I bought a new 320D SE Auto Saloon in April 2007, drove it off the forcourt on to 20,000 miles of motoring perfection.
It has had a litre of oil at around 1,000 miles and not burnt a drop since, I have put in screen wash and checked the tyre pressures now and again - and that's it.
I had the first service last month at the supplying main dealer for a fairly reasonable £230.
I was however told that I needed four new run-flat tyres (it was interesting that front and back had worn at the same rate) and was offered fresh Continentals at £480 fitted. I held on that and found some Hankook run-flats online for £230 and had them fitted and balanced locally for £60, a total saving of £190 and can report that the ride quality is a whole lot better with no detectable loss of grip.
So in summary owning a 3 Series has been a joy and I intend keeping it for another 80K at least.
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Good to hear you're pleased with it.
I had a drive in a friend's 08 plate 320d coupe and was very impressed. The reviews say the 320d is all the car you need for real world driving, and I found myself in complete agreement. His, like yours, has been completely faultless.
Although lots of individual things stood out, what impressed me most was the overall feeling of "rightness" when you drove it. It was a lovely combination of an impressive drivetrain, a beautifully natural driving position, near perfectly weighted pedals and steering, fantastic handling, a knife-through-butter gearbox, and a level of build and finish quality that can only be described as faultless. It's a hell of an all rounder. You can see why it's so popular.
Edited by DP on 12/04/2009 at 00:43
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Do you get many auto 320d's - does the typical MPG take a big hit vs the manual?
We had one "spare" at work a few years ago, although it was an estate, and the company car tax was horrendous due to its quite high Co2 rating and P11D value. It sat there for a year until the lease finished, no-one would take it.
Agree with the "rightness" of these cars - I drove a lowly 318i for a couple of months and it's the only car I've ever had were I deliberately "took the back way home". Even my wife, who really isn't normally the slightest bit interested in driving, started to use it when she could.
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We have an E46 320d compact in the family, previous model i know but basically the same car albeit shorter.
Its supremely economical, very powerful and handles well enough once i'd got through to the owner about cheap nasty tyres (had the thing sideways meself on them for no reason at all) it's had its share of problems, as an early one the turbo went at 45K but was fixed under warranty and apart from regular servicing, brakes and the inevitable front suspension bush replacements its been very reliable, now well over 100K.
The one thing i hate about the car is the ride, its as hard as nails...i don't have man boobs but my chest area set up a bounce on the A14 for goodness sake the ride is that hard, every road imperfection is felt.
Is the saloon as bad as that, and indeed has the newer model improved in ride overall?
I should add the compact is on 205/55 x 16 standard tyres.
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Speaking to an AA man recently because I was thinking of changing my car soon I asked him, "be objective, what do you see most of and what do you see least of on a day to day basis?". His reply was interesting. "Wouldn't have a BMW given. Mercedes aren't as good as they should be. Get called out to loads of VWs and Audis. Usually electrics on those. Hondas are good. As are Mazda and also Nissan. Get plenty of alternator failures on 93s" (which, incidentally, was the fault with mine).
Incidentally, he drove a Seat Leon himself. I asked him why Seats and Skodas seem to be better than VWs and Audis. He reckoned this was because the former two use a different ECU to VW and Audi.
I offer all this not as a judgement but as an observation (particularly the ECU thing as I have no mechanical knowledge - I'm only reporting what he said).
I recently test drove a 320d coupe and thought it was a lovely car. However, I didn't buy it because it didn't quite excite me enough as I'm after a silly mid life crisis car. Don't think it was on run flats but the ride seemed fine to me.
It's interesting, however, that the AA man was very dismissive of BMWs (for reliability reasons I should add, not due to any other sort of prejudice).
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>>Speaking to an AA man recently...............
What?! - no french cars on the list - if you believe most people on here it can only be because they never leave the driveway (except on a trailer?).
p
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I love the Auto, doing a mix of town, country and motorway driving, especially the 'creep' for crawling around South London and those inevitable M25 stop-start days. It does have a semi-auto sports mode if you fancy red-lining and going very very fast.
Economy wise it averages high 30s around town with no deferance to economy with the right foot, on out of town A/B Roads 45 MPG and on Motorways 50+. I once did 60 MPG on a leisurely cruise to Oxford and back.
Turning to reliability, as I say it has been faultless. The family jalopy is a Honda CRV now 6 years old and that has been perfect bar new brake discs and an electrical glitch caused by a replacement radio after our daughter posted 20 coins in the orgional's CD slot. It has done 65K of mainly town work.
My least reliable cars in a long list over the last 20 years were an Escort (1989 model) Freelander (hopeless from new, two years of utter misery), Peugot 306, Citroen Xantia and Citroen ZX. Most reliable were BMW 318 (1999 model), Honda Accord (previous model) an Audi A4 and of course this one.
German or Japanese for me now every time.
Nogoingback
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The newer 'Efficient Dynamics' models from, I think, 08-reg on, are even faster and use even less fuel.
I was tempted, but a bit like the Jag X-type, the BMW was just a bit too much coin for me - nearly £20k for a late used.
So I bought a Focus CC3 and will put the rest of the money in my 'flattening the mortgage early' fund.
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My dads got an 07 318d M-Sport, basically a detuned 320d. Going for its first service on thursday after 19000 miles and not a SINGLE thing needs doing other than the service. Returns 47 mpg no matter how its driven, lovely to drive with an engine that revs like a petrol. Not very swift mind, but I would expect the 177 bhp 320d to be better. Early 318ds only have 120 odd and its quite a big car. Only problem seems to be the paint (met black) scratches easily and the 18' wheels are ridiculously easy to kerb. Oh, and the turbos quite whistley but it seems to be a trait. We'll see.
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I'd love one but I don't think I do enough miles to justify one. Love Diesel torque though and love my little Fabia VRS. However when my turbo blew at 35k recently the AA man said the turbos only go this early normally on Beemer Diesels. Is this true? I have hard whispers of unreliability. Sounds a terrific engine though 177 BHP and over 50 mpg. Has anyone tried the 200BHP D3 Alpina?
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Sorry. I forgot. The AA man also said he wouldn't touch anything French!
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Bet that didn't include the lass their president's married to.
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Sorry. I forgot. The AA man also said he wouldn't touch anything French!
Just goes to show how peoples perceptions differ. I was in the camp of 'dodgy french electrics' until I took a deep breath a bought my 407 coupe. Two years in and not a single problem. I wouldn't think twice about getting another french car.
(In fact the only car I've ever really had problems with was a nearly new VW Passat. Got rid after 12 months it was so dire.
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320s of a certain age I think between 01 and 04 - problems were resolved thereafter.
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320s of a certain age I think between 01 and 04 -
I've been keeping abreast of developments on those cos of the 51 plate in the family.
BMW should really have recalled those affected vehicles and fitted upgraded inlet manifolds to all (well those with reasonable service records at least), its left a bad taste in many owner's mouths, the knowledge about all this with car enthusiasts is widespread.
Seems the chaps in the know are cleaning the EGR valve out and replacing the crankase filter/breather on most E46 diesels to help the turbo have a good life, and many are removing the flaps from the inlet manifolds wholesale to be safe.
Those jobs are covered on a BMW forum in step by step photo's with a bit of searching, should imagine they'll be jobs for me to do this spring, filter/breather and EGR that is not the manifold, that was replaced under warranty with the turbo.
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I had a "52 plate" 320TD Compact auto once. It was a lovely car, plenty of torque and very rapid. However, it developed a horrid tinny rattle underneath when pulling away from stand-still. Turned out that the exhaust had cracked around the area of the cat' converter. This was caused (according to the BMW "technician") by the engine trying to turn on it's own axis via the power of 150bhp. This resulted in it almost completely destroying the engine mountings, hence the damage to the exhaust.
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