BMW 3 series info wanted?

[nidge]

Fair point- that was the last manual car she will have, we chopped against a new 3.0 X3 auto. I suspect she wont go back to 4 cylinders now either

[Mr. Dazzle]

BMW autos are all traditional slush boxes, either 6 or 8 speed depending on the model. The only dual clutch jobs are on the M3 I believe.

Not that it's a bad thing, the 8 speed (actually a ZF unit also used by Jag) in particular is excellent IME. Proper throttle blips on downshift and hangs on til the redline kf you want it to.

[Taipan]

Fair point- that was the last manual car she will have, we chopped against a new 3.0 X3 auto. I suspect she wont go back to 4 cylinders now either

I get that. My CLK was a 6 pot and was so much smoother than my 4 pot SLK.

[Taipan]

Just seen this one, which would be the older non direct injection engine right?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-325i-...53.m1438.l2649

[KungFooBob]

Just seen this one, which would be the older non direct injection engine right?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-325i-...53.m1438.l2649

Almost impossible to tell from the ad, the motors look very similar with the covers on.

It does tell you on a sticker on one of the door shuts iirc. Or if you can get the VIN number you can use an online decoder.

[Taipan]

Almost impossible to tell from the ad, the motors look very similar with the covers on.

It does tell you on a sticker on one of the door shuts iirc. Or if you can get the VIN number you can use an online decoder.

Thanks. But a good lump either way with no real known issues?

[KungFooBob]

Thanks. But a good lump either way with no real known issues?

Google N52 vs N53.

I guess a lot of it is that only people who have issues post on internet forums and the many thousands who never have an issue don't.

I didn't know about the whole N52 vs N53 thing until I'd already bought a car with an N52, but I test drove cars with the N53 too.

I'd wondered why some cars seemed to rev faster and sound smother... turns out they were the N52's.

[Taipan]

How important is the iDrive built in sat nav thing?

[Yorick]

How important is the iDrive built in sat nav thing?

Over here we navigate by the volcanoes

[Taipan]

Over here we navigate by the volcanoes

Round here we navigate by burning cars!

[Yorick]

Round here we navigate by burning cars!

Not like you to be funny.

[Taipan]

Not like you to be funny.

One of the cars was mine. It's no laughing matter!

[Taipan]

This was our street party for the Queen's jubilee!

[Yorick]

This was our street party for the Queen's jubilee!

Cool. Burning a car saves building a bonfire

[Mr. Dazzle]

How important is the iDrive built in sat nav thing?

It does everything...Sat Nav, Radio/CD/MP3/Streaming, Phone, even the service history.