Drove the E90 today my 2 cents

Finally I got to drive an E90 at my dealer today. I also was able to see the car in black and arctic. Black made a very aggressive impression from the front. Artic My wife loved - nough said. They got a 330 with 6 speed that we sat in but it was not preped to drive. I will be going back tomorrow or monday to try it.

Ok, today we drove the black 325 with premium pkg, beige intereior and the dark wood. I like the car more now than when I saw it at 3 across america. I plan on ordering with navigation because I dont like the straight dash, reminds me of an older Chevy. My only other grip is the power window and mirror controls slant down and away from your reach and your eyes. The fit and finish were on a par with the current car. I had to laugh with homelink there are almost more buttons on the rearview mirror than the dash!!

As for driving the car my salesperson let my wife and I take the car for a while so we were able to put it through its paces. We currently have a 2004 325 (my wife is taking this car over) so I noticed some things immediately.

The steering felt somewhat disconnected. There was little on center feel and steering was somewhat slow to respond. I looked at my wife and said "this must be the active steering everyone is complaining about" - well it wasn't.

When I opened it up the engine noise was evident but - how do I explain - it seemed sort of "raspy" sounding not as refined as my current 325. This may be because of the increase in HP.

Perhaps the extra isolation could explain this more powerful car not feeling faster than our 325 it's hard to say.

We did not run the car up to red line (it only had 50 miles on it.) so perhaps the torque comes on later. I will know much more once I drive te 330 manual.

The suspension seemed a bit more isolated and it absorbed bumps well. this car was quieter than the 2004. Cornering was spot on and an improvment over my current car.

I live in Michigan (worlds worst roads) so I was not planning on ordering performance pkg or 18" wheels but having seen the car with 17" & 18" wheels it is the only way to get this car the 17" wheels ruin the cars' overall looks in my opinion.

Overall I am more excited then I was after 3 across america but now I have to rule out the 325, the 330 has too much standard on it to not spend the extra 2-3K (over a loaded 325). this car is a nice evolution of the 2005. The new body style works but for some reason it took a while to grab hold of me.

If I order one it will be the 330 with premium and performace package in graphite with black or terra leather and dark wood. My wife said the poplar wood looked cheap (it has whispy almost white grain patterns in it) it would have been nice to see the dark green and burgandy red colors I think they might look cool but they are not available yet.

My salesman said I should wait until the may numbers come out to get the lease pricing. My biggest fear is not the car its the payments!!

Reply » Drove the E90 today my 2 cents

May be the car had faulty steering, almost everyone praised the feedback of the steering...
Whad was your impression on the rear seats...
Good feedback
Thanks

Reply » Drove the E90 today my 2 cents

concering the back seats I asked my wife to try it because she has had to endure our 325 back seats several times. She is 5' 3" and she had good knee room but she still complained about getting in and out. Oh there are cup holders in the rear arm rest.

Reply » Drove the E90 today my 2 cents

Wow,
What a drive! The car was in the back of the lot, not even prepped, but I talked the sales person into letting me drive it (since I have one in production (ZSP, ZPP). I didn't really push it due to the fact that it had only 11 miles on it, but goosed it a couple of times and was not disappointed with the torque. Titanium looks great, maybe influenced by the ZSP wheels. The arctic looks good, and black also looks good. Not impressed with the Sparkling Graphite. IMO takes away from overall appearance - seems dull, but maybe its just me. Most surprising was the fact that sales person complained re: very limited allocations for these cars. Apparently only have 6 (total of 325's and 330's) coming in June and the next shipment in August (all already bought). Not sure if this is similar in other areas.
psyran

Reply » Drove the E90 today my 2 cents

Quote:

"To each his own", the saying goes......I'm picking up one of those "raspy" sounding cars with the Chevy dash next week and looking forward to spending as much time as possible in the cockpit viewing the dash and polishing my cheap looking Poplar. By the way, the Poplar that BMW is using is not a light poplar, but a medium coloration. It sounds like your describing the lighter version found in Audi's.

If price or lease payments is a concern, the 330 is probadly not the way to go. There's a reason BMW markets the cars the way they do. They want you in a 330 and the way to do it is to have you believing it's a much better deal because they are adding things that are not standard on the 325. It's only a much better deal if that's the car you want and you're willing to spend more money. Enjoy.

Reply » Drove the E90 today my 2 cents

If you get the SG with Terra and Burl Wood, I would like to see pictures of it. I think that is going to be a VERY nice combo.

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