been driving my 330i for a week now

the car is "overall excellent"

have a 330i with sports package, active steering, auto trans (live in Los Angeles, anyone who drives stick here deserves a medal)

the steering feedback is good, brakes are sharp, interior is comfy, lots of room (and that is the best feature, I am 6ft3 and the way I have my seat adjusted now I have at least 4 inches of headroom, with the sunroof included, and I fit *easily* in the back seats) Also the trunk is BIG, nice!

Only thing (and I dont want to sound too spoilt here) is that acceleration isn't "mindblowing"

I estimate my 330i from standing start is probably doing 0-60 in about mid 6 seconds (I haven't read any reviews on the BMW, so not sure what the official stats are) but I am pretty sure that my guess is pretty accurate based on what I know my other car's 0-60 time is.

whilest this is a pretty fast time, and a pretty fast car, it still doesnt have that "glued" to your seat acceleration feel. I also would not want to straightline race a car like a WRX or EVO in my 330i, they will just destroy the 330i from traffic light to traffic light - will not even be nearly close.

I guess I will just have to wait and see what the new M3 can do - someone correct me if I am wrong but I would expect the 0-60 on the new M3 to be safely under 5 seconds?

Reply » been driving my 330i for a week now

Quote:

Have you tried a 6 Speed manual 330?

Much snappier and to the point, IMO.

Reply » been driving my 330i for a week now

no can do, I drive about 3 hours a day in los angeles, no ways I could drive a stick shift -
stick is probably is noticeably faster I guess?

still amazed at how much faster all cars have gotten over the last 5 years
here I am complaining that 0-60 in the 6's feels slow - hehe

And the "cheap" performance cars like WRX and EVO are just too damn ugly

So I am very happy with my 330i, great car

only other cars I would drive instead is the mercedes AMG lineup (but not the SL's - too small), but that is not a fair price comparison at all, well it would be fair when compared to a M5 or M3, except mercedes seems to give better leases than BMW

Reply » been driving my 330i for a week now

Glad to hear about the room.
I'm 6'8" and was very comfortable in the test drives I had.
Can't wait until mine arrives, sometime towards end of July. (10-12 week wait for manual)

Reply » been driving my 330i for a week now

Get the rpms up. The Step adjusts to your driving style. If your rpms are low from crawling in traffic, the Step will keep them low. In my E46 Step, I always drove in Sport mode and got the RPMs up above 4K at least once a week. Drive was only used for interstate cruising.

Have the 6sp manual in the E90.

Not a pain to drive in heavy traffic at all. Though with the Step you can be lazier.

Reply » been driving my 330i for a week now

Why is it that some of the manual people are always trying to convert the automatic people? I drive a manual, often in traffic, between 2 and 3 hours a day. I love a manual and when it's fun, it's really fun. But there are also times when I question my sanity for doing it.

Anyway, Jason, enjoy your new ride. Along with the manuals, I drove a new E90 330 with an auto during numerous test drives and thought it was a great car, too. I end up driving in LA a few times a year. When you run into bumper to bumper traffic on the 405 at noon on a Wednesday you understand.

Of course, Boston is no picnic either with the city's penchant for torn up streets. But the courteous drivers there more than make up for the inconvenience of relentless construction.

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