SUV we get is the elephantine R-class.
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Sun 30 Sep 2007 23:24
BMW - Humperdink
It is really annoying, the only reason I don't have one of these is because they are rear wheel drive and I take the car to europe to the alps alot where rear wheel drive is about as useful as a chocolate teapot!

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Mon 1 Oct 2007 09:57
BMW - Bill Payer
BMW did briefly sell 4WD versions of a previous 5 series. There was quite an interesting feature on one of the motoring programmes where they had people drive both back to back and they couldn't tell any difference!

The Mercedes system simply won't fit in RHD cars. It will be interesting to see if the new GLK (X3 sized) which is C Class based, is offered in the UK.

If you're going to the Alps then fitting proper winter tyres apparently makes a huge difference - on the MB forums there are drivers there who never had to use chains on skiing trips.
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Mon 1 Oct 2007 13:00
BMW - boxsterboy
BP, I can confirm that rwd with snow tyres means you don't need a 4x4. We had some on our E320 and it was superb. I think I have mentioned here before that we had less wheel spin than relatives in their Forester (with standard tyres). Also the extra grip in coldish weather over here means you can leve them on during the winter to get better value from the investment in the tyres.

I heard that the new GLK won't be coming to the UK. This seems an amazing blunder in the MB engineering dept.!
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