Ally's BMW E90 320d

[Ally_bassman]

Well after much deliberation and umming and arring, I decided to look for a new car to replace my beloved MK2 Fabia VRS Estate.

 

 

Yes the performance is mighty impressive and after fitting a TMC box and ITG induction kit it really flew. But the crashy ride, loud cabin noise, questionable build quality stodgy handling were starting the outweigh the grin produced from stabbing the throttle.

 

I've always wanted a BMW, ideally an 135i M, but being only 25 that can wait until I'm further up the career ladder! I focused in on a E90 320d M-Sport as they look great IMO, are cheap to run and with the established chassis and punchy 184 PS engine, a bit of a hoot to drive too! I managed to get a great deal on a 2011 car with 20k on the clock from a BMW dealer.

 

 

 

 

I can totally see why they get such good reviews, the first thing I noticed coming from the Fabia was the steering feel, nicely weighted and giving you a real idea of what the front wheels are doing. The ride, while hard and 'Sporty' is smooth and irons out the crappy roads we have. Without being too much of a BMW fanboy, I am chuffed and happy I made the switch. The car does have a fair bit of grunt, but I was missing the punch from my old Fabia, so after a little research, I bought a DTUK CRD-t+ tuning box which claims to take the power from 181BHP to 230BHP. I am a realist, so I would be happy with around 220BHP and 350nm of torque.

 

 

The box was mega easy to fit, and after 500 miles with it fitted, I am happy with the results, the performance is greatly improved. But with 18 different settings (3 maps that can be adjusted +3 or -3 increments) to choose from, it's a case of switching between them to find one that works best. I contacted Andrew from DTUK to see if he could shed some light of which map does what, but I have yet to receive a reply! :-( Shame, as I have heard nothing but good reviews from his customer service.

 

Farther Christmas brought me a new grill, so that was fitted as soon as it could! Mixed reviews from people, but I love it.

 

 

 

That's it for now! My plans for the future are;

 

- OEM tinting of the windows

- Change Halogen angel eye's for LED ones

- Replace headlight bulbs for brighter / whiter ones

- Paint brake callipers

- Change the rear exhaust pipe for a twin pipe similar to a 330d

- Replace alloy's for 18" OEM rims from a 320si

[James I]

We did the same as you, Fabia VRS to a 3 series, great cars!

 

 Add to your list of things to do, swirl flap delete, swirl flaps lurk in the inlet manifold and can fall off the mechanism and into you engine, which you probably know is not good, easy to blank off too, i did mine in an hour or two.

 

 Let me know how much you want for your wheels when you replace them as they look better than what I have on mine.

 

 Here is a link to Swirl Flap removal pictures  http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/318998-bmws-116d-330d/

[Toxicvrs]

I like these E90s

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Ally_bassman]

We did the same as you, Fabia VRS to a 3 series, great cars!

 

 Add to your list of things to do, swirl flap delete, swirl flaps lurk in the inlet manifold and can fall off the mechanism and into you engine, which you probably know is not good, easy to blank off too, i did mine in an hour or two.

 

 Let me know how much you want for your wheels when you replace them as they look better than what I have on mine.

 

 Here is a link to Swirl Flap removal pictures  http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/318998-bmws-116d-330d/

 

Yeah, I did the old mega read-up and research about the N47 engine, timing chains and Swirl flaps seem to be the issue, I'm glad I got a post 2010 car as the swirl flaps are now plastic and the timing chain issues have been solved too. But if it's an easy job, I may just blank them off! Thanks for letting me know!   Oh and I will! Just need to find a decent set of the wheels I am after, that have a realistic asking price..... Some Beemer owners are delusional!

[James I]

I too have noticed BMW wheels command some high prices compared to what we see on the VAG scene.

 

 Try Quarry motors in Sheffield they have a fair few wheels in, they are a specialist BMW breaker, Chadwicks in Chester are also worth a try but they have less choice.

 

 PMW for you flap delete kit  http://www.pmwltd.co.uk

 

 

 Has the thought crossed your mind yet, why BMW feel it not necessary to fit a temperature gauge??  

[Ally_bassman]

Top man thank you!

Yes exactly!! As much as I like the MPG gauge, I really want a temp gauge instead. Apparently you can view the coolant temp on the little screen via accessing the 'Secret menus'

[James I]

secret menus, it is a real ballache, get yourself an OBD wifi or bluetooth ELM327, plug it in to the OBD port and use Torque app on your mobile phone (dash command for Apple) All your facts and figures from water temp, oil temp and boost will all be displayed with very little faffing around, you should check this as the thermostats can be an issue resulting in cold running and poor mpg, this leads to no DPF regens, I have replaced the EGR thermostat and I have to do the main thermostat when I get a minute.

[Ally_bassman]

Cheers James, top advice. Didn't think about getting an OBD port transmitter. Like you said, I read about the thermostats being an issue causing bad MPG. I'm averaging 47 mpg at the mo, but I have no idea if that's good or not! The VRS on the same route struggled to get 32 mpg.

[James I]

I bought a 330D so I can only dream of anything over 30mpg      on the plus side it is a beast, I can win most traffic light grand prix even when I have the Golf on the trailer hooked to the back of it  :p

[Ally_bassman]

Those 330D's are monsters! I would have loved one, but at the age I wanted they are well and truly out of my price range. :-( I can only imagine the performance from that 6 cyl turbo :-p

[James I]

Mine is by no means a minter, it is an 06 with 100k on it, a few marks and a shoddy front bumper but for £5k and full history I couldn't pass it up, I will get around to tidying up one day.

 It was bought to tow the Golf around and carry the wife's fishing gear to ponds, so I am not too bothered about pristine looks.

[Toxicvrs]

Mine is by no means a minter, it is an 06 with 100k on it, a few marks and a shoddy front bumper but for £5k and full history I couldn't pass it up, I will get around to tidying up one day.

It was bought to tow the Golf around and carry the wife's fishing gear to ponds, so I am not too bothered about pristine looks.

The perfect workhorse IMO or a 530 D estate

[Ally_bassman]

Mine is by no means a minter, it is an 06 with 100k on it, a few marks and a shoddy front bumper but for £5k and full history I couldn't pass it up, I will get around to tidying up one day.

It was bought to tow the Golf around and carry the wife's fishing gear to ponds, so I am not too bothered about pristine looks.

Even so, it's still a great car and a bargain for the performance! And to think, people are paying the same for an 07 plate 1.9 TDI with blue paint and leather seats.......

A 330 or 335d 3 series M-Sport wagon would have been a dream. But I'm more than happy with what I've got now. :-)

[Toxicvrs]

Even so, it's still a great car and a bargain for the performance! And to think, people are paying the same for an 07 plate 1.9 TDI with blue paint and leather seats.......

A 330 or 335d 3 series M-Sport wagon would have been a dream. But I'm more than happy with what I've got now. :-)

Don't upset the SE mob

[James I]

You have a fine car mate, I will be watching your progress with it.

[Ally_bassman]

Don't upset the SE mob

My Mum always did say not to play with fire......

[Toxicvrs]

My Mum always did say not to play with fire......

That's called not owning a Yeti but going into the section,

[Ally_bassman]

You have a fine car mate, I will be watching your progress with it.

Cheers James, thanks for reading, I'm looking forward to making it my own just like the Fabia.

[Ally_bassman]

That's called not owning a Yeti but going into the section,

I'm already bared from there after my Yeti Meme... :-p

[Toxicvrs]

I'm already bared from there after my Yeti Meme... :-p

Same after mentioning dogging and air ride.

[Ally_bassman]

Wow I can't believe it's been two years since I picked up the E90, I have to say this car has done me proud and I have thoroughly loved every one of the 22k miles i've done so far.

 

At the start of this year it did let me down slightly.... snow meant the car was stranded on the drive...

 

 

I finally managed to get to work a day later, 320d's make good snow plows..

 

 

2016 with all of its controversy, has been an exciting year for me and my Girlfriend. With our first baby on the way and in the process of buying our first house together, the poor E90 got neglected....

 

 

i think this may have been the longest I had left one of my cars unwashed... It really was a work horse for a few months!

 

Since I last updated this thread, I have changed the tires from the horrible Bridgestone RFT's to a lovely set of Goodyear Eagle F1 ASY 2's - fantastic tyres! The guys on the BMW forums were correct, non-RFT's make a HUGE difference to the way the 3 series rides and hadles.

 

More to follow......

[Ally_bassman]

Luckily, once we finally moved into our new home, I was able to get my dream 'Man garage' with space for my bikes, and car detailing stuff. I didn't take me long to give the BMW a good wash, clay and polish...

 

 

 

Ahhhhh that's better...

 

 

You won't notice unless you look closley, but I fitted a little body coloured lip spoiler onto the boot, i think it's a little touch that sets the car off in M-Sport trim.

 

 

And that's me pretty much up to date, I also fitted a Nextbase 312gw dashcam to pretect me from the usual idiots that BMW's attract... but now that our little boy is here I natually have less time again to look after the E90. I do have some updates and changes planned soon.. :-)

[Ally_bassman]

The E90 got some treats for Christmas.....

 

 

One thing I felt really let the car down as the horrid pressed steel oval exhaust. So I had a few options to change it:

 

- Buy a used 330d back box and get it welded on to my original system

- Get a custom box made up

- Buy a new after market rear section

 

I went for the last option and picked up a Cobra Sport rear section, I wasn't expecting it to make any difference to performance (it doesn't) or engine sound (It does sound a little less agricultual now lol) but i'm happy with the way it looks and it's a hell of a lot lighter than the original!

 

 

 

 

Really happy with the way it looks, the fact it's given the car a nice growl is a bonus.

 

I also changed the Halogen Halo rings to aftermarket LED ones. An absolute pig of a job as you have to take the wheel off and arch liner out to even get to them... 2 hours of swearing later I was done. Never again!!! Even jacking the bloomin thing up was a mission, the standard car is stupidly low in M sport trim so I had trouble getting my trolley jack under! never had this problem with my on stilts VRS's! :D

 

 

I've coded them to run as DRL's so having the LED's has made a real difference, chuffed to bits!

 

Last of all i got my windows tinted to match the OEM 'Business edition' cars, It just sets the car off in my opnion.

 

 

After all that I treated her to a christmas eve wash using Ultimate finish's snow foam. I used it neat and was impressed with it's cling and dirt breakdown. Good job it's cheap as I used 500ml in one go! :sweat:

 

Edited 28 December, 2016 by Ally_bassman

[AshVrs]

Absolutely agree with you on the exhaust/tail pipe side of things. Looks a million times better with the cobra fitted. Very nice car!

[Ally_bassman]

I took the long way home from work yesterday, I found some excellent roads in the peaks..





I really do love the way this car is looking now. :)