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“I've had my '02 330 Ci (manual) for just over a year,...”

written by Paul. on 02/04/2003

Good Points
Extremely quiet and smooth ride.
Amazing in-gear flexibility, at 50+ kph you can sit in fifth and drive it like an automatic.
True sports handling, this car can take a 35kph rated bend at 100+.
Very good fuel efficiency considering its power output.

Bad Points
Wheel rims are easy to scratch, and brake dust builds up very fast. Getting the the brake dust out of a 'gutter graze' is a major pain (a fine brush, eg tooth-brush seems to work best).
Could do with cup-holders and coin box (these are available on Ci models without phone/tv screen).
Accelleration would be improved with a 6 speed gearbox and a shorter first gear.
I'm annoyed by the european steering-column, which has the indicator and wiper controls on the wrong side for Australia. This overworks your left hand in a corner (trying to indicate and change gears simultaneously), while the right hand has nothing to do.

General Comments
I've had my '02 330 Ci (manual) for just over a year, and now that the thrill of owning my first high-end car has mellowed, I feel I can write an more objective review for prospective purchasers than the one I posted on this site a year ago.



First, let me say that I still think this a truly amazing total package. With a few extra options, the luxury level is top-notch for a car of its size and class, and tends to olverwhelm first-time passengers: most of the people who've been in it compare it to an aircraft cockpit. The interior looks particularly pretty at night, with lit-up controls strecthing to the ceiling console, and the nav-map tracking your position on the tv-screen. The luxury fittings are well designed - new drivers may have some difficulty in learning the controls (most switches and buttons move in multiple directions, and first time passengers always have difficulty figuring out the electric seat controls), but once you understand them, they are intuitive and well laid out. If only they'd bothered to produce a right-hand drive steering column, it would be almost perfect.



Handling is superb, and the side-padded sports seats really do their job of keeping you in position during a high-G turn. You need to drive a bit gentler when carrying rear-seat passengers though, as they tend to slide around a bit. I have yet to drive an M3, so cannot make the comparison, but must say that the 330Ci corners and brakes on a par (or at least very close) to my brother's Honda S-2000 roadster, and the nanny (stability control) gives you the confidence to push it to the max without risk of fishtailing.



Performance is very good, with plenty of power, and significant accelleration available at low rpm. However, if burning other cars off at the lights is your thing, then this car is not for you - you can buy many higher performance cars for less money, and I'm not just talking about the WRX. The newer Ford XR's and Holden HSV's have a clear advantage in accelleration, although you'll leave them behind when you hit the first sharp corner. The long first gear (0-60kph) is at least part of the reason for this minor weakness - in order to get the performance listed on paper, you need to disengage the nanny and allow for a fair amount of slip when dropping the clutch, as well as a bit more slip shifting from first to second. If you get the critical first clutch-drop wrong (which is easy to do), you'll be doing <1000rpm and there will be a second or two delay before your accelleration really kicks in. The car leaps from 30-60kph if you floor it in first, so I can't help thinking that having more (and shorter) gears would be a significant improvement. Once it gets up to a decent speed, things improve: accelleration in the 80-120kph range makes overtaking semi-trailers on the highway a breeze, but you need to keep the RPM up high to really perform at these speeds.



The ride is amazing smooth and quiet, even with the low profile tyres. Ventilation at high speeds is very good with the glass sunroof on 'vent', and the sunroof spoiler practically eliminates wind noise when it is fully open, even at 100+ kph. Rear vent windows are noisy and windy at any speed, and therefore I find I rarely open them. The front cabin is spacious (even for my 6'2" frame) and the seats are comfortable; I have driven for 5 or more hours without back pain, even without the lumbar support option. Don't take rear-passengers on long rides though, as leg and head room is very restricted in the back.



Overall practicality is great, as long as you accept that it is really a 2+2 seater car, not a 5 seater. The boot is a little small but through-loading helps with this. Wheel rims are probably the least practical part, with the soft alloy of the standard 17"x8" 7 spoke rims being very easy to scratch, apart form the brake dust problem. If you get premium metallic paint (I have titan silver), expect to have to get several panels fully re-sprayed to repair even minor paint damage.



Safety is superb, and the car is definitely built tough. After only two months on the road I was rear-ended while stationary at the back of a queqe: hard enough (70+ kph) to cause a four car pile-up, but fortunately no-one was seriously injured. Even through the shock of having my new toy smashed up, I was impressed at how well my car had protected me and how little damage it had sustained compared to the car that hit me (a large Holden sedan which was written off), and the car that I was shunted in to (an Impreza RX that suffered severe damage front and back and required towing). My car only appeared to suffer cosmetic damage to the rear bumper and front bumper/grille, and was drivable, at least for a short distance. Turned out the back of the frame had been knocked out by 12mm, but considering the impact, it held up amazingly well.



I have been very happy with my options: Sunroof, Navigation, Phone, Voice Recognition and Anti-Theft, although I will say that the voice recognition is more a gimick than a serious feature - dictating phone numbers while driving is about the only function I use regularly. The 'voice notes' feature would be useful, except that it often confuses the word 'map' with the word 'note', so I end up filling up my voice pad with recordings of me saying "map... map... MAP!...". When the car phone is on speaker, the person you're talking to experiences a fair bit of echo, often forcing you to turn down the speaker volume. This surprised me considering the phone is one of the most expensive options on my car.



Navigation is my favourite feature, and well worth the discounted price (due to the car already having a TV as standard). On the down side, Australian navigation coverage is limited outside major metropolitan areas (eg minor strees and house numbers in small towns are missing), and you have to pay for updates, but overall it is a top-notch system. One missing feature is the ability to auto-rotate the map so your car is always facing up on the screen - there is supposedly an option for this, but it involves waiting until your car leaves the stationary map and then re-drawing the new stationary map with your car (initially) facing up. This is difficult (you can't see what's ahead when near the edge of the map) and confusing (you are never sure which way is north), and the other mode with the car in the centre of a scrolling map (north is up) is always preferable. As for the standard features, the self-dimming mirror, park distance control, rain sensor, and auto-recirculate features work well and were a lot more useful than I expected.



Overall, if you're looking for a well balanced mixture of top-of-the-range luxury, style and handling, along with a good dose of performance, then the 330Ci is for you. If you want to be able to beat everything on the road (and you want a BMW) then go for the M-class - the ZM roadster retails for about the same as a 330Ci here in Australia. The 330Ci is a car for those who enjoy all aspects of driving, not just drag-racing. Having clocked up 30,000km in the first year (mostly business use), this is definitely the car for me, and it satisfies my wilder side when I feel the need for speed. Maybe I'll go for the M3 as my next car, but it seemt a little over-the-top for my taste - having no less than four exhaust pipes on the E-46 M3 really bugs me.