430d GranCoupe

[diehardbenzfan]

Picked up my year old 10,000 mile GranCoupe a few weeks ago for 29,400, I adore this car and in my 5 years of driving, I have never owned anything worth more than 2 grand, most expensive being a 1.6 auto Corolla in 2013 when I was 20 years old!

The car has the m sport plus pack so it comes with the Harmon kardon which is absolutely fantastic, the tinted windows (or sun protection glass as Bmw like to call them) , 19 inch alloys and the brakes with the blue calipers. The other 2 extras are the adaptive dampers (really does make a difference between comfort and sport) and a sunroof.

I had to get the car in carbon black in the m sport as I love the contrast between the black windows and the bodywork of the car, also I love the decromed frames of the doors, well not the frames, the gloss black part over the doors.

It has black leather, I personally wanted red leather as it goes well with the carbon black but I couldn't pass this car up because of its price, really was the cheapest out the rest by atleast 2 grand.

I originally wanted a 435d because of the that 4.8 second 0-62 performance figure but the 435's were too much money and after seeing a few on the road, I am quite glad I opted for the 430 as the x drives sit quite a lot higher than the s drives, yes I did my research and found out that you can get the AC springs to lower it and make it sharper but if I'm spending 30 grand, I shouldn't have to go through the effort of buying an after market part and taking it to a garage to fit.

The performance is amazing, I mean the weather hasn't helped my understanding of the car as right now it's either always wet or really cold and icy so I'm not comfortable with the conditions yet but acceleration from day, 20 to 80 are silly, really no need for anything faster for the average petrol head without losing your licence or ending up in a ditch!!

I had come from an ep3 type r and the difference in comfort, well.......speechless.

I'm planning on getting the front windows tinted as I live+work in a relatively small village, I don't want everybody knowing I'm driving such a nice car, some people are jealous and this car is extremely precious to me.

I was also planning on getting 20 inch multi spoke c13 style alloy wheels for it until I realised they cost 3 grand and there are no replicas so I'll stick to the 19's for now until I find another set that appeal to me as much as the Alpinas.

I also have a question for some of you guys with new bmws, is there any way I can put the car in sport mode with it leaving the gearbox in normal mode? I love the ride and tightness of sport mode but hate the fact the gearbox holds on to gears, I'd be cruising at 40 and the clatter from the Diesel is quite annoying, I could use manual mode and change it up but as an 8 speed, I'd have to change up and down too many times.

I have no real plans for the car as it's perfect as it is but I just wanted to share all that as my brother and dad are sick of me talking about it and non of my friends are petrol heads!

Thanks!

[diehardbenzfan]

[M1C]

Looks very nice, congratulations

[anonymous-user]

Didn't even know they did this, what the difference between this and a 3 Series saloon?

I had one as a hire car, was OK, not what I would call a sports / handling focused car though more like a diesel saloon with massive alloys. Was well suited to going up and down the A'bahn though.

Out of interest, if you are in you 20's why buy a diesel rep car / saloon?

[stewies_minion]

Trexthedinosaur said:

Didn't even know they did this, what the difference between this and a 3 Series saloon?

I had one as a hire car, was OK, not what I would call a sports / handling focused car though more like a diesel saloon with massive alloys. Was well suited to going up and down the A'bahn though.

Out of interest, if you are in you 20's why buy a diesel rep car / saloon?

I believe the difference is leg room? This is BMW's 4 door version of a 2 door coupe with a bigger boot.

Looks nice in black. Personally I'd leave the non tinted windows well alone as well as wheels.

Enjoy!

[diehardbenzfan]

Trexthedinosaur said:

Didn't even know they did this, what the difference between this and a 3 Series saloon?

I had one as a hire car, was OK, not what I would call a sports / handling focused car though more like a diesel saloon with massive alloys. Was well suited to going up and down the A'bahn though.

Out of interest, if you are in you 20's why buy a diesel rep car / saloon?

Well I doubt there is a noticeable difference in driving dynamics unless you've spent a lot of time in a 3 series and a 4 series but to my knowledge, BMW stopped making a 3 series coupe deciding to make a coupe version with the same underpinnings with completely different looks,a slightly larger body and a difference stance, the 4 series sits lower and wider than a 3 series. That's one difference, appearance.

With the interior, it looks the same but the seating position is a lot different to a 3 series, a 3 series is a typical saloon car, an exectutive family car is say where as the 4 series is actually a coupe. So, the car turned out to be a success and BMW must have noticed that Audi are selling a lot of A5 sportbacks so I can imagine they said , HEY! WHY DONT WE ADD 2 DOORS TO OUR VERY SUCCESSFUL 4 SERIES AND COMPETE WITH AUDI'S A5 SPORTBACK WHICH SELLING LOADS!'

With regards to your question about me driving a 'diesel rep car'

Well I've always wanted the 3.0 petrol bmw make with the 35i/40i variants, I love the sound of them but insurance cost too much and the mpg figures put me off, yes some people say they get 30 mpg but I like to enjoy myself, I have a heavy foot so if people brag about 30 mpg like it's an achievement, this means that I'll probably get 17-20. Petrol was ruled out, so it had to be a 3.0 Diesel and I ended up with a choice between a 330/35d or a 430/35d and I ended up getting the 430d, could have gotten a coupe but I preferred the extra 2 doors with the looks of the coupe!

[RC1807]

Nice car

Wrong username?

[jdwoodbury]

I think these are good looking cars, always catch my eye on the on the road...can't say I have seen many 4 doors. Happy Motoring OP

[mikey P 500]

Nice car, my brother in Law has just bought a new 440i version. The main reason why you want one of these over the regular 3 serries is it's a hatch back boot (almost as practical an estate in terms of loading stuff in but better looking) basically like the Audi a5 hatch is compared to the a4.

[diehardbenzfan]

RC1807 said:

Nice car

Wrong username?

The user name was made a long time ago before I had driven both haha! While I still am a big Mercedes fan, the thing is the only ones that appeal to me are the AMG's, the new shape c class coupe look really nice but they don't offer a 6 cylinder diesel and the 2.1's they have are quite old now!

[Amirhussain]

Very nice, loose quite sleek in black, most of the ones I've seen are blue(estoril?)

[diehardbenzfan]

jdwoodbury said:

I think these are good looking cars, always catch my eye on the on the road...can't say I have seen many 4 doors. Happy Motoring OP

Thanks! Yeah that's why I got it, they're different, especially with 4 doors, I don't get why people ask what the real difference is between that and the 3 series! Look at the bloody thing and you see the difference! Ones a typical saloon, ones a sleek 4 door coupe/hatchback

[diehardbenzfan]

Amirhussain said:

Very nice, loose quite sleek in black, most of the ones I've seen are blue(estoril?)

The best thing about the car that it's not even black, it's really really dark blue, in some lights it's black and in some lights it's blue

[Amirhussain]

diehardbenzfan said:

Amirhussain said:

Very nice, loose quite sleek in black, most of the ones I've seen are blue(estoril?)

The best thing about the car that it's not even black, it's really really dark blue, in some lights it's black and in some lights it's blue

Carbon black I'm guessing? My old man's E60 was similar to how you described.

Any chance to post a pic

[Superhoop]

Sainsbury's/library in Selsdon?

[TedLeveTT]

diehardbenzfan said:

I have no real plans for the car as it's perfect as it is but I just wanted to share all that as my brother and dad are sick of me talking about it and non of my friends are petrol heads!

Thanks!

Ohh how I know so well . Congratulations though mate!

[cerb4.5lee]

Lovely car OP and I would really like one because of the added practicality of its hatchback(saloons/coupes suck in that regard).

Carbon black is a great colour too, enjoy the torque shove.

[SamGTV]

cerb4.5lee said:

Carbon black is a great colour too, enjoy the torque shove.

This! Carbon Black 430D Msport plus... I had one as a company car for a while and it is so good at so many things! 'Real world' quick too. Great choice dude, what a step up from previous cars youve had. Smashed it.

[Snowdrop_]

I do like it, but wish they had left them as a 2dr car.

[anonymous-user]

You can, of course, still buy a 2dr should you wish...

OP - lovely colour - had that on my previous 6GC.

very good looking car - but for me, I'd lose the tints, make a car look like a van..!