BMW 320i coupe - thinking of buying

Theboinkmaster

Hello

As the title says over recent weeks I've been looking at this model coupe and have to say the more i see it the more i want one!

Basically I'm in a position to buy a 2nd hand 2007 one in January.

I like the metallic black with m sport kit. After that not sure about extras but think i'd like black leather with aluminium trim but obviously 2nd hand I may have to wait for the right one to come up.

Just curious on what everyone's thoughts are on the car I've chosen both from an aesthetic point of view and driving performance. I can only get the 320i as can't afford the higher models, have seen people complaining about it only being 4 pot but it is about 170bhp - I'm coming from a 07 1.4 golf with 80bhp!

Are there any extras I should look at other than leather? I'm def going to get the m sport kit and black metallic anyway. Don't want a sunroof.

Does a 1 year old represent good value? I could wait another year and get a 07 in Jan 09 what do you think, am I right to suggest a €60k new one would drop €7-10k pa?

Should I look into getting it in NI/UK or approved bmw dealer like joe duffy, anyone have recommendations?

Any comments would be very welcome

xabi

The E46 is a 2.2 6 pot, not usre about the newest model.

X.

Theboinkmaster

Sorry I'm talking about buying the new model 2007, petrol version

AFAIK it's 4 pot 2L with 170bhp right?

fletch

Theboinkmaster wrote:

Sorry I'm talking about buying the new model 2007, petrol version

AFAIK it's 4 pot 2L with 170bhp right?

Yes the E92 is 1995cc with 168bhp

MarkN

Leather and alu trim should not be too hard to find - the M sport comes with alu and unless you have someone who really shouldn't be buying a BMW, it will have leather too.

Thinking about a 335i coupe at the moment myself, nearly bought one this morning actually.. nice car.

The 320i is pretty slow but coming from a 1.4 Golf it will feel fast.

E92

The E90series 320i is really the 318i from the E46. The E46 320i wasn't replaced here(it was in other markets with the 323i, an engine I always felt should have made it's way here), so BMW pulled a fast one and decided to rebadge the old 318i as the 320i, and the old 316i is the current 318i, and the current 316i doesn't exist anywhere else in the world bar here and Turkey.

C_Breeze

MarkN wrote:

Leather and alu trim should not be too hard to find - the M sport comes with alu and unless you have someone who really shouldn't be buying a BMW, it will have leather too.

Thinking about a 335i coupe at the moment myself, nearly bought one this morning actually.. nice car.

The 320i is pretty slow but coming from a 1.4 Golf it will feel fast.

Well lah-dee-dah Mr. S3 , since when is 170 bhp slow? .. especially on irish roads I would consider it more than sufficient and certainly in the top bracket of most cars on the road

unkel

On paper the performance of the E90 2.0l 4 pot is very similar to the E46 2.2l 6 pot. Even power and torque are identical. But max power / torque is reached earlier in the 6 pot. In practice I'd hazard a guess that someone planning to trade in their E46 would be disappointed while test driving the E90

MarkN

C_Breeze wrote:

Well lah-dee-dah Mr. S3 , since when is 170 bhp slow? .. especially on irish roads I would consider it more than sufficient and certainly in the top bracket of most cars on the road

Sorry, you're right, you'll piss all over a 911 turbo in one. :rolleyes:

unkel

Steady lads

It's all relative of course. If you're used to a supercar, then a car doing 0-100km/h in 8s will feel sluggish. If you're used to a 1.4 Golf, it will feel rather quick

Fact is that 8s is faster than most cars on the road in Ireland today

MarkN

Ah no, Unkel is right, but I'm not going to have the car I own held against me to make out a 170 bhp car is some sort of rocket ship

I've driven two E92 320i coupes in the last month and I found them fairly lifeless. You can work them hard of course, but what's the point in having to do that all the time. I'm basing my opinion having driven every petrol engined E92 coupe bar the M3.

38psi

Go with leather that is a must.. heated seats are nice if in your budget otherwise the coupe has a pretty good spec and with the M sport pack you get some nice extras. Think about another colour, I have the sapphire black and its a bit of a nightmare trying to keep clean. Do a bit of legwork with the BMW dealers around and see whats on offer. Frank Keane were pretty good to deal with but dont limit yourself to Dublin..

CarLover

My problem with the 4 pot 320i isn't necessarily speed...although it would bother me quite a bit.

It's about refinement. The coupe reeks of form (and in 6 pot mode substance as well). In 4 pot mode it's all form and no substance.

Forget about the fact that you're coming from a 1.4 Golf. That has nothing to do with it.

Yes...it's a lovely looking car, but it's still bottom of the rung. Ho hum...I fear this will fall on deaf ears.
If you can't afford the 6 pot then personally I would look elsewhere. Forking out that kinda dosh means you love your motors. Forking out that kinda dosh for a motor cos it looks ok is madness in my opinion. I'd bite your right arm off for a 335...but that's cos I appreciate it's performance, engine refinement as well as just looks.
Buying one for anything less than pure snob car nerd factor is a waste of time...there...I've said it...I'm a car snob

Elessar

I'll chime in here:

I drive an E46 320ci that I got in July and it is a fantastic car. If you are going BMW, go for the 6 cylinder. The engine is smooth, more powerful in the lower range and sounds so much nicer than the current 320i 4 pot, not to mention an absolute joy to drive. You'll save yourself a bundle of cash and depreciation than buying a new one. The E46 coupe has not lost its appeal (and imo looks better than the current series) and everyday I drive it, it turns heads. It also has the full black leather sports interior and let me tell you it is the business. Very comfy and suits the BMW well.

Again seriously consider the E46, but if you are determined to pay crazy money for a new beemer, I would agree with the others; don't go lower than the current 325 (lowest 6 pot afaik). Also, save up and get the sports leather (or half leather) not the regular stuff!

Remember, 6 cylinders

legs11

I would by myself a nice honda NSX if i had 40grand plus to spend lads........not a 4 pot Beemer.......my 2 cents.

mick.fr

I have just have one thing to say...2 full tanks a week but, damn the 6 Cyl is good!

omega man

C_Breeze wrote:

Well lah-dee-dah Mr. S3 , since when is 170 bhp slow? .. especially on irish roads I would consider it more than sufficient and certainly in the top bracket of most cars on the road

I detect some jealousy over a certain S3 owner? MarkN you thinking of changing already??? 335i is some machine all the same.

C_Breeze

Nah not jealous at all, i just think he is a bit to "pffffft thats soo sloow because its not over 300bhp" . In all fariness markn , how many turbo 911's do you see each day.

As unkel said, its fatser than most cars driven buy average joe public, so fair play to you that you have an S3 but not most people do and the point I was making is that 170 bhp wouldnt be considered slow by most people.

Ive had the pleasure of having acces to an e36 and e46 m3 .. and have driven them for a good few hundred miles ... having all that power and envious looks sure is a nice novelty , but even though im young and I like speed and all that it was verrry apparant that its more power than you would EVER need on our roads.

MarkN

C_Breeze wrote:

so fair play to you that you have an S3

I think we should get back on topic now, why you had to bring Audi S3s into the thread I will never know, I certainly didn't mention what car I own.

Whether I drive a Punto or a Spider, my opinion is that 170bhp in a car like a BMW coupe is not fast.

If you think that in modern 2007 Ireland, 170 bhp makes you king of the road then you need to open your eyes a bit more that's all.

OP - sorry for your thread being hijacked like this. If you could stretch to the 325 you will really be sitting on top of a much nicer engine which the sound alone could sell it to you.

Omega - thinking of a 335 yep, in "discussions" with Duffys over their 335i coupe demo at the moment.

cancan

MarkN wrote:

If you think that in modern 2007 Ireland, 170 bhp makes you king of the road then you need to open your eyes a bit more that's all.

With that logic, why would you buy and S3 over an Evo 9 which is the same price.
An evo would make mince meat of an S3. If you think that 265bhp makes you king of....
There is always something quicker available for the same money...

CarLover

These threads become pointless after a while.

Decision comes down to form over substance/refinement.

6 cyl is the only way to go for a BMW coupe...but it doesn't stop people from buying the 318Ci in droves (and now the 320i.

Stretch yourself to the 325 as MarkN says. It's well worth it. I have the e46 version and it's a wonderful engine.

fletch

cancan wrote:

With that logic, why would you buy and S3 over an Evo 9 which is the same price.
An evo would make mince meat of an S3. If you think that 265bhp makes you king of....
There is always something quicker available for the same money...

I think Mark was acknowledging that fact....Ireland has a lot of very wealthy people and there is some very fast machinery on our roads nowadays.

MarkN

fletch wrote:

I think Mark was acknowledging that fact....Ireland has a lot of very wealthy people and there is some very fast machinery on our roads nowadays.

Exactly.. my point was, 170 bhp, or 265 for that matter (not that I once brought that into the thread) is not really a big deal in Ireland anymore.

JoeA3

cancan wrote:

With that logic, why would you buy and S3 over an Evo 9 which is the same price.
An evo would make mince meat of an S3. If you think that 265bhp makes you king of....
There is always something quicker available for the same money...

An Evo may well make mincemeat of an S3, but an Evo is an "extreme-machine" and doesn't strike me as the sort of car you could live with on a day to day basis... unlike an S3, which is a very refined and comfortable hatch! So I guess its all about compromise and what you want from a car.

RobAMerc

C_Breeze wrote:

Well lah-dee-dah Mr. S3 , since when is 170 bhp slow? .. especially on irish roads I would consider it more than sufficient and certainly in the top bracket of most cars on the road

This post shows you don't have a clue what your talking about mate.

Firstly about 170bhp being slow - it would be in a dumper truck but it would be outrageously quick in something that weighed the same as go kart - so this is rubbish. markn's statement was relative to a 320 bmw

secondly - ireland is a where you a good bit of grunt as we don't have motorways joining all our main cities and we are left on crappy roads with idiots driving at 80kph "Being safe" all over the place.

Its power which helps you over take cars quickly is it not ? So why is it waisted on our roads? (there are also other good reasons for having lots of it but I doubt I need to go into that too)

E92

If I had the money to buy an E92 in the morning, I wouldn't even consider a 4 cylinder version.

Any time I drive a 6 cylinder BMW I keep wondering to myself why would you want a car with only 4 cylinders? The cars mpg guage gives me the answer though:D !

That said, the stats show that the 320i does 44.1 mpg(I think), and the 325i does around 39 mpg. For such a small penalty, it is so much worth shelling out the extra dosh for a 6 cylinder 325i. Normally a 6 pot will do around 10 mpg worse, so only 5 mpg of a penalty is very reasonable.

It isn't just about power(far from it actually, theres a lot more than mere power than makes an engine good), its the far nicer sound, and far superior refinement that only a 6 cylinder engine can provide. They can tune up 4 cylinder engines, and make them faster than 6 cylinder engines, but they will never sound as good and be as refined as a 6 cylinder engine.

Andrewf20

All models are a compromise in some area, but I think a good all rounder would be a 325ci if financially possible. Human nature usually has us wanting what we dont have - and I feel that the desire for the 6 cylinder way well creep in, a few months down the line.

JHMEG

legs11 wrote:

I would by myself a nice honda NSX if i had 40grand plus to spend lads........not a 4 pot Beemer.......my 2 cents.

I think I'd have to get the NSX over *any* beemer.:D Would like to try out an M5 tho.

youpidou

Bought a new 320i coupe in August. The price difference between 320i and 325i is more than 20.000 euros (!) here in Norway, so the 325 simply wasn't an option.

The negative about the 320i: It doesn't have much torque below 2.500 rpm, which definitely slows you down in first gear. The positive: From 3.000 rpm, the car comes alive and actually has a really nice and sporty sound during acceleration (despite what some posts here indicate).

Another alternative is 320d, which will give you plenty of torque for the stop light starts, but is less involving on open road (having driven 318d and 320d sedan). The 320d is the smarter choice, but I followed my heart this time

Remember: Those 170 HP are only there if you use them - at 6.700 rpm to be precise. You can just as well go for a diesel if you never intend to accelerate at high revs.

E92

youpidou wrote:

Bought a new 320i coupe in August. The price difference between 320i and 325i is more than 20.000 euros (!) here in Norway, so the 325 simply wasn't an option.

The negative about the 320i: It doesn't have much torque below 2.500 rpm, which definitely slows you down in first gear. The positive: From 3.000 rpm, the car comes alive and actually has a really nice and sporty sound during acceleration (despite what some posts here indicate).

Another alternative is 320d, which will give you plenty of torque for the stop light starts, but is less involving on open road (having driven 318d and 320d sedan). The 320d is the smarter choice, but I followed my heart this time

Remember: Those 170 HP are only there if you use them - at 6.700 rpm to be precise. You can just as well go for a diesel if you never intend to accelerate at high revs.

20k is a ridiculous amount of money to be spending for a much sweeter sounding engine! Fortunately the privileges of straight 6 motoring are only 7k more here, still a lot though, but worth it IMHO.

I know diesels have come a long way, I even know that the 320d has more power than the 320i, but I just can't see a diesel Coupé striking the right note! I just don't think diesel is cool enough for a BMW Coupé just yet.

kdevitt

Wouldn't have an issue with a diesel coupe...although they unfortunately only provide them in in automatic I think, and me likes manuals..

Performance is very impressive from them imo, this 335d would edge past my M3 in a sprint...