After a few opinions on these as i might get one BUT only in the manual form.

Cheers in advance WW

Ive got a new one and jumping from a p1 to this is a big difference.

You cant compare the 2 but the bmw is so well made you wont go wrong.

I strongly advice you do get an auto.

Your the first person who has said to me get the auto box !!!

Top Gear slated/hated the auto and reviews have said its best suited to
the 3.0 ltr diesel.

What makes you go for the auto then ?

I had an auto one and it was excellent. The trouble with manual big engine BMW's is that the engine revs too long and smooth during gear change.

The auto is a tiptronic type and doesnt make much difference to the performance.

Go for the auto.

Hey WW - you've had enough cars - public transport for you mate!:D So Gordon Brown says anyway!

Ive drove a manual and it just dont suit the type of car it is.

With the auto you just sit back and chill.

You can use the auto box as a manual aswell.

how much are these cars new??

IMO they look sooooo good, especially in black:D:D

Dealer price for the manual is 30,375 and auto is 31,595
You should be able to haggle a bit though or even go for a parallel import. Get the silver interior, not the wooden!

Haggle with a BMW dealer, you'll be lucky!

No need for me to haggle with a dealer i wont be buying new !
I should get a 12 month old one for approx 24k, i'll let someone
else lose the intial bit of money.

Looks like i need to try a steptronic out but i do prefer manuals.

A mate has got one in silver, manual and he's get 28/30 mpg round
town ( and not slow either )amazing for a 3ltr !!
He replaced his back tyres last week cost him a cool £565 for
them :eek: So i'll make sure i'll be checking the the tyres all round first LOL :D

Anything else to look out for apart from tyres ??

CJT where u been hiding fella ?

£565 for 2 rear tyres. He was robbed big time!! Unless it was a Diablo.

PEE1, Na mate its a BM did you not see that ?? :p

255/35/18/Z tyres are not cheap, well i suppose you could buy cheaper
than Michelin but i'm sure he went for the OE spec.

Can you get Michelin's cheap then ? just incase i might need some ?

Auto everytime. Its such a sweet gear box.

When you come to sell, it will be difficult to shift a manual.

BTW, Top Gear - the most inconsistent magazine in the world!!! I have always read positive things about this auto box in the other press.

That price for tyres is way high!!! My Michelin Pilot Sports for the E46 M3, 255 35 19 cost £500, and £450 for the front.

I used to have a E36 328 sport (255, 17"), and the rears cost £190.





[Edited by Skittles - 9/15/2003 8:59:16 PM]

I test drove the 330 but ended up with a 5 series as i found the roof line too low in the 3....anyway GET THE AUTO.

quite frankly, you would be mad to buy a manual- in every sense from daily driveability through to resale. The steptronic mode is as good as manual in most cases and in some instances is better, and if you are in auto and need to boot it i cant imagine anyone changing gear quicker than the kickdown does.....and if you can who wants to? its like saying do away with you starter engine and fit a crank handle so you dont have to get in to start it up...yeah great!

persoanly anything over 3 litres that is not a sports car (proper sports car) should be auto.

T

fyi

Michelin Pilot SPORT 255/35 ZR18 94Y =£199 each inc vat

or

Dunlop SP SPORT 9000 255/35 ZR18 ZR MFS =£157 inc vat

on

www.mytyres.co.uk

Have to agree auto is good, had a 328i Steptronic auto saloon and then a 330i cab manual 5 speed.

The steptronic, is a really good auto, smooth changes, holds gears well in the sport mode for winding roads, two step kickdown easy just to flex your right foot a tiny bit to drop one gear not two, down to the floor and it will drop 2 or 3 very quickly.Manual override easy to use and not much delay in action. Great everyday compromise for a good auto that can do some manual features, also has a much higher top gear for more relaxed crusing than the manual (better mpg on a long run).

I used to knock the box into sport on winding roads over ride to 2nd or 3rd for some corners then knock it back to auto and some times change down for over taking manually, mingling the best of both worlds. Easier to use than the merc speed tronic (no sport option on most) and the porsche tiptronic (which annoyingly has no sport function as well).

The 5 speed manual was a good manual box with a light yet progressive clutch. It is a fraction quicker than the auto and has a slightly better spread of ratios for performance driving , but in real life motoring I would probably have been as quick if not quicker almost everywhere in the auto using the kick down and anyway the ratios aren't that importanat as the 330 engine has almost linear power from low down all the way up, so smmooth to the red line. The 5th gear was just a little low for really relaxed high speed cruising which was a shame as the car is a very good high speed cruiser, although newer cars have a 6 speed box.

Great cars.

PS for resale you can't beat an cab, little bit slower, but good cars almost as much room as the coupe, very good hood and with a wind deflector you can drive around cosy and warm even when its down near zero (as long as its dry :D)

Skittles,

:confused: So autos are harder to sell ?

I did get the price wrong on my mates tyres !!! It was £465 fitted
not £565, @ a local fitting centre.

Gonna stick to a manual as i prefer to be in control, well rear
wheel drive sounds better suited to a manual box for the fun
factor !! :D

Mate, sorry for the confusion - my typing!

I meant to say - Manual is more difficult to sell, with a 3l engine!

Will edit my original post!

One of the reasons we went for the 325 Sport over the 330 was the gearbox, apparently 70% of new 330 sport are auto against more manuals for the 325, so if you've got a manual its going to be harder to shift.

The 325 isn't too much slower than the 330 because of its shorter gearing, obviously you will notice the 330's extra grunt from 80mph +.

"Gonna stick to a manual as i prefer to be in control"

with the traction off i can drift my 540 auto with ease....i would no more buy a manual than i would buy a car with manual windows, choke, stero tuning, door locking, etc, etc.

You must drive an auto first or you are mad!

T

:D

My biggest criticism of the lastest 3-series in terms of driving is the Fly-by-wire-throttle seems to be a little slow in reacting on some occasions. Autobox does'nt help matters when you want to pull away sharpish either.

You notice the most when you try and power slide (traction control off :D)out of a sharp bend - you just don't quite get the same throttle control.

This from a 325 perspective, but I doubt the 330 would be any different. (apart from oomph ;))

Autobox is as good as they get, Probably why the same box is in the Mercs and Jags ;) But it does'nt give you 100% control and has rather tall-ratios in the low gears so you don't get quite the same kick out of driving it as the manual

Mmmmm wot bmw e model was the 328, and whats the 328 e36 auto like.

I tried a 330d auto and hated it, braking for a corner, then accelerating and you got a horrible pause while it downshifted to 2nd.

Putting it into manual and downshifting yourself was much better.

regards,

greg

328 came out as an e36 and continued into the e46 until the 330 succeded it.