F31 320d or 320i?

[Milnsey]

My budget is up to 20k and looking for fairly premium reliable estate. Always liked the look of these. Prefer manual as will be keeping 15 years and want as little to go wrong as possible.
Usage will be 400 mile round trip once a month interspersed with much shorter trips ( some only ten mins in duration)
Do the shorter trips rule out the diesel or will the long motorway drive sort out any potential diesel related problems?
Thanks in advance

[d_a_n1979]

IIRC you'll find hell of a lot less manuals - the ZF8 is a superb box and rarely goes wrong; personally I wouldn't rule them out

That's a great budget; surely you can find a G series for that rather than the F3x? What about the bigger engines like the 330D or 340i?

The engine is really down to you & whether you want petrol or diesel

Have you done any test drives?

What spec are you ideally after?

[Browter]

I have an F32 430d and have had G series 320d & 320i courtesy cars. Personally I'd try and get a 6 cylinder or try at least a 330i. I don't see the point of having the firmer ride of a BMW and sub 200 BHP.

[Milnsey]

Cheers for the replies.
Prefer the looks of the F31 and don't like LED dashboard screens and fancy tech , most of which I will not use.
Prefer the interaction of a manual which obviously limits the engine choice
M sport shadow edition would be ideal
Watched a review which stated that turbos can fail on petrol versions leading to a bill of 2k , so am leaning towards diesel.
Approaching semi-retirement and dropping from 3 cars to two, just want something premium that will still look good in ten years or so.
Interest has been piqued by son at uni who has just purchased an E91 diesel

[mmm-five]

I probably have (or had) a similar use case as you, and went for a 2015 pre-LCI 320D F31 M-Sport.

It was intended for my Liverpool to London commuting (staying down there Mon-Thu), and for trips to Cornwall, but I've been working from home since just after I bought it as a second car to the Z4MC (which was doing those duties, but has 160k miles on it now). The reasoning being I'd save enough in fuel costs (c.27mpg vs c.55mpg) & maintenance over 3 years to pay for itself.

It's done a couple of NC500 trips, where it acted as 'support vehicle' for lots of Z4s, and I had no problem keeping up

The only gripe I have is the engine sound, and wish I'd gone for the 330D version...but there no RWD versions available in the 3 months I was looking...and the NBT media system is getting on a bit now, so could do with a refresh by adding in an MMI box for Carplay.

I went for the pre-LCI as I didn't want to have to be messing about with AdBlue and they whole AdBlue system for emissions.

Mine's Estoril Blue with Black Oregon leather and alcantara trim.

It's done laps of the 'Ring - and quite well for a low-powered diesel - but it was fairly terrible compared to my more normal Z4MC.

But the trip to Cornwall from Liverpool to pick up a friend, and then over to Germany was effortless, and cruising at the national speed limits was not a problem...and the few VMAX runs on the unrestricted sections didn't result any dodgy handling.

Mine is the 8-speed sport auto version, and I don't think I'd go back to a manual with the diesel engine...and may even consider the auto if I was to ever get a petrol version.

Edited by mmm-five on Sunday 5th May 11:16

[d_a_n1979]

mmm-five said:

I probably have (or had) a similar use case as you, and went for a 2015 pre-LCI 320D F31 M-Sport.

It was intended for my Liverpool to London commuting (staying down there Mon-Thu), and for trips to Cornwall, but I've been working from home since just after I bought it as a second car to the Z4MC (which was doing those duties, but has 160k miles on it now). The reasoning being I'd save enough in fuel costs (c.27mpg vs c.55mpg) & maintenance over 3 years to pay for itself.

It's done a couple of NC500 trips, where it acted as 'support vehicle' for lots of Z4s, and I had no problem keeping up

The only gripe I have is the engine sound, and wish I'd gone for the 330D version...but there no RWD versions available in the 3 months I was looking...and the NBT media system is getting on a bit now, so could do with a refresh by adding in an MMI box for Carplay.

I went for the pre-LCI as I didn't want to have to be messing about with AdBlue and they whole AdBlue system for emissions.

Mine's Estoril Blue with Black Oregon leather and alcantara trim.

It's done laps of the 'Ring - and quite well for a low-powered diesel - but it was fairly terrible compared to my more normal Z4MC.

But the trip to Cornwall from Liverpool to pick up a friend, and then over to Germany was effortless, and cruising at the national speed limits was not a problem...and the few VMAX runs on the unrestricted sections didn't result any dodgy handling.

Mine is the 8-speed sport auto version, and I don't think I'd go back to a manual with the diesel engine...and may even consider the auto if I was to ever get a petrol version.

Edited by mmm-five on Sunday 5th May 11:16

Such a good colour The 330D we looked at was the same colour; but absolute poverty spec, higher miles and more £££ than my 325D

Like you I could not find a 330D around the budget I wanted to spend at that time, that had the spec I wanted and under 100k etc

[d_a_n1979]

Milnsey said:

Cheers for the replies.
Prefer the looks of the F31 and don't like LED dashboard screens and fancy tech , most of which I will not use.
Prefer the interaction of a manual which obviously limits the engine choice
M sport shadow edition would be ideal
Watched a review which stated that turbos can fail on petrol versions leading to a bill of 2k , so am leaning towards diesel.
Approaching semi-retirement and dropping from 3 cars to two, just want something premium that will still look good in ten years or so.
Interest has been piqued by son at uni who has just purchased an E91 diesel

That's fair enough; you've a solid idea of what you're after. But I still stand by; don't rule out the ZF8 auto until you've test driven one as well as a manual (if you can find one)... It's a superb box

As said in the resent post; I looked, looked and looked for a 330D when I was hunting for an F31 back in Nov/Dec 20222 and found a good few; but they either had too many miles/asking too much £££ or the spec was crap. The N57 is a superb engine though; deffo don't rule out a 330D if you can find one within budget/spec you're after etc

I settled on a 2015 F31 325D M Sport in the end & it's been a superb car. I wanted under 100k miles to be able to take out full BMW warranty (which I did and it paid off as well as it had a few issue sorted through warranty - simply wear/tear of items etc)

I wanted pro-nav, Brembo blue brakes, powered tailgate, powerfold mirrors, manual & heated seats (due to my height), no sunroof and that's what I got

I've done a lot to the car since owning it/collecting it Jan 2023; but do low miles (only did 4k last year) as I work from home; very much made it my own now and have enjoyed every step of the way

Project is here if you want a nosey through: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[mmm-five]

d_a_n1979 said:

Such a good colour The 330D we looked at was the same colour; but absolute poverty spec, higher miles and more £££ than my 325D

Like you I could not find a 330D around the budget I wanted to spend at that time, that had the spec I wanted and under 100k etc

I 'think' I got a good deal, as it was just under £15k for a 2015 model, in M-Sport Plus spec + professional media with only 42,000 miles. Even negotiated another 2 years of warranty for an additional £650 due to the mileage I was going to do (but never did).

The next model up was £3k more for the cheapest 330D, and xDrive.

[Drmarkf]

Just on the diesel vs petrol choice in relation to mileage, the main issue relates to whether the diesel particulate filter gets hot enough for long enough to burn off deposits. It really doesn’t matter what your total annual mileage is, but the advice I’ve had from several BMW and indie engineers is “reasonably frequently you need to do (say) 15’ at 40mph or more, or 15’ at 2000rpm or more”.
I’ve had 3 diesel BMWs over the past 14 years and have done a pretty constant 8-9k per year. About 75% of my mileage is on motorways or fast A roads, and I’ve had no issues at all.

[rottenegg]

Uff, don't get a manual! The ZF8 is bomb proof and BMW diesels are not the same without it.

£20K is a tidy budget for an F31 now, but as always buy on condition, not mileage. Diesels tend to be in better shape than the petrol equivalents as they usually sit on motorways all day which is better for the engine and DPF.

If you have that budget, personally I would get as late a possible 330d. The smoothness and relentless pull makes up for the very small mpg hit. Mine averages 50mpg, which imo is impressive for such a heavy car with a 3 litre engine. I paid £18K for a 2016 330d with 38K miles in November 22, but the same thing can be had for about £12K now.

Infotainment wise, F3xs are dated now, but are easily upgradeable to CarPlay/Android Auto with aftermarket solutions that seamlessly integrate into the existing BMW ecosystem. But If you want the full fat iDrive v6 with touch screen and OEM carplay goodness, you will need a 2019 car for that.

Pick of the crop would be an LCI M Sport (2015 on) with Harman Kardon audio, M sport 370/340 Brembo brakes and M Sport + pack. The rest is frippery imo.

LCI diesels are ULEZ compliant if that matters, they got better injectors and revised fuelling maps. No F3x car uses Ad Blue that I'm aware of, possibly the run out 2019s might.

The stiffer M Sport suspension is absolutely worth it, even on the 2.0. The base suspension is terrible, as is the base audio. Non M sports don''t look as good either and have weedy brakes.

Reliability wise, they are solid cars if looked after, and extremely easy to work on if you like DIY. Parts are very reasonable in the aftermarket as well.

[rottenegg]

d_a_n1979 said:

Such a good colour The 330D we looked at was the same colour; but absolute poverty spec, higher miles and more £££ than my 325D

Like you I could not find a 330D around the budget I wanted to spend at that time, that had the spec I wanted and under 100k etc

Estoril is my favourite F series colour And Isle of Man green is my favourite G series colour, yum.

The 25d is a fine engine. Not much behind the 30d tbh.

[Uncle boshy]

I’ve got 320i sport, had it 4 years now and very happy with it.

Having previously had 320ds as company cars was pleasantly surprised how much better it felt over the front due to the lighter weight.

The zf8 is a great autobix and much better than the manual which is a bit rubbery.

Bear in mind spec differences, led lights on the lcis are much better, but only standard on m sport, otherwise it’s an extra which many, as company car drivers didn’t check.

On id6, it’s straightforward to get CarPlay enabled

[Condi]

rottenegg said:

But If you want the full fat iDrive v6 with touch screen and OEM carplay goodness, you will need a 2019 car for that.

But it won't do android auto, you need a 2019 model Gx with the pro nav (or whatever they call it in the new model), or any mid 2020 model onwards to guarantee android auto.

MMI box or replacement android screen is a reasonable alternative, if you get the replacement screen you get touchscreen functions, whereas you don't with an MMI box.

[rottenegg]

Condi said:

rottenegg said:

But If you want the full fat iDrive v6 with touch screen and OEM carplay goodness, you will need a 2019 car for that.

But it won't do android auto, you need a 2019 model Gx with the pro nav (or whatever they call it in the new model), or any mid 2020 model onwards to guarantee android auto.

MMI box or replacement android screen is a reasonable alternative, if you get the replacement screen you get touchscreen functions, whereas you don't with an MMI box.

Aye. I wouldn't want touchscreen in an F3x anyway as you have to lean too far forwards (if you're tall) to use it.