chiark

I've been and gone and done it. The thing that I thought I'd never do. The thing that my mum will disown me for...

I've bought a BMW.

Worse still, it's a coal fired stove. Some people call them diesels.

Final insult? It's a 3 series touring with the m-sport styling pack. A dressed up tarty pimp diesel. And bloody estate too! I couldn't join the grandad set and have an automatic tho - I drew the line there.

What caused the madness then?

I needed something cheaper to run, and am not disappointed so far. Insurance for scoob? nigh on 800 quid. Insurance for this? £345.02. Consumption so far? 44.1, despite driving like a hooligan in places . This will go down as I get a bit more "enthusiastic".

My perception of advantages over the scoob:
+driving position. Bloody perfect.
+seats (sports thingies, cloth/alcantera, adjustable every way til wednesday)
+every control/piece of switchgear. Subaru should learn from this, and this is the old e46 shape FFS! The whole "interface" thing is just right.
+cost of ownership is stupidly cheap compared to WRX
+steering feel/weighting/... Everything to do with steering
+handling. Seriously superb.
+Shedloads of low down torque
+Nice noise from straight six. Can talk to people on the motorway without shouting
+ease of getting straight line performance out of the engine
+fun in the twisties

Disadvantages
-Image.
-Game over at 4,500 rpm
-No burble, so the wife can't hear me coming into the estate
-Image
-Rear tyres will be eaten by having fun. 255/35 R18s will not be cheap!
-Image
-Crap in the snow.
-Takes driver skill to drive well. I don't think I've got this yet
-hence not yet as fast in the twisties
-Image

Horses for courses I suppose. Having had scoobs for night on 6 years it was time for a change, and at the moment I'm chuffed to bits with the new toy

Bobby Peru

Makes me laugh when people have issues with the insurance they pay, I am 32, 4 yrs NCB and still pay £2000 and have an excess of £1350, it comes with living in Liverpool I'm afraid. I would love to have insurance of less than £1000 p/a, let alone £350!!

chiark

Flamin 'eck Bobby, that's scandalous!!!

My priorities in life have changed tho, what with becoming a father. The money saved a month from running this car can be ploughed into stuff for the future... And I'm still getting a car that's superb fun to drive. When I started out looking for a replacement, I didn't expect to find anything I'd want to drive nearly as much as the scoob - I only tested a BMW 330D to write it off the list. Unfortunately it was too bloody good

I couldn't justify paying 2 grand insurance, I just couldn't... Glad you can, and that you're enjoying your car!

MattOz

Good Lad!!

Glad to hear that you're mostly happy with your new toy. Enjoy!

Matt

Bobby Peru

Chiark, don't have much choice mate, Liverpool has the highest insurance premiums in the country, if I want to drive a nice car, I have to pay accordingly.

You should have seen the quote I had on a TME!!!

Brendan Hughes

Definitely one of the more memorable thread titles in ages

Hope you like it as much as most people seem to

Old_Fart

How'd you get the fog lamps to turn off for that picture Nick?
Enjoy it mate, every now and then I think about getting a cheaper car to run, but then I can't figure out where it would fit on the drive with all the other 20mpg ones already sitting there
Cman

wbm3

Just fit winter tyres, use them all winter. Much better in the wet and good in snow.

chiark

C,
The switch took some force, but I got it off in the end
The thing that amazes me is the quality of the switchgear... Even tho it's three years old, the indicator stalk feels like it has never been used.

wmb3, I'm currently trying to find sensibly priced 17" wheels, or even 16s, to put some winter tyres on... If anyone knows anyone who's upgraded, give me a shout

As for the name, well, the car's getting used to it. I think it sees it as a term of endearment

Tidgy

ban him from the site quick!!!!!!! lmao, i'll give it two weeks until your pulling out on people etc etc lol.

all joking aside though, looks like a nice mota mate.

chiark

If I don't pull out on people, no-one's exactly going to wave me out are they?

I'm conscientiously trying to be an exceedingly considerate driver to compensate for the "BMW=tossa" assumption. It might be a piddle in the ocean, but I feel I'm doing my bit

MattOz

Nick,

That's probably because it's a BMW and they never get used anyway! LOL

Matt

Brendan Hughes

Wow - the original owner specified an indicator switch? you were lucky!

chiark

Ta daaaaa Thank you, I'll be here all week

Sith

Chiark, nice car. I give you two weeks before you go here http://www.auto-amd.com/bmw330d.asp

David_Wallis

PMSL..

looks nice nick.. just ditch that cheap irish plate.

PS.. could do with my helmet back at some point (no purple jokes please!)

PS I thought leeds was one of the worst places for car insurance..

What Nick isnt saying however is:

He asked myself and steven (p20spd) what mods we would make to his scoob.. we both said forget it. Sell it.

David

chiark

I'm keeping the irish plate for the moment - can change it to a 51 plate at any time. It is from northern ireland, hence the ni plate

I'll slip you the helmet this weekend if you're ready to take it.

And you're right... My scoob wasn't that rapid and was costing too much money for what it was, so its days were numbered

AMD? Van aaken? Never heard of 'em

David_Wallis

sounds good, you can then take me out for a spin

I might be over your neck of the woods tomorrow evenin so may just pop round if your about.. will call you anyway.

AMDs looking good

David

chiark

Drop off an aerial while you're around then

Turn off the TC and I think I would be spinning it . Need to find a bloody large wet carpark to play in.

AMD is looking good... Damn!

MattOz

Or you could possibly try http://www.dmsautomotive.com

Matt

Edcase

chiark

Matt, Sith, everyone... You've not met my good lady wife, have you? David has, that's why he's keeping conspicuously quiet

David_Wallis

MadMark

I know the guys at AmD very well having taken my cars there for the last (gulp) 12 years! Very thorough and Geoff Everett (who does the chips) is an ex-Technical Director of BMW GB.

I think the 330D goes from 204 bhp to 250-260 .... and the torque from 300lb/ft to at least 360lb/ft and I have heard of cars hitting 400lb/ft!

Evo Magazine recently tested a "West Tuning" car with similar programming to Amd and it reeled off the 0-60 in 5.9 seconds and 0-100 in 15!

Enjoy being practical ....

chiark

Thanks Mark, that's good to know. I'll dig through the Evo archives for a review of that one... Mine's one of the older 330Ds which is 188bhp / 288lb/ft, but by the sounds of it a 20% increase in torque and power could be expected. And that's without knackering fuel economy either!

Practicality has its advantages . I think my wife noticed this yesterday when I got home with a huuuuge grin on my face

She thinks that the steering is too heavy, and that the wheel is too chunky. Ah well.

brickboy

Just remember when you're at the Shell station:

Optimax is BAD

Diesel Extra is GOOD

Welcome to the sooty side of the street

Chris L

Nice looking car Chiark - I have a similar problem with BMs, but I know that if I was going to have one, it would be the 330D. I was seriously impressed with Matt's car.