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Motoring Discussion > BMW - Thoughts on 3 years (almost) with an F30 320d
Thread Author: DP	Replies: 72

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New Mon 2 Mar 15 12:06

BMW - Thoughts on 3 years (almost) with an F30 320d - DP

So, it's about time for my F30 to go back to the lease company, and I thought it might useful to share my thoughts after three years and 53,000 miles with this car.

This was a company provided car, delivered on 8th March 2012 with 11 miles on the clock. In Mineral Grey, it looked subtle and understated, and at the time, the F30 was quite a rare sight on the road. I'd had two E90s over the previous six months, and stepping into the F30, a few things were immediately apparent. The first was a marked step-up in interior ambience, with a lighter, airier feel compared to the E90's rather austere, plain black plastics. The second was a visible increase in rear legroom, and this was something the kids confirmed the first time they went in it.

In other respects, it had a very similar initial feel to the older car. You sit low, with a lovely sense of being sat down "in" the car. The gear lever is short and stubby, and has a nice feel to it, and small-ish 3 spoke wheel falls exactly where you would want it to. The pedals, including the trademark floor hinged throttle, are also nicely laid out in front. Driving position is a BMW forte, and they consistently nail it, in stark contrast to Audi in my experience. The pedal position in the manual A4 I tried before choosing this was scarcely believable in a modern car.

The traditional four dial BMW instruments are carried over, and are a model of clarity and simplicity that I'm glad BMW have stuck with. Minor controls are also well laid out, with intuitive climate control, and the brilliant i-Drive system, which despite no previous acquaintance, I was navigating by pure touch within 24 hrs of picking the car up. It works very well indeed.

Apart from better looking materials in the cabin, the spec is pretty good too, despite this being a bog standard car with no options (other than metallic). The days of BMWs being sparsely equipped are long gone, this standard car coming with dual zone climate, one of the best Bluetooth phone integrations I've come across, cruise control, keyless start, iDrive with USB audio input, etc etc. Apple fans will be annoyed at having to pay extra for proper iPod integration (a Â£6 Chinese eBay cable will suffice if you need it), and the relegation of heated mirrors to the options list is a bit of a joke on a Â£30k car, but neither of these were a major concern. The radio is moderately rubbish though in terms of both reception and sound quality.

I ran the car in carefully, allowing the odd burst of hard acceleration, but keeping revs down until the 1,000 mile point. The engine impressed from day one. Down-rated from 181 to 163PS in this EfficientDynamics version, but with the same 280lb/ft of torque, the 2.0 BMW diesel is frankly brilliant, and endows the car with a surprising turn of pace going through the gears. The way it pulls from 1500-4200 RPM is addictive, and in 3rd and 4th gears will haul you up to and beyond the national speed limit with ridiculous ease. In sixth at 70 mph it's pulling a faintly ridiculous 1800 RPM, but thanks to that 280 lb/ft
slug of torque being available from just 1750 RPM, overtaking or pulling up long inclines is a simple matter of flexing the right foot. It's gruff with revs, but delivers so much low down and in the middle, that it doesn't really matter.

My first "attack run" on a decent road came as I magically found myself in the middle of nowhere in Norfolk as the car passed 1,000 miles. And it was disappointing if I'm being honest. The steering is odd. It's beautifully weighted, particularly in "Sport" mode, and very quick, but it is completely dead in terms of feel. There is no sense of road surface or grip level, which you got in spades with the E90. Blame electric PAS I guess. More irritating is the damping which is overly soft unless you fork out for Adaptive Suspension. The standard setup does make for a decent ride in day to day driving, but it floats and bucks when pressing on. It has to be said, the balance of the car in corners is lovely, with understeer being virtually non-existent, but the soft springs and resulting body roll make it all feel a bit of a chore.

When you consider the lazy engine and "cruiser" chassis, you start to understand the car, and it makes a lot more sense. Despite the "Ultimate Driving Machine" marketing guff, it's not like a BMW of old where it wants you to thrash it. It's a long legged cruiser. The whole car works much better when you stop trying to make it behave 'sportingly'. Drive it at "eight tenths", keep the engine between 1500 and 3000 RPM and it's a heck of a ground coverer. The engine punches hard enough to trouble the traction control out of second gear corners in the bone dry, and the car flows very nicely over the quicker stuff. And as another illustration of the way the marketeers seem to be asking a decent car to be something it isn't, there's the rev counter. The ludicrous 5400 RPM redline might look "sporty", but it is at least 1,000 higher than the engine is comfortable at, and I reckon at least 500 higher than it's even capable of.

Early reliability was iffy, but settled as the car aged. The wipers and stop/start went wrong just a few weeks in, and this required replacement under warranty of the body control module, which turned out to be on six week back order from the factory. Internet research (and the back order situation) suggests this was a very common issue on early cars. Given little choice, I lived with the issue for six weeks, only to have the reprogramming of the new unit go wrong, and the car be laid up for two days while it was fixed. There's also something not quite right on this car with the headlight wiring or the module that controls it. Throughout my tenure I have seen various intermittent warnings relating to the lights, including false reports of bulb failures, and on a couple of occasions, headlamp levelling system failures.

It would have been a cheap car to run, even if I had been paying the bills. Getting it much under 50 mpg is impossible, even being deliberately unkind to it. I'm currently seeing 58 mpg average over the past few tanks, now I'm working flexitime and avoiding the worst of the traffic. It's had two oil changes (19k and 37k) with the third being predicted at 56k (after the car goes back). It's light on tyres too. The original rears were down to the markers at 38k, and the fronts were replaced at 45k. Otherwise, it had a set of front pads and discs at the second service, one sidelight bulb replaced, and that has literally been it as far as routine maintenance goes. It still drives well today, and pulls like a train, although a few interior creaks and rattles have started to creep in, particularly around the drivers door / B-pillar area crept in. I drove a 19k example the other day and it feels noticeably tighter.

It's easy to be hard on the quality and the niggles, but it's when I stop and think about what we have done in this car that I can't help but be impressed. It's sat on the M3 every day in horrific traffic, it's seen an indicated 140 mph, four-up on the Autobahn in southern Germany, it took four of us and two weeks worth of luggage across the Alps without breaking a sweat. I've never put oil in it (the electronic "dipstick" has never moved off MAX), and apart from screenwash and tyre pressures, it's never needed any kind of attention from me between services.

The car unfortunately missed its final trip to Italy last August due to the tyre fitters breaking the locking nut key when changing the front tyres. A multitronic Audi A4 took over the role admirably, but the truth is the BMW should really have almost another 3k on it, and perhaps another service in my hands. Cack-handed tyre fitters aside, it's never let us down, and we've driven it for 12 hour stretches and got out fresh and relaxed. I like the car. So much so that I've ordered another, this time a Touring with the ZF 8 speed automatic transmission, and a couple of other goodies lacking on the current car, which will turn up in the next week or two.

Will post some pics of it when I've got around to cleaning it! :-) Sorry, this got a bit long-winded. Hope it's of interest.

Cheers
DP