Been looking at getting away from Imprezas for a bit. Whos had experience of these? Looking at either a 325i or a 330ci. It wont be an everyday car just something for the weekend

 

i had a 330ci really liked it only thing i didnt like was the winter could hardly get out my street some days

 

I had a 330CD, awesome daily driver really nice place to be, but as said completely useless in snow...

 

Not long got rid of a 325i Coupe. Really nice drive, complete opposite to the Scooby but look out for rear subframe problems. Its a VERY common fault on these and VERY expensive to rectify.

Their pretty nippy aswell, off the top of my head I think the 325i coupe is around the 197bhp mark standard

As prev stated, fun but useless in the snow!

 

The wife had a 320d as a company car, had loads of room very smooth good on fuel and munched up the miles nicely but would I buy one???? No a bit to bland IMO
A more sporty version might be a different story though.

 

I went from a 2003 impreza sti ppp to a 2004 bwm e46 325ise, it was the biggest mistake i have ever made, after only 2 weeks i was wishing i had kept the sti, don't get me wrong though i'm not saying the e46 was a bad car, in fact it was a very good car for day to day motoring with great build quality and nice smooth ride, but as others have said on icy roads it was virtually imposible to drive and compared to the sti it was bland and rather boring, i found myself yearning for another subaru i tried to ignore this and managed to for a year but the yearning for another subaru just wouldnt go away so i sold the e46 and bought a spec c.

 

Calvin,
A mate has just bought a 330 touring and I had a spin in it last week. It's at the other end of the performance spectrum to the impreza. It's comfortable, quiet, refined and does push you back in the seat when you hit the loud pedal BUT there's none of the "slap in the face fun" you get with the Impreza. It's raw power versus refined power.

Same can be said of my 350z. Nice engine note, comfortable, easy on the eye etc etc but it's a totally different experience. My particular jury is still out on whether I made the right decision on selling my WRX.

Everyone is different Calv and you only live once, if you want to go for it, go for it!

The worst that can happen is that you'll have to sell the BMW and look for another Impreza

 

Well said exactly what we did just sold our 320d msport to get another scoob had race chip on ours was no slouch, but as soon as roads were wet goodbye back end

 

Been there, done that! As good as my M5 was, it was just no Scoob

Calvin will be keeping the Scoob as well

 

Cheers guys. Just to clarify what Merv said though i will be keeping my Scoob but it will be a Track/fun weekend car so want something like the BMW to be a bit comfy

 

What's happenning with the Scoob now Calv - Where you at with it

 

Should be painting the interior next weekend and then its the seals on the box and MOT and i'll be back. My roll cage has been delayed but i dont need it that urgently. Started it up last week for the first time in 3 months and sparked in to life first turn **** me its loud

 

I changed from my Y Plate Turbo 2000 to a 51 Plate 330 Ci M-Sport and to this day i still think the BMW was one of the best cars ive ever had and the only reason i got rid of it was i was doing a 50 mile each way commute to work. i still regret having to get rid of it

It had more than enough performance for me, it was turbine smooth acceleration and handled rather well, i cant say i had any real back end sliding moments when the stability system was in use, when you turn both stages of that off though it did get rather frisky and at the time if i remember rightly i could fill the tank , go from cardiff to luton, then to buckinghamshire and then back to cardiff via the m40 m42 and m5 with out needing a refill. when i got out of the car after that drive i felt as fresh as when i got in with no aches.

The cons were that it wasnt cheap on fuel for every day use ( this was back when it was a pound a litre) the servicing was expensive even with an independant specialist as they have different oil service, inspection one and inspection two services. Parts for the M sport and clubsport editions are not always the same as the standard Ci (i had to replace suspension arms which wasnt cheap)

overall i think they are a cracking car and would love to have another

cheers

ian

 

E46's are good, but all the comments above are true. Get a genuine M-sport one with better wheels, dampers and bushes. Lots of E46's have rusty arches now (BM common fault) also front wishbone bushes go for a pastime and genuine ones are not cheap. Most are not that new now so double check everything! (Wheel bearings, bushes etc) Oh, I've seen 2 e46's lately with seizing calipers as well..

 

Well ive been to Test drive a 330ci Cabriolet this week and i have to say im very impressed Took it on a good 25min test drive so i could see what was what on the car and see if i liked it. The car i drove was the M sport spec but with upgraded 19" alloys. The ride was smooth as silk and the engine was wisper quiet even with the roof down you could hardly hear it The only thing that put me off this particular one was that it was 114.000 miles but did have full BMW service history. Really looking for a bit lower than that so the search goes on. Also got around 31mpg on the motorway at 80mph in 6th Not too bad for a 3.0 straight 6

 

i had a 55 plate 330CI very very good fantastic sound but may aswell go for the 2.5ci not much difference

 

Thats the other option mate. Just depends if i can find one i like. Im quite fussy

 

seriously buddy im the only thing stopping me going back to bmw again is thinking of the winter! im very very very fussy too and 325ci im pretty sure the bhp is not that different both sound wicked but has to be auto rather then man on this one! hope it helps a little

 

As for winter in a RWD car, you need proper winter tyres apparently (again according to both my mates who drive BMW's). Makes a big difference to how "safe" a beemer is in the snow.

 

If the snow makes an appearence then the Scoob will be called in to action Dont fancy RWD in the snow at all unless im on an airfield

 

Cheers for the input mate. Im going to go for the Auto aswell. Think it will be even more smoother than the manual. I have seen a very good spec 330ci cab at a very good price so im off to see it soon

 

lol your love it in auto mate sounds the **** i had a hard top im sure your love it there wicked cars just up rate the expansion tank the only advise!!

 

Worth looking at a 330cd mate, with a re-map it will have more power and a lot more torque than the petrol version and also do better MPG...

 

They are slightly above my budget Dean. 330's are a bit of a bargain at the minute

 

we have got a 02 330 ci beemer with the se pack and has 72000 on the clock brilliant condition really comfy does about 23/24 round town bit more than my scoob, then it does about 28/29 minimum on a run at steady speed of say 70......weell equipped car ..

 

Just one thing to watch out for, the earlier e46's do seem to suffer from corrosion to the wheel arches front and back

 

Yeah i have noticed that on a couple. Im down to a choice of 2 now. One on an 03 plate and one on a 52 Insurance a fair bit cheaper than the Scoob too surprisingly