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Post by Sav on Oct 6, 2018 23:09:08 GMT
This is the first 3-Series where I don’t prefer the M Sport. There are too many sharp lines on the front bumper. I prefer the Sport. Interesting that the M Sport in the press shots has Michelin PS4S tyres. The F30 had OEM Super Sports later in its life, but confusingly in Europe, only on non M Sport wheels.
I think the exterior and interior have been partly influenced by the success of the C-Class. The G20 looks like a fab place to spend time.
The kidney grille on the M340i looks terrible, looks like the diamond grille seen on many Merc's now. The loss of round exhaust tips in silver is a great shame. I hope it has RWD as standard. Not sure what power output of the European version will be. I say that because the US Z4 40i has 382 hp, the European version only has 340 hp - thanks to increasingly stringent regulations over here.
I liked the fact that apart from the tail-pipe arrangement, the 340i looked the same as other M Sport 3er's. This M340i shouts exactly what it is, I don't prefer that. Of course, BMW are only doing what Audi and Merc do with their S and semi AMG models respectively.
I see that stick shifts are standard on the lower-powered models, but auto-only from 330i upwards. I find that a shame. Maybe I should be grateful that BMW stuck with manuals for as long as they did with things like the 340i. In terms of manual gear shift design, the shifter goes back to a design more like the M Sport E87, E90 and E60 models – I was eager to see it on the configurator. Hopefully a G80 M3 manual is possible. I think it would be the last, as cars like this will need to be hybridised in the future – can’t see a way around it. BMW’s outgoing M boss said that manuals will remain for the short-term, so hopefully….
The S55 was perhaps the worst-sounding BMW engine of all time; I’m hoping that the S58 in the M3 sounds like a proper BMW six, not a collection of farts and harsh shrieks.
Looking forward to seeing the G20 in the flesh. The E30, E46 and F30 are my favourite-looking 3er’s. The E46 being the best, I really liked the F30 particularly in M Sport guise. I hope a RWD 2-Series sedan comes out. Six cylinders, B58 and S58 offered, manual and auto. Surely BMW need something to counter the A-Class and A3 Saloons.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2018 8:15:36 GMT
Well, that was a riveting read...
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Post by johnc on Oct 7, 2018 12:09:18 GMT
The M340i will be XDrive with 374hp according to the BMW website when you scroll down to the M340i.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2018 14:38:59 GMT
Aah, I was really hoping it would be manual and RWD, even though I'll never buy one along with everyone else, apart from three hands who spout shite on the PH forums all day.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2018 10:23:51 GMT
Talking of 3 series, I was driven in a very nice low mileage E46 the other week and was reminded what I nice car it was felt nice on the road and still with no interior rattles. With my spotter's hat on it was a 320d ES (you remember, boggo but with air con, M sport alloys, gear nob and steering wheel etc). Just felt right up front but not much room in the back!
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Post by Tim on Oct 9, 2018 12:28:05 GMT
Talking of 3 series, I was driven in a very nice low mileage E46 the other week and was reminded what I nice car it was felt nice on the road and still with no interior rattles. With my spotter's hat on it was a 320d ES (you remember, boggo but with air con, M sport alloys, gear nob and steering wheel etc). Just felt right up front but not much room in the back!
My first one was like that except it had the 7 spoke 16 inch wheels. It felt pretty solid though.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2018 12:38:17 GMT
Talking of 3 series, I was driven in a very nice low mileage E46 the other week and was reminded what I nice car it was felt nice on the road and still with no interior rattles. With my spotter's hat on it was a 320d ES (you remember, boggo but with air con, M sport alloys, gear nob and steering wheel etc). Just felt right up front but not much room in the back!
My first one was like that except it had the 7 spoke 16 inch wheels. It felt pretty solid though.
I remember a colleague getting one and me punting it through roundabouts before I handed it over - at the time I thought it was all the car you ever needed. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2018 12:43:06 GMT
Til the back wheels fell off anyway...
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Post by Tim on Oct 9, 2018 12:51:35 GMT
When I got mine it had 60k miles all at the hands of an elderly owner from Pitlochry.
I think the rear tyres may have been original as they certainly had zero grip on wet roundabouts. Which was fun for a while.....
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Post by Big Blue on Oct 16, 2018 11:02:21 GMT
I am into year 21 of my E46 love affair, having had one brand new and still punting about in one now for the nursery run and occasional errand. The 323i is just so calm and smooth and the engine so quiet that when I stop at the lights I look down at the rev counter to make sure it hasn't just died!
Every time I offer W2.0 a new car she dismisses me with claims that the E46 is all the car she needs and when T5 stops nursery next year and goes to school it will virtually unused as school is walking distance. I had to drop something off at the weekend locally and took it out on my own. It's hard to disagree wit her on the "all she needs" front.
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Post by johnc on Oct 16, 2018 12:45:00 GMT
I reckon the E46 was a real success for BMW and all those lucky enough to own one. It was well built, strong, reliable, communicative and fun. I remember one drive I had to Tighnabruaich when I really pushed the car way harder than I would normally on public roads and it lapped it all up, communicating through the steering and the seat of my pants and covering ground at a remarkable speed. I had serious respect for it after that.
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Post by Big Blue on Oct 16, 2018 13:13:53 GMT
I reckon the E46 was a real success for BMW and all those lucky enough to own one. It was well built, strong, reliable, communicative and fun. Yep. The E46 was developed off the phenomenal success of the E36 which blew E30 sales figures out of the water and became the company car of choice in the early-mid '90s. This allowed the development team of the E46 to blow whatever budgets had been originally set as the cash was available and the E46 would have to see off a newly developed A4 and improving Passat (the c-class back then hadn't yet been become desirable in the yuppie community) in the increasing fleet market. It was also developed at a time of massive manufacturing improvements and I remember having an E36 followed by and E46 followed by an E39. The E39 was, of course, probably the greatest all-round car of its generation and voted as such by various journals year after year but the E46 was a much better proposition but had less room inside and in the boot. |
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Post by Tim on Oct 16, 2018 13:18:54 GMT
I think the E46 must've been the peak for BMW then as the F30 (I haven't driven an E90) isn't as distinctive somehow.
Even my povvo spec ones were memorable, even the 2nd one at 210k miles.
I also drove a couple of my brother-in-law's, an early 320Ci with the 2.2 litre 6 pot (and intergalactic gearing that spoilt it somewhat) and a 2004 330Ci that had 170k miles on it and felt as good as the day it left the factory.
In fact I have a hankering for one of those even now.
I was at the classic auctions at Errol in May and 2 ex-Japanese 330Cis, sadly with a slushbox, went through and made good money.
They didn't even look bad in white.
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Post by Boxer6 on Oct 16, 2018 18:17:42 GMT
I think the E46 must've been the peak for BMW then as the F30 (I haven't driven an E90) isn't as distinctive somehow. Even my povvo spec ones were memorable, even the 2nd one at 210k miles. I also drove a couple of my brother-in-law's, an early 320Ci with the 2.2 litre 6 pot (and intergalactic gearing that spoilt it somewhat) and a 2004 330Ci that had 170k miles on it and felt as good as the day it left the factory. In fact I have a hankering for one of those even now. I was at the classic auctions at Errol in May and 2 ex-Japanese 330Cis, sadly with a slushbox, went through and made good money. They didn't even look bad in white.I was lapping that up, and then .. .. ..  |
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Post by Tim on Oct 17, 2018 9:57:00 GMT
 There must be something about the white they use on Japanese market cars that's different as it actually quite suited them. Maybe the tinted glass helped a little too, it was a mid-tint (in the modern way so not dark enough to be impenetrable). They were also incredibly immaculate, no rust, dents or any other marks.
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Post by johnc on Oct 17, 2018 11:32:25 GMT
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Post by PG on Oct 18, 2018 16:49:08 GMT
Can somebody please drive that round to the current design office of BMW and park it right outside? With a big arrow pointing at it so they can't miss it. |
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Post by racingteatray on Oct 22, 2018 16:43:14 GMT
Agreed.
I like the styling of my 4GC a lot - it's got old-school neat and slinky BMW styling. Needs bigger wheels to look right, but you can say that of most modern designs. Sadly, however, I somehow doubt that the next-generation 4GC will be nearly so easy on the eye.
The detailing is the problem, especially those over-sized grilles. Take the new X3. It's actually rather well-proportioned and handsome if you could ignore the giant buck teeth for a second. But of course you can't.
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Post by Martin on Nov 13, 2018 18:44:01 GMT
M340i information has been released, 367hp, 4WD. 0-62 in 4.4 seconds, M style electronic LSD etc link |
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Post by Tim on Nov 14, 2018 16:06:21 GMT
There must be something about the white they use on Japanese market cars that's different as it actually quite suited them. Maybe the tinted glass helped a little too, it was a mid-tint (in the modern way so not dark enough to be impenetrable). They were also incredibly immaculate, no rust, dents or any other marks. As if by magic one of them is up at the next auction
stock.morrisleslie.com/stock/details?ref=0679HQ85&location=6101
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Post by PG on Nov 15, 2018 12:40:10 GMT
Saw the new 3 series at the Classic Car Show as it was on the BMW club stand, next to all the previous 3 series models. Two thoughts really -
(1) It just reconfirmed that the current designers have clearly never seen an E46, or else they'd be too embarrassed to be associated with the latest crop of BMW designs.
(2) It just looked absolutely fucking huge. It is probably nearly as big - and certainly as wide I reckon - as a 1990 7 series, leaving the "it's now as big as a 5 series" as out of date.
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Post by Tim on Nov 15, 2018 13:12:06 GMT
Saw the new 3 series at the Classic Car Show as it was on the BMW club stand, next to all the previous 3 series models. Two thoughts really - (1) It just reconfirmed that the current designers have clearly never seen an E46, or else they'd be too embarrassed to be associated with the latest crop of BMW designs. (2) It just looked absolutely fucking huge. It is probably nearly as big - and certainly as wide I reckon - as a 1990 7 series, leaving the "it's now as big as a 5 series" as out of date.
I think its the same size as an E39 5 series now.
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Nov 15, 2018 13:36:20 GMT
Saw the new 3 series at the Classic Car Show as it was on the BMW club stand, next to all the previous 3 series models. Two thoughts really - (1) It just reconfirmed that the current designers have clearly never seen an E46, or else they'd be too embarrassed to be associated with the latest crop of BMW designs. (2) It just looked absolutely fucking huge. It is probably nearly as big - and certainly as wide I reckon - as a 1990 7 series, leaving the "it's now as big as a 5 series" as out of date.
I think its the same size as an E39 5 series now.
I believe so. I still wouldn't consider it a large car though. |
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Post by PetrolEd on Nov 15, 2018 16:50:44 GMT
It looked huge which might have more to do with poor design, the interior looked very good however. Car didn't have much chance when it was parked next to an M3 CSL.
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Post by racingteatray on May 7, 2019 16:19:06 GMT
www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/bmw/3-series/first-drives/bmw-3-series-330i-m-sport-2019-uk-review
Report says "It’s a very hard car to find a serious, reasonably held fault with."
No, it isn't. It's unacceptably fugly. I finally saw one of these on the road at the weekend - parked up. It's not a great piece of design. In a dark colour with dark wheels but a chrome grille it just looked lumpen and odd. Some cars look better in the metal than in photos - on first acquaintance, I don't think this is one of them.
My wife was particularly not keen on the much bigger chrome schnozz, and we both agreed it just looked simultaneously uglier and yet more inherently bland than our 4GC or indeed a normal F30 3 Series - like they unnecessarily exaggerated the styling cues to try and jazz up a boring base design. The sides are a touch jelly mould and the door handle treatment is particularly ugly. The back merely looks like an Audi that someone's had a go at with the tail-light tinting spray.
Still at least it drives well apparently.
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Post by Stuntman on May 7, 2019 19:25:00 GMT
It's a shame when the new generation of a car you currently either own, or aspire to own, no longer holds the same appeal. In which case, you are likely to either keep what you have for much longer, or head towards a competitor's showroom.
Regarding the 3 series - I haven't had a really good look at one up close yet, but to me it looks OK in the magazine pictures both inside and out. It may well indeed have tipped over into 'unacceptably big' territory for the class of vehicle, though.
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Post by Sav on May 7, 2019 23:12:31 GMT
I think it looks better in real life, but its very spec sensitive. It needs to be in M Sport with 19’s to look acceptable to me. Then you have versions like the M340i coming, which has a truly horrendous grille (yes, even worse) and dreadful-looking exhaust exits. Good job you can already get a considerable discount off a 330i, because the full asking price almost matches what a 340i cost a few years ago.
One area that looks terrible is the button layout around the gear lever. It just looks cheap and tacky, something that the next 1-Series also has.
If you do want a smaller G30, wait for the next 2-Series – slightly smaller and sits on the same CLAR platform. They know that the 2-Series Coupe will have limited appeal to the Chinese, so hopefully they won’t fit an overly large grille on it.
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Post by Tim on May 8, 2019 8:05:20 GMT
One area that looks terrible is the button layout around the gear lever. It just looks cheap and tacky, something that the next 1-Series also has. I've thought the whole gearshift area looks quite cheap on the autobox versions of the F30 - there appears to be a plain flat cheap looking bit of plastic around the selector where the manual at least has a leather gaiter. Not actually looked at one in the flesh yet though so maybe its better 'in person'. |
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Post by racingteatray on May 8, 2019 8:49:04 GMT
It's a shame when the new generation of a car you currently either own, or aspire to own, no longer holds the same appeal. In which case, you are likely to either keep what you have for much longer, or head towards a competitor's showroom. The GC's PCP is up in 18 months' time. I have no idea what I'll do yet - at this rate, it'll barely have 25k miles on it at that point as my mileage has really dropped off. There's nothing that really grabs me, so we might just keep it if it remains suitable for our needs. Also, I question whether I'd buy new again. And, as mentioned, price inflation has accelerated massively yet my purchasing power has remained flat, so a like-for-like replacement with a new car would be significantly more expensive.
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Post by ChrisM on May 8, 2019 9:02:24 GMT
^
I share your frustrations ! There is such a rubbish selection of really practical but good-to-drive cars available on the market, and has been for quite a while IMHO.
I also have to take into account insurance costs, which have risen noticeably in the past year. There is still nothing on the market that makes me think "I wish I could afford one of those as my daily driver"
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