E90 320 or 320LCI

[saat]

Your friend must have a mental deficiency. His alphabets contains only 2 letters i.e. B and M. His mind substitutes other letters with B or M. The huge numbers of Ps by the roadside are seen by him as Bs or Ms. I hardly see any B or M pulled over by the roadside.

Don't be detracted by such talk.


May be as Schwepps suggested, your friend harbors a secret yearning of owning one but couldn't. And now that you are closer to getting your own, his evil mind tries to poison you. Hehehehehe (evil snigger)

 

[saat]

So have you taken delivery yet? Post pics of your new ride lah.

 

[thunderbird]

yap, we collected 'her' 2days ago and my wife is a joyful lady now. any suggestion on where can i get a not too expensive floor mat. I notice there's phone icon on the steering and it looks like such function can be installed, any one tried that? Also, i think i should start looking for the RFT as well, what's you guys recommendation on them, should i revert back to the normal Tyre for cost sake (but the spare tyre would be a problem then)

 

[enkil]

Congrats on your new ride!

 

[enkil]

I exchanged my 4 yr old 2.4L in Feb this year (for a Mini Cooper since I got the E90 325 in Oct08). It is a lot of car for the money. For many pax, the first remarks is "Wow, the back is spacious". It is an easy car to drive which I think is the biggest plus point. My son and dotter loved to drive it. The power to weight is good. It is one of the most reliable cars I've ever had. I have only had to change brake pads, brake disc and the battery. There are SC's everywhere. It is very comfortable for long journeys. There were many times when I practically drove the car on autopilot - without thinking and it get me home at the end of a tiring day. This is the biggest thing I miss about the car. The engine is refined. Its fuel consumption is very good but not city driving.

There are the following 4 negatives:

1. The beige leather seats and beige carpet. The are difficult to keep clean and the leather started cracking after 3 years.
2. Its width can be a little of a daunting when parking or maneuvering in tight spaces.
3. The engine is a wimp. It's acceleration is quite weak for a 2.4. Even an E46 318 can beat it.
4. The alarm and security system is useless. I got broken into and lost 2 laptops. They got in by breaking the driver side door locks. I heard that there were many similar cases.

At the end, it is not a BMW. It is an old man's car. Sometimes, I even feel embarrassed to be seen driving it. The acceleration is lazy. Its handling limits are low. It does not reward any attempt to drive it hard. It breaks away quite violently at the limit, it can be quite scary. But it's light weight does enable you to catch it, if you keep your head. I have skidded in the wet but managed to recover. So it will catch out an inexperienced driver. The driving proposition is very different. You actually have to mentally age when you drive it.

I hate the new shape. I think you're better off with a Camry rather than the new shape Accord. For that matter, I would rather go for the 2.0 Civic.

If I were you, get the 320i. You will not regret it.

P.S. My misus prefers her E46 anytime.
I sold it at half the price I bought it after 4 years. Same depreciation as my BMW. But the BMW seems to have better demand. A dealer says the demand for a 2.0 accord is more than a 2.4, simply because used car buyers can't stump for the higher price/insurance and road tax.

Nice and elaborate experience.. Cheers

 

[saat]

yap, we collected 'her' 2days ago and my wife is a joyful lady now. any suggestion on where can i get a not too expensive floor mat. I notice there's phone icon on the steering and it looks like such function can be installed, any one tried that? Also, i think i should start looking for the RFT as well, what's you guys recommendation on them, should i revert back to the normal Tyre for cost sake (but the spare tyre would be a problem then)

Congratulations!!!

Which color combination did you take? Did you buy from AB GM?

Slow down Bro.

Enjoy what you have first. Don't start itching from the word go. Floor mat pun wanna change from day one. Sheesh!

The phone button might be there on the steering wheel but the HU don't have the phone function. This only comes with Phone Preparation that comes with 323 upwards. I don't think you want to spend the amount of money for the Phone Preparation installation.

Your current RFT has got a lot of mileage left. They are "worthless" if you intent to trade in for "normal" tyres. Make that decision when you need to replace them. The RFTs on the 320 is a lot more comfortable than the RFTs on the 325. Take it from me I have both.

 

[thunderbird]

FYI, we took the one year old blue/beige color pre-facelift model, direct deal with private seller. the RFT already done with 8k mileage. your recommendaion is to continue the RFT, how much are they roughly? The car only comes with the beige color floor mat, hence i'm thinking to put some rubber mat on top for dirt and liquid.

 

[BMWs]

FYI, we took the one year old blue/beige color pre-facelift model, direct deal with private seller. the RFT already done with 8k mileage. your recommendaion is to continue the RFT, how much are they roughly? The car only comes with the beige color floor mat, hence i'm thinking to put some rubber mat on top for dirt and liquid.

CONGRATS on your new ride bro. Pls dont be so kiasu to put rubber mat on top of the nice given carpet mat and spoil the image of our German mades. You can do that on local mades or Jap mades. :wink:

When your tires wear out, change the rims to bigger size.

Cheers

 

[astroboy]

My Japs car I put extra mat. The E90 however, still on original carpet.. the extra mat really make the E90 look cheap and smell cheap, that's why after spending so much buying the BMW, I am going to USE it.. yes, even the carpet. But mine is black/black la. So the carpet is dark colour, so more tolerable to dirt. And most of the time, my missy uses the car for office commuting, how dirty can it gets..

 

[thunderbird]

been busy with work, on the road for the past two weeks....

I'm not Kiasu but kia-dirty.... I really hate having a wet shoes step on the beige color mat especially on a rainy day.....

 

[E46Fanatic]

been busy with work, on the road for the past two weeks....

I'm not Kiasu but kia-dirty.... I really hate having a wet shoes step on the beige color mat especially on a rainy day.....

Agree. I have my original beige floor mats at home. Cant stand the dirty look on them and it only takes a few steps to get it all messed up. Beige carpet floor mats are just not the right way to go.

Buy a set of aftermarket black carpets suited and fitted for our cars. I got mine from Calvin Tan, and it doesn't slip and has nice colored ///M logos on the fronts . Previously I bought a dark grey ones for the E90 from Auto Bavaria, cheaper (~Rm140) but they slip around and wore down in less than 1 year. The ones sold by Calvin (~Rm400) is much better in quality and looks better cos its jet black (matching the color of the dash, steering etc).

 

[Schwepps]

Very nice mats E46F! :top: How does one find Calvin Tan? Pls PM if it's private.

There's nothing wrong with being finicky with mats. Some people don't mind if there's sand and gunk on the mats and floor, but some people can't stand a single speck on them. My mats are fwopped and wheels are washed every morning, so I'm one of you. :wink: The rest of the car can be caked in mud, but the mats and wheels must be speckless.

 

[E46Fanatic]

Can call him on 019-2208328, to see if got stock of the mats for the E90. If you wanna go to his shop, you'll surely need the help of the GPS .

 

[astroboy]

The RM400 is for 4 mats? and what about the RM140 OEM mat? 4 pcs also?

How much is our original floor mat anyway? Keeping the OEM at home is taking up storage spaces and my woman at home sure will nag..

The rear mat are hardly used, so not the issue. Putting the aftermarket floor mat over the OEM mat is adding unnecessary weight to the car and I don't quite like the feel of having 2 layer of floor mat over the carpet.

The OEM mat comes with 2 pieces of huge thumbtack liked plastic stud that Velcro under the mat and the pointy plastic stud is meant to peg into the floor board carpet so the floor mat won't slip and slide. When I got the car, the stud were not used but chuck into the boot.

Every time I visit a friend workshop, need to be very careful not to step into oil stain or gunk and bring into the car.. Black greasy gunk can be obvious in my dark grey OEM mat..

 

[E46Fanatic]

I was quoted RM800 for the OEM original mats which came with our car. Hence AB also sells a cheap alternative for RM140 for a set of 4 (dont waste your $$ here). Calvin's stuff is in the middle I guess at RM400 for a set of 4 pcs.

 

[racheltoh]

E46: just when i commented ur car was so clean (x100)...u went n purchase the mats ar.....?? tsk tsk

If u r just looking at floor mats without the M, 4 pcs @ rm100 can get dy..

 

[saat]

Sorry bro. I had a spare set of ori carpets. I sold the car with the spare set in the boot 1 month ago.

I got the new set for around RM200 from Bavarian.

 

[Schwepps]

Thanks E46F! Those are nice and I'll KIV his number. :top:

Mats always need replacing after a couple of years or so, and European luxuries should always use good carpet mats. I peeked into an aquaintance's brand new LCI 323i recently and found he had immediately slapped a set of 3M mats on top of his OEMs. Ugghh! Instant economy feel. Rubber mats would be worse I suppose...instant taxi feel.

 

[glock_8]

Every time I visit a friend workshop, need to be very careful not to step into oil stain or gunk and bring into the car.. Black greasy gunk can be obvious in my dark grey OEM mat..

not to forget the "lube oil smell" or "workshop smell" that comes with it...if you frequent those greasy place often enuf...the car will smell like one and feel cheap.