Test drove e90 330i

[AriciU]

And what a great car it is. It had the steptronic tranny, sport suspension, sport seats and steering wheel and 17" alloys with the Pirelly Runflats.
After reading about the runflats and knowing Romania's really bad roads i was expecting the ride to be crap on them, + combined with the sport suspension. How wrong i was. The ride was incredible. No bouncing, jitters and stuff like that. It was a very smooth experience considering i went over some nasty holes that would cause my Passat to bounce and jitter all over the place. I think the runflats are only a problem on the 5 series because i couldn't find any faults with them.

Now to the engine... Damn it pulls nicely. Being used to my diesel i was trying to accelerate slowly from like 1500RPM so i could get that back seat push and i was like WTF?!?... where's all the power? Then i remembered i'm in a petrol so just used the kickdown witch nicely took me to 3500 RPM and off i went. The sound was amazing (not M3 like but still very nice) and it kept pulling like nothing i ever drove before (only 115hp cars so far.....) untill 7000rpm when the auto changed and it happened all over again. Silky smooth with very nice power delivery. I took a look in the brochure and noticed the power/torque curve and figured out why it was so "smooth" Plus when i was crusing around playing with the controls at like 2000 rpm or so i took a look at the speedo and i was doing around 110km/h... felt like 60km/h. I turned off DSC completly and just mashed the throttle. It hesitated for a second then it came alive and a little smoke came out from the 255/40 rears and got a little tail action well untill they grabbed and off i went again. There was some dust on the road i have to agree, but damn! what a nice feeling it gave me. I love this engine!

The interior was very nice. Beige leather with poplar natur wood trim. The sport seats felt like a glove and the sport steering wheel was very nice compared to the regular one (369mm vs 375mm). The car did not have active steering and i would not choose it for a second. The steering was perfect, much harder then my Passat's and really made me feel connected to the road. I found the iDrive annoying but i used it for only 4 minutes or so so can't really comment on it. I guess it's good to use only when you are standing still cose it really distracts you IMO. Ooh... i totaly hate the signal switch. If you gently move it downward to signal left it does it for 3 times and stops automaticly. However, not being used to this i always used it till the bottom and i couldn't get the damn signal to turn off. You are supposed to lift it slightly after signalling but from like 5 tries i only managed once. Very annoying. Would've been nicer if they left the conventional system witch would just turn off after u rotate the wheel a little to the other direction then the one you're signaling...

There was very little roll in corners and the car just felt planted like it was on rails. Hell, not having driver a proper car untill now i really can't compare it to anything else then my Passat but the handling was 100 times better. Guess it has to do with the 50:50 weight distribution they got on it.

I forgot to mention that it builds speed very nice. I was doing about 180 and it felt like 120 in my Passat.

The exterior looks OK for me except for the back witch i really hate. Those backlights are really awfull and look like they came from a koreean dumpmobile or something. The back end of the E46 is 100 times nicer especially when fitted with the LEDS.

Hell, i didn't even like the car when i layd eyes on it but the driving experience really made me love it.

All in all it is a great car that offers comfort and power at the same time.

If something goes as it should for me on Monday then i will get one sometimes in the next week. Price is 57k EURO's but i can talk them down to around 53-54k or so... Taxes are killing me over here, 16000 EURO's in taxes alone

Spec is:

Black Sapphire
Beige Leather
Poplar natur wood trim
Auto gearbox
Navigation PRO
Bi-Xenons
17" type 161 Alloys
Sports suspension
Auto climate controll
Sports seats with electronic adjustment and memory
Heated seats
Sport steering wheel with controls
iDrive (if that's an option)
CD changer
Cruise controll
Rain sensor
Parking sensors
Auto-dimming mirror
and little stuff i can't remember right now

The good thing is that i won't have to wait for it cose the car is on stock. If i had to configure myself i would replace the auto for a manual, get a sunroof and ditch the Navi since i can't use it in this country anyway but it's all good as it is. The auto didn't bother me too much since it will be quite confortable since i drive 90% times in the city with high traffic and stuff...

Will post pictures when i get it.

Also, anyone has any pictures of different wheels on the E90? I really hate the wheel options they have and always loved the BBS CH's but don't know how they would look on it since the car is more "roundy" then "boxy" as the E46 is and they look great on the E46.

[AriciU]

Really like these...

[kolfiber]

it's a nice car... ...sounds like a good chassis! the design i've a little problem with (the frontlights)