Well I've had my Ibiza for nearly 4 years now. I'd been looking on and off for a replacement for over a year. Originally I was looking at BMW 330cds but decided that I didn’t want to spend nearly 10k on a car that had been to the moon and back! I then started looking at Mk4 Golf R32s. Very nice cars but I felt they are heavily let down by the interior, yes the seats are nice but the rest is just too similar to a standard Golf. A couple that I looked at just hadn’t been looked after well. I think it’s the case of young people spending all their money buying and insuring them, but then not having any money to maintain them properly.
After test driving a few R32s I knew I wanted a petrol car again, I’ve missed that instant throttle response and larger rev range. I still loved the looks of the E46 coupes, so started looking for a 330ci M Sport. I definitely wanted a facelift model as I think pre-facelifts are looking a bit dated now. That and the fact that I wanted a silver or grey manual narrowed down my search quite a bit. I continued looking for a few weeks then a silver manual 330 turned up in Leeds. After a few conversations with the owner I drove 180 miles up the M1 to go and see it! The car turned out as described and a few hours later I was driving back down the M1 with a 330 chasing!
Anyway that’s enough talk, here are a few pics
As standard they’re pretty loaded but it’s got a few nice extras such as xenon headlights, electric sunroof, electric memory seats and the blackberry nappa interior.
I can’t even describe how different it is to my Ibiza. The straight 6 engine is very smooth and responsive and keeps pulling far up the rev range. It even feels livelier than the R32s that I drove. The handling is in a different league. Even with my Ibiza on coilovers I never had much confidence with it in corners, the BMW just eats them up. It sounds awesome too.
Btw this one does come with indicators, although the stalk looks a bit dusty
What do you think?
After test driving a few R32s I knew I wanted a petrol car again, I’ve missed that instant throttle response and larger rev range. I still loved the looks of the E46 coupes, so started looking for a 330ci M Sport. I definitely wanted a facelift model as I think pre-facelifts are looking a bit dated now. That and the fact that I wanted a silver or grey manual narrowed down my search quite a bit. I continued looking for a few weeks then a silver manual 330 turned up in Leeds. After a few conversations with the owner I drove 180 miles up the M1 to go and see it! The car turned out as described and a few hours later I was driving back down the M1 with a 330 chasing!
Anyway that’s enough talk, here are a few pics
As standard they’re pretty loaded but it’s got a few nice extras such as xenon headlights, electric sunroof, electric memory seats and the blackberry nappa interior.
I can’t even describe how different it is to my Ibiza. The straight 6 engine is very smooth and responsive and keeps pulling far up the rev range. It even feels livelier than the R32s that I drove. The handling is in a different league. Even with my Ibiza on coilovers I never had much confidence with it in corners, the BMW just eats them up. It sounds awesome too.
Btw this one does come with indicators, although the stalk looks a bit dusty
What do you think?
Luckily the previous owner changed it for a 6 disk cd player
