[LarryK1000]

We went to our place in Palm Springs last weekend. It's about 125 miles from Los Angeles and took the new 330 on it's longest drive. I've had the car a little over two (2) weeks and had only 200 miles on the car when we left.

I just came from a 2003 Mercedes E320.

The trip was truly wonderful. The only slight negative was that we DID notice more of the imperfections in the road, things the Mercedes covered up with it's softer suspension. It was a little disturbing at times, but only on the worst sections. But, it was interesting that the roughness was not an inherent roughness in the BMW suspension. It clearly was the tires. However, when it hit a bump or little rise in the road, the car just flew, smoothly over it and you could tell that the car, itself, had the typical, great German car ability to deal with road bumps in its own perfect way. It was very impressive.

It was 112 in Palm Springs. The air conditioning worked flawlessly. The sensor in the front windshield causes the system to funnel cold air to the windshield to counteract the extra heat of the sun coming in the windshield. It was amazing how much cold air was going up there at times. Just great.

Although I'm still not thrilled with Sirius (I've had XM for over a year), it sounded a little better when I adjusted a little more bass. I DID, however, notice that are some loud, high pitched classical pieces, there was screeching. I think Sirius' compression algorithm just can't handle very loud or high notes.

The navigation system was fine. Having the Magellan RoadMate 800 to compare it to results in less than favorable reviews. But, generally it's satisfactory. It reacts VERY QUICKLY to changes in car position. It repaints the map immediately. There are major shortcomings, but people without other system experience will not know most of these. It took quite a long time to recalculate routes (like 30 seconds or more) where the Magellan unit does it in, literally, 3 seconds. And, the ARROW maps were not very complete. Where the Magellan unit clearly shows which lane to be in at freeway intersections, the BMW system failed to give directions at several interchanges along the way. A stranger could accidentally turn off onto a wrong highway.

As to gas mileage, we got an average of 25 MPG for the entire trip. Just to check, I reset the system to see what mileage we were getting on the freeway. It was 29.9. Now, that's not bad for a car with 300 miles, using air conditioning and going 75 to 80 mph. So, gas mileage is going to be superb in time. I couldn't ask for more.

So, in summary, the car was just great. It was a hoot to drive. It's still being babied, so we have not gone very fast or accelerated very quickly. It is going to be a super car.

P.S. Am I the only one with back seat seat belts that are rattling like crazy?

Larry in Los Angeles

[unxdawg]

Originally Posted by LarryK1000

We went to our place in Palm Springs last weekend. It's about 125 miles from Los Angeles and took the new 330 on it's longest drive. I've had the car a little over two (2) weeks and had only 200 miles on the car when we left.

I just came from a 2003 Mercedes E320.

The trip was truly wonderful. The only slight negative was that we DID notice more of the imperfections in the road, things the Mercedes covered up with it's softer suspension. It was a little disturbing at times, but only on the worst sections. But, it was interesting that the roughness was not an inherent roughness in the BMW suspension. It clearly was the tires. However, when it hit a bump or little rise in the road, the car just flew, smoothly over it and you could tell that the car, itself, had the typical, great German car ability to deal with road bumps in its own perfect way. It was very impressive.

It was 112 in Palm Springs. The air conditioning worked flawlessly. The sensor in the front windshield causes the system to funnel cold air to the windshield to counteract the extra heat of the sun coming in the windshield. It was amazing how much cold air was going up there at times. Just great.

Although I'm still not thrilled with Sirius (I've had XM for over a year), it sounded a little better when I adjusted a little more bass. I DID, however, notice that are some loud, high pitched classical pieces, there was screeching. I think Sirius' compression algorithm just can't handle very loud or high notes.

The navigation system was fine. Having the Magellan RoadMate 800 to compare it to results in less than favorable reviews. But, generally it's satisfactory. It reacts VERY QUICKLY to changes in car position. It repaints the map immediately. There are major shortcomings, but people without other system experience will not know most of these. It took quite a long time to recalculate routes (like 30 seconds or more) where the Magellan unit does it in, literally, 3 seconds. And, the ARROW maps were not very complete. Where the Magellan unit clearly shows which lane to be in at freeway intersections, the BMW system failed to give directions at several interchanges along the way. A stranger could accidentally turn off onto a wrong highway.

As to gas mileage, we got an average of 25 MPG for the entire trip. Just to check, I reset the system to see what mileage we were getting on the freeway. It was 29.9. Now, that's not bad for a car with 300 miles, using air conditioning and going 75 to 80 mph. So, gas mileage is going to be superb in time. I couldn't ask for more.

So, in summary, the car was just great. It was a hoot to drive. It's still being babied, so we have not gone very fast or accelerated very quickly. It is going to be a super car.

P.S. Am I the only one with back seat seat belts that are rattling like crazy?

Larry in Los Angeles

Hey Larry, you have the steptronic right? What are your thoughts on it?

I am taking delivery of my 330i with steptronic sometime this week. Curious about people's thoughts on the transmission (I'm coming from having two previous Bimmers that were manuals).

Thanks.

[LarryK1000]

The automatic transmission is fine. There is, however, a slight hesitation or lag before the car moves off the line. It is a little disturbing and unusual. Other people have mentioned it before.

But, overall, I think you'll like it.

More disturbing is how the brakes grab when you are moving really slowly, such as moving up in your garage. The car lurches forward and you have to be very careful not to jump and hit the wall.

The brakes, themselves are some of the best I've had. They are very strong and precise. But, this lurching is troublesome. So, just be aware of it the first time you park the car in your garage. It's something people would not expect to happen. You'll know it as soon as you drive the car.

But, it's just something to get used to.

Enjoy. And, by the way, with all the great toys on the car (iDrive, Bluetooth Phone, Nav, Satellite Radio), you'll be happy you have the automatic because your hands will be busy doing other things....

L

[ALPINE6SPD]

great review. I luv the nav but have never had another system to compare it too. I do not really notice what your saying about the brakes but I have a 6-speed so that may also be why. Best of luck with the new car.

[BK]

Congrats on the new car! The brake issue is the same one described here, I think: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22631

It's the "brake assist." I mentioned that I noticed it (and didn't like it) on the AT I tried, but I didn't notice it with the MT, which probably explains why ALPINE6SPD doesn't notice it on his car. There is some advice in that thread that the e-brake will cancel the brake assist so you can inch forward easier with your AT car.

I am a little surprised there haven't been more threads about this -- if I drove an AT, I would think this would be very annoying.

[sdbcerda]

Larry,
Great post.

Based on my experience with other nav systems I feel the BMW system is much better than the Ford system and not as good as the Acura/Honda system. The Acura/Honda system is better at showing the street to turn onto and easier to find places. That said it sure beats reading a paper map.

For the steptronic lag I just move the selector to the fun positon (Sport or DS) which reduces the lag time and gives shift points at higher revs. Also the steptronic is an improvement over the previous non-step BMW automatic.

I find the Sirius cuts out more than XM from obstructions (buildings, trees) that cause a lost signal. Other than that I like both systems.

After getting used to the brakes I like them.

I do not notice any rattles including rear seatbelts (I keep the center belt fastened).

Sincerely,
Sergio

[hkj]

Nice write up Larry. Sounds like you got a nice ride out of your 330.

FYI I never had problems with back seat belts rattling.

-hkj

[new2the3]

How did you reset the trip computer in the Idrive?

[David328M-Sport]

Originally Posted by LarryK1000

The automatic transmission is fine. There is, however, a slight hesitation or lag before the car moves off the line. It is a little disturbing and unusual. Other people have mentioned it before.

But, overall, I think you'll like it.

More disturbing is how the brakes grab when you are moving really slowly, such as moving up in your garage. The car lurches forward and you have to be very careful not to jump and hit the wall.

The brakes, themselves are some of the best I've had. They are very strong and precise. But, this lurching is troublesome. So, just be aware of it the first time you park the car in your garage. It's something people would not expect to happen. You'll know it as soon as you drive the car.

But, it's just something to get used to.

Interesting that you have these issues on such a late model build. I understood that these issues were dealt with in software updates for the US cars.

Thankfully my car does not exhibit any launch delay or soft stop problems. In fact my launch is very quick, hard and I love it!

You should be able to have these issues fixed by your dealer.

[PersonaNonGrata]

Nice review Larry. My 330 with Steptronic is about 2 weeks old and the first weekend I had it I drove from Palm Springs to San Diego. I would totally agree with your comments. I too notice the lurch when I try to fine tune my parking job in my garage. I'm hoping that the off-the-line issue is my transmission adapting to me.

The next road trip I take I'll test out my Garmin Nuvi 350 alongside the BMW navigation. So far, I like my Garmin much better.

[Silver bullet]

Hi Larry, I have almost 4,000 on my 330. Don't notice a rattle in the back. Do you have the fold down rear seats? Maybe one of them is not latched properly.
On the Nav issue, I don't have anything to compare it to. Mine seems great. The Nav Girl voice tells you to exit left, right etc. I can see if you are just using the arrow screen with the Nav Girl muted you may loose part of the direction guidance. I'll have to check that out.

[oilbelcher]

Originally Posted by unxdawg

Hey Larry, you have the steptronic right? What are your thoughts on it?

I am taking delivery of my 330i with steptronic sometime this week. Curious about people's thoughts on the transmission (I'm coming from having two previous Bimmers that were manuals).

Thanks.

I also had only manuals (3 series and G35), and now have to have the steptronic now that we are living overseas and only have one car. We have a steep entrance/exit to our parking garage that opens immediately on a 4 lane road, requiring hovering on the peak of the hill waiting to merge. Its absolute hell on a manual clutch. Almost fried a clutch on a rental car. After I move back to the US, I am defininely going back to manual. It takes so much fun out of the experiance, and very slow to react (downshift waiting, pause before initial launch). You just don't get to interact with the car at all. The manu-shift does not allow precise timing and engagement of the next gear, and is just more frustrating to use. I just leave the shift level in sport-auto mode when I try to be sporty. If you have only ever driven auto trans, this one is fine, but hard coming from the interactive experiance to the auto.