BMW 3 Series 330 Ci Coupe

I bought my 330ci 2003 used-only has 95000 kms on it with a full bmw history when purchased. For a 10 year old car since it was the update model most people assume it's only a a few years old or even new! I have m sport package with auto transmission. The mechanic said underneath it still looks new and appears to be on original running gear. It's just the complete classy car- interior is simple and elegant, much nicer than the newer interiors which don't cut it for me looks wise. Basic and simple, but does the job with everything at your fingertips. Black leather sports seats again just look cool and classy. The engine growl at start up reminds you that you are in a serious car and coupled with the ridiculous 255 wide rear wheels it just looks understated menacing...

Power is smooth and progressive and fuel economy is better than the local Australian made 6 cylinder cars. On the highway on cruise I reckon I get close to 700 kms out of a tank which is amazing really and even puttering around town I get 13.5 l/100 kms- a pleasant surprise.

Bonus that it takes 91 Ron aussie fuel but I use premium, as the manual recommends.

Preventative maintenance is the key and the mindset you need to adopt with these now relatively old cars. Replace things like cooling system regularly- get the water pump with a metal impeller and just enjoy. Parts are not expensive- the Internet is your friend. Spend a few dollars on maintenance and will be a reliable car for many many years.....

Just a wonderful car!!!!

My car is now ten years old having bought it new in July 2003. It was a facelift model finished in Mystic Blue with light tan leather and light wood trim. fitted with sports seats, power sun roof, tint glass, centre arm rest business radio c/d and M pack from new.

now with 64000 miles under it,it still drives like new and looks close to new. The only replacements beyond service items are a new set of suspension bushes. This has proved the most reliable, fun car possible.It is now our third car behind a Porsche 997 turbo cabrio and a BMW5GT. The 330 is still a thrill to drive fast. If ever there was quality better than this I am yet to find it. The original exhaust and battery are still sound. a fantastic that looks as though it was designed yesterday. I am proud to have in my garage.

Fun Fun Fun...Fun to drive, strong power plant with plenty of instant zoom at your finger tips.Fun in the twisties, corners like a dream..the tighter the better, preferable slicing thru the mtns. Fun to look at.. clean lines,beautiful styling, makes you smile each time you enter the garage and every time you turn the key. The black leather interior,stainless trim,major controls on leather wrapped steering wheel put the awesome sound quality of the Harmon Kardon stereo with it's powerful amp and speakers send perfected tweeter highs and deep bass lows along with a huge mid range create the illusion of a front row seat at the synphony. It's a love that feels as if it will last forever from the seat of your pants straight thru your heart into your soul..

I have owned my BMW for just over 2 months now. It is only my second car & I am over the moon with it. Literally one of the most pleasurable vehicles I have driven & I have driven a few being a Technician.

From the second you climb in to the car you have a smile. The leather steering wheel being so much thicker to grip on to than other cars & the interior so is so comfortable & well built... I still love the black lined roof!

As you would expect the performance is amazing. From a stand still, you plant your foot in the floor & the rear end anchors down & you take off! Not a lot can keep up.

Overall an amazing car with excellent reliability for an amazing price.

Hi, bought this recently having driven a 318 ,320, 325, 520. The car is what you expect a prestige, luxury car with class oozing outside, one thing I wasn't expecting the ssg gearbox to be this disappointing. I have been a manual driver in the city all my life and I first thought I wouldn't miss it that much, well the auto mode is so stupid sometimes it changes gears when least expected and from 2nd to 3rd gear is instant. I tried my best to work out a driving style but most of the time I haven't got a clue what it will do next. The gearbox is the worst to have didn't research it before I bought the car. Now I'm stuck with a noisy and slow jerky gearbox, the normal auto box, or the manual box will be a dream to have after this one. Don't make the same mistake and get a manual or a auto. Rest of the car is absolutely superb to drive. The engine is exactly what a BMW is about. The power is there for the speed freaks or when ever you need to overtake. This car isn't for the boy racers, you have to get a golf gti turbo and tune it up to what ever takes your fancy. I drove a 230 bhp golf and it used to fly off from the start because it was small and lightweight , I was a boy racer, I must admit. Now I am a family man of four and a can get my kids and wife in the car with a smile. I know they are happy with this one. The sports kit makes it standout and it gets noticed whereever you are. Especially my one is red imola with red Dakota leathers. The engine is the most sophisticated engine I have owned, reliable as a nut. Mpg is not too bad for a 3litre engine wait till you get a M3, town is around 20mpg and motorway is about 30mpg. But most importantly I think the image and the comfort and performance is the main factors that for me doest it. Personally I have always driven BMW and golf and Audi. I think the BMW is the best out of the 3 cos of the handling ride and suspension are stronger, the pulling power takes you on another planet. This is better than the 325ci or the 328ci, believe me I have driven these and I think the 330 ci is the don.

I brought my first 330ci M Sport in 2006 it was 2 1/2 years old and replaced my 2000 325 ci convertible.... and what a replacement it was the power difference was staggering the styling was superb I missed nothing from having a hard top, everything was great until I hit 50,000 miles and the automatic gearbox went on me... £2500 for a fix or £4000 for a new gear box.

Since then I have read plenty of reviews and perhaps I was just very unlucky still I opted to part ex the car for a X5 which I enjoyed but very much missed the power from the 330.

Perhaps a blessing in disguise!?! the X5 was stolen earlier this year which put me back in the hot seat for a new car...not wanting to cover old ground I searched high and low for soething to match the power of the 330 to no avail... I am now again the proud owner of another 330ci this time a 6 speed manual, oh the smile on my face everytime I put my foot down! This car has been lowered by the previous owner and handles like a dream even more so after coming from an X5. I would recommend this car to anyone with a budget. When I have the money the next car will have to be either a 645 or an M3. But for now this will keep me happy i'm sure.

absolutely brilliant im in my late fifties now had all sorts of performance cars this 330ci msport is the true all rounder smooth accelaration quality build comfortable great sound speed is in control of the tyres not like the m3 i had tip use high octane petrol like v power it may be a few pence more per litre but more miles to gallon and better performance 65000 pounds well spent 2001 imola red coupe highley recomended listen to experiance and ride on people

Bought a 2005 330ci Sport in September 2009. A lot of people seem to say this is an amazing car, and so far I would agree in terms of the performance. On my route to work, just as I'm leaving the town I live in, there's a 90 degree bend which needs to be taken at a careful 15mph, and once round it the road becomes glorious wide straight country road... perfect for kicking down. Personally I find the accerlation exhilarating! I've only owned 3 cars previous to this; A 1980 MKII 1600 Escort, an Astra 2.0 GTE and a Golf 2.o GTI. The Astra was the most fun - light and very quick, but the 330 is in another league. I always wanted a 'big car' with a big engine, in my opinion when engine size reaches 2.5 litre they sound different to 'ordinary' cars. The 330 has a gorgeous rich deep 'hummm' to it. Quite frankly I'd rather listen to the engine sound than the Stereo!

Ok, so it is obvious I love the engine, but I do have a couple of issues with the interior; generally it looks gorgeous. Mine is full black leather and is as comfortable as you could wish it to be. The bits that annoy me are;

Lack of storage. The glove box is ok but I prefer the high-level glove box in the Golf. The 330 has the old-fashioned low level one. Personally, I want to be able to jump in my car and toss a mobile phone and possibly a pint of milk in the cockpit and speed off - but the 330 dosn't really offer this. There's a tiny compartment below the climate contol dash which you can fit your phone in but not much else. My glove box tends to be full with maps etc, and I hate leaving stuff on the passenger seat. There's also a small compartment to the right, under the steering wheel, but this is still small. So, storage is not good.

The on-board computer is not as good as the Golf. The Golf's had 2 modes - one that reset itself every day, and one that was on-going, so you could compare speeds/times/mpg's for a specific journey against the average readings for say the past month. The 330 dosesn't really offer this. If you want to record data for a new journey you basically have to reset the memory and lose all information prior to that point. The Golf also timed the journeys whereas the 330 doesn't - something i really miss.

I find the wiper settings a bit odd. On every car I've owned, if you pull the wiper leaver backwards, it usually jets water and wipes at the same time. The 330 just jets the water and you have to then push the lever up to wipe the water you just sprayed. I don't get the logic there at all?

The interior clock is a let-down. Even more so because there are actually 2 clocks; the first clock is a mode on the computer readout - just below the speedo. But if you're like me, you'd probably have the computer mode set to either current MPGs, or possibly the amount of miles left in the tank. So, the other clock is a mode on the LCD of the stereo - the problem is if you have the stereo LCD in Stereo mode, you have to switch it to time mode. What is also very annoying is when you siwtch of the engine and then want to know what the time is you have to put the keys back in and turn to get the LCD readout's up again - very very annoying!!

The Stereo I have is the BMW Business model. Hate it. The Golf had an Alpine which even though didn't come as standard, wasn't expensive, yet still managed to show a time counter for tracks on a CD which is nice if you want to scan a track back to a specific point. with the BMW business stereo you are completely blind as to the position you are at in a track. I've found I really miss this. There is also no pause button. Love the sterring wheel controls though.

The climate control is again a bit weird. Lets say you have it set to full blowing power - when i park my car i like to turn all ancillary power off before i trun the engine off - personally i think it lessens the chance of a fuse blowing when you turn the engine back on - with the 330 you have to press the fan button continually taking it from full power down to zero just to turn it off - why didn't they just add an on-off button?? Logic is lost here.

Ok, last thing. The Speedo. But this isn't directed at BMW, but at ALL car manufacturers; I like my seat low, and my steering wheel low. I'm 6' tall which is not an unusual height - so why is it I can never see the speedo because the steering wheel is in the way?? In all the cars I've driven, this is an issue that still bugs me to this day - i've been driving for over 20 years.

Summing up, all my annoyances are fairly minor. The 330ci is by far the best car I've ever owned and driven in terms of engine power, comfort and looks. It is one sexy looking car and performs as good as it looks. and it sounds gorgeous too, and these plus points far out-weiggh the lack of compartment space or computer modes!

A quick thing about MPG - I don't use motorways. I use B roads and some A roads. The MPG in the Golf was 39, i'm getting about 25 from the 330 which means I get around 35% less miles than i did from the golf from the same amout of fuel - which for me adds about 14 quid a week on my petrol bill - but well worth it considering the performance you get!

Love the car.

fantastic vehicle dream to drive

I had my 330Ci for 5 months before I got the ECU remapped. I dropped a better air filter and it goes great now.

Nothing against an M3 but still can keep up with the best of them.

The 330Ci looks good even without the sport package and the handling is awesome even with the traction control completely off...

I had an Audi A4 1.8T before and swore I would never get anything but a turbocharged car after but 2 rides out in the bimmer and I was sold.

Every gear seems to pull just as hard and I am always surprised on how quick the car really is.