2001 BMW 3 Series 330i Coupe from UK and Ireland - Comments

No problems. So far very satisfied with the car. It's fully covered under BMW's 3-year new car warranty anyway, by which time I will be on my next one... :>)

It's a very nice shade of dark metallic blue with full cream sports leather.

I can say after owning Mercs, Audi's, VW's, this is the best car I've ever had the pleasure of driving.

It beats my last A6 2.8 Quattro in every respect. It looks good, goes superb, and I'm the envy of everyone! The new 3.0 straight six is very smooth, refined and powerful. It holds the road in a fantastic manner that is difficult to describe. The steptronic lets me drive it like a manual when I need a bit of fun country blasting. The auto works very well on its own after a hard day at the office.

I love the pillarless door tops and the way the sports seats are built. The dash is very well designed and built. The dealer service is costly but it's worth it.

Go and test drive one, the fuel MPG will astound you. I get well over 30 on a run and 26 round town.

Fair enough, you are entitled to your opinion.

Personally I would rather drive a real German car instead of a mickey mouse one.

That's why I got the 330i coupe sport. Don't confuse this with a lardy 318i. I doubt you have even seen a sport version let alone driven one.

I leave the Mercedes for grandad together with his pipe and slippers. As for the Audi, who the heck would have an S4 over a 330i/M3!!!

In reply to: "who the heck would have an S4 over a 330i/M3!!!"

Anyone who would like to use their car in winter! BMW's rear wheel car is hopeless in snow!!

I think this is an important point to put over about BMWs, most people who have them can't get them off of their drive at the first sign of bad weather, the Audi all wheel drives love it.

All that is fair enough, but really how often does it snow in the UK? not very often, if it means you can't get out so be it, you can get a few days off work?

But in any other condition I would rather make do with the far superior and better looking 330sport over the S3 any day.

Was not impressed by the 328i I had for a brief period two years ago. The interior and exterior ain't all that. It's also a common sight on British roads, and unless it sports an 'M' badge it really isn't as fast as people make out. The equivalent AMG Mercedes is more expensive, but is more elegant, more exclusive, and is one of only two cars to have a full five-star NCAP crash rating. It also has four doors to the M3's two. Like many BMW drivers, this guy is a little overzealous, that's all.

Having owned three 3-series, it saddens me to say that they are just too common and derivative these days. What once said "individual" and "style conscious" now just says "fashion victim" and "tries too hard". They're not even outstanding drivers cars any more, being way too heavy and soft compared to the older models.

And the competition has caught up. I recently drove a Mondeo ST220 (a Ford of all things) which was livelier and sharper, as well as just as nicely finished.

Well, the S3 isn't that different at all performance-wise. Actually I'm not sure which is quicker. There are other cars in the BMW range that are closer to being S3's competitors. I think it was Car magazine that claimed the 325ti Compact to be a competitor to the S3.

Also don't forget that 3-series is available as 4WD (330Xi and 325Xi, plus Alpina B3 AWD). I live in Finland where there is lots of snow in the (longer) winter, and rear wheel drive is just fine if you use winter tyres. Even here people don't buy many 4WD cars. If you get going OK, stopping and cornering grip is still the same no matter what drive type. So 4WD is really good for just accelerating somewhat faster in slippery conditions. People here say that 4WD just gets you into trouble at faster speeds! I know that it's more fun to play around with in the snow, but I can take a couple of weeks of poorer acceleration in the winter if I get all the rear wheel drive advantages at all other times. And save some money too.

The Mercedes C32AMG is not really comparable to M3 in performance. The Merc is more focused on being comfortable and quick in a straight line. But on anything else than completely straight road, the Alpina B3 3.3 is a worthy competitor, if four doors are really necessary. It is also more rare and is very luxurious.

C32AMG has been tested against the M3 by SportAuto -magazine, and it couldn't stand a chance. The magazine is very professional in performance measurements, it measures from aerodynamical downforce to lateral G-forces. And takes the cars to the track which really shows strengths and weaknesses.

Having been forced to give up my beloved Audi TT coupe (225bhp) for practicality reasons (2 growing kids!) I jumped into an A4 3.0 Quattro Sport Tiptronic thinking it would be a good replacement - sorry Audi very boring! I then tried a CLK320 - sorry mercedes even more boring! And then the 330ci sport auto - and bought it immediately. A fantastic car that nothing else in its price range touches, especially with the amount of extras that now come as standard (unlike Audi)

The envy of everyone?? That would make people jealous of virtually every other car on the road, as that is how many BMW's seem to be on the road these days.

I'm sorry, but I can't envy (or even take much notice of) any car which is so commonplace. At least get yourself something rare if you want to be envied.

I would agree with the comments about AWD/RWD cars in the winter. The AWD lets you speed up faster in slippery conditions, but you're going to stop just as fast as any FWD/RWD car! One could almost say AWD gives you a false sense of security. But I have noticed it is easier to control an AWD car with the throttle through a slippery corner than one with RWD.

I recently purchased a BMW 330ci, I looked at many cars from Boxter with no space when I travel with the wife. I only two seats, but the wife needs somewhere to put her bags. The CLK still a old mans car, sorry. Jaguar X type I liked it, but dealer was not giving me a good deal on my present car which happened to be a XJ6, mad they lost a customer. Audi TT my friends mum has one and my wife's friend who just happens to be a hairdresser, enough said! So BMW I never liked these cars to common, then I was told by my brother to take it out, I fell for the car, the build quality has improved inside and it is great car to drive. If you want a fast car, but also play golf buy a 330ci, you will only want a M3, that's my next buy!

The 330i is a nice reps car, not a true sports saloon like the old 3 series were, BMW have become a victim of their own success especially in the US market where the newest 3 series was designed to appeal to the US driver so it has lost a lot of it's sporting character, don't get me wrong they are nice cars, just they are more common than Vectra's and Mondeo's here in the UK and that will hurt BMW in the long run, people will get bored as everyone is driving them, they just aren't exclusive enough, this is where Audi is tacking over, I predict Audi will take the mantle off BMW for best Sports saloon, just look at the RS6, that what BMW should be making.

Just to echo the last person's comment, the 3 series was officially the UK's 3rd best selling car in March. It has consistently ranked in the top 10 for several years, outselling many Fords, Vauxhalls and Rovers.

Granted, this is a good indicator of the excellence of the product, but it's hardly good for image, prestige or exclusivity. The only time most people pay these cars any attention nowadays is when one carves you up on a roundabout or sits two inches from your rear bumper on a motorway with the driver flashing his lights and making obscene gestures.

Let's face it, excellent as they are, 3 series are now both common and have a reputation for being driven discourteously and downright dangerously. If you buy a BMW for its image as much as its ability, you could better spend your hard earned elsewhere. Audi, Saab, Lexus, Mercedes to name just four. My friend has recently sold her 318i Coupe because nobody ever let her out of junctions or gave way to her when changing lanes etc. These cars bring out the worst in people.

Just passing through, gathering info on BMW's ASC+T (circa E36), when I read this comment thread. Some interesting commentary here!

Let me say that as the proud owner of a performance-modified 1995 BMW M3, and as the previous owner of a 1994 325i, BMW deserves the "thank you" of every true car enthusiast in the world. As for some seemingly common concerns...

Whoever compared the 3-Series to a ChryslerMercedes E-Class...umm, why would you? The former starts around $30,000, and the latter is in the $50,000+ range. With the exception of the Viper, no Chrysler is worth over $35,000! Even the ones with three-pointed stars rather than five! Plus the fact that my 8-yr-old M3 will smoke any ChryslerMercedes ever made except two... the Viper (of course) and the $1,000,000 CLK-GTR.

And in comparing an Audi A4 to a BMW 3-Series for winter driving... here is a little secret... good winter tires on even my 335+ hp M3 do wonders! The only way I can make my tires spin is if I really step on it. (And we're talking about a car that can sprint to 60 in 4.4 seconds.) I thought it was particularly poetic that moment in February 2001, when I used my uber-renner M3 clad in Dunlop winter tread to tow an A4 Quattro out of a snowy ditch in Colorado. Audi will NEVER live that moment down for me! And if my comparatively spin-happy RWD M3 can rescue a stuck Audi Quattro in the snow, think of the capabilities of, say, a 330xi?

And finally, someone commented on how disappointed they were that BMWs are so "commonplace" now-a-days, and that they'd rather have something more rare to be envied. Can you understand that the finest make of car in the world is naturally going to be in demand by almost everyone? And if you want something rare and more exotic from BMW, buy an Alpina Z8, or an E46 M3 CSL, or better yet... the most definitive and most sought after BMW ever built: The 1995 BMW M3!

The problem is, hardly anyone buys a BMW, in the UK at least, because it is a good car. They buy them because of an outdated notion that the once exclusive "image" that went with BMW ownership in the late 80's still holds some weight today. How else do you explain the preponderance of 318i and Compact models on UK roads, cars so depressingly average in everything they do that you'd need a full lobotomy to choose one?

A 318i is comprehensively outperformed, outhandled and out-equipped by a mid-spec Ford Mondeo costing thousands less. The build quality isn't far off either, and the Mondeo is ALMOST a rarer sight on the road.

Even the motoring press is starting to place the 3-series image as a negative point these days. The cars are, with a few exceptions, aggressively and discourteously driven by people who think they are a cut above everyone else. Even the overtaking lane of the motorway is becoming known as "the 3 series lane". When will people realise these cars stopped being cool at the end of the 80's, along with shoulder pads and white socks?

Finally, I need to be clear this is not a jealousy thing, as Audi A3's, Mercedes C class and other similarly priced rivals get left well alone. Even BMW's larger models don't attract the same "image".

" I'm the envy of everyone "...I think not, you see the majority of road users are probably saying " Look there's a rep for a mobile phone company " or other such useful occupation.