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2019+ BMW 3 AND 4-SERIES FORUMS (G2x Generation) General G20 Sedan / G22 Coupe / G26 Gran Coupe Discussions 320d, 330i, or 330d?

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      01-09-2020, 03:59 PM   #1
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320d, 330i, or 330d?

Hello everyone

New here, first post. I am planning to visit the dealer to order a G20 in this coming week. I still feel really lost between which engineI should go for. I am mainly thinking about the diesel versions because I want that quick acceleration and would get more milage with diesel.

Which is the best value between the 320d, 330i and the 330d? The 320d price is fine for me without worries, the 330i is a bit more expensive but also fine, while the 330d is much more in price, eventually doable but would hurt the wallet. Is the 3-liter straight six in the 330d so worth the price jump? Which feels fastest/sportiest?

(BYW, I just test drove the 320d. The other ones are hard to find for test drives here.)

Thanks in advance!
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      01-09-2020, 04:11 PM   #2
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I have some experience with the F30 320d and G20 M340i. So take my opinions as just a layman’s opinion and not an expert opinion.

I remember the 320d to be a fun little car. Torquey enough and quick enough for Indian roads. And it was fuel efficient too.
The 330i is significantly faster though it doesn’t feel as torquey (the push back in your seat when you accelerate hard, if you get what I mean).
The 330d is bound to be better than the 330i. It accelerates hard (going by BMWs official 0-100 being better than the 330i’s) and I’m sure it will feel torquier than the M340i (which is a beast as everyone knows). Hopefully, it will also be more fuel efficient than the 330i (which is surprisingly fuel efficient for a 2.0 turbo petrol).

If you can afford it, the 330d would be what I’d recommend (when it’s between the 320d, 330i and 330d). Else, the 330i is a very fast and fun car if you can live with petrol costs. The 320d will also be fun but not as fast, though it probably is faster than a lot of the other cars you see on the roads in Europe/Asia.
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      01-09-2020, 04:22 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VipinLJ View Post
I have some experience with the F30 320d and G20 M340i. So take my opinions as just a layman’s opinion and not an expert opinion.

I remember the 320d to be a fun little car. Torquey enough and quick enough for Indian roads. And it was fuel efficient too.
The 330i is significantly faster though it doesn’t feel as torquey (the push back in your seat when you accelerate hard, if you get what I mean).
The 330d is bound to be better than the 330i. It accelerates hard (going by BMWs official 0-100 being better than the 330i’s) and I’m sure it will feel torquier than the M340i (which is a beast as everyone knows). Hopefully, it will also be more fuel efficient than the 330i (which is surprisingly fuel efficient for a 2.0 turbo petrol).

If you can afford it, the 330d would be what I’d recommend (when it’s between the 320d, 330i and 330d). Else, the 330i is a very fast and fun car if you can live with petrol costs. The 320d will also be fun but not as fast, though it probably is faster than a lot of the other cars you see on the roads in Europe/Asia.
It keeps me wondering how do you exactly mean by the 330d would feel torquier than the M340i? If the two would race, will the diesel beat the petrol at launch but wouldnt be able to maintain the speed throughout?
If so, would that be noticably annoying in daily driving or you could only feel that in a test track?
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      01-09-2020, 04:37 PM   #4
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I own a 330i and recently had a 320d rental while in Europe. For reference my 330i is a base model (non- msport ) with 18 inch all season run flat tires. The 320d had 17 inch all season tires. Can't remember if they were run flat or not.

Driving wise- Cars felt nearly identical. Steering/grip may be a tiny bit better in my 330i but that's prob just the tire size difference.

Power- 330i def has more punch but it's not really noticeable until after 60mph. In day to day city driving, 320d is more than adequate and zips off the line. The only time i wished i had more power was on the autobahn at speeds above 100mph+.

Fuel economy- this was the biggest difference-My 330i is averaging 30mpg combined city/highway driving. I averaged 52mpg in the 320d during my trip which includes city and high speed autobahn driving. (room for improvement- can prob do 60mpg if careful) Very substantial difference.

Lot of $ saved on fuel for minimal performance difference in day to day driving. I would go for the 320d if i lived in Europe. (depending on price difference between 320d and 330i in Sweden). If the prices are not too far apart and i could afford the fuel-prob take 330i.

Last edited by alpinewhite3; 01-09-2020 at 04:54 PM..
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      01-09-2020, 04:53 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alpinewhite3 View Post
I own a 330i and recently had a 320d rental while in Europe. For reference my 330i is a base model (non- msport ) with 18 inch all season run flat tires. The 320d had 17 inch all season tires. Can't remember if they were run flat or not.

Driving wise- Cars felt nearly identical. Steering/grip may be a tiny bit better in my 330i but that's prob just the tire size difference.

Power- 330i def has more punch but it's not really noticeable until after 60mph. In day to day city driving, 320d is more than adequate and zips off the line. The only time i wished i had more power was on the autobahn at speeds above 100mph+.

Fuel economy- this was the biggest difference. 330i is averaging 30mpg combined city/highway driving. I averaged 52mpg in the 320d during my trip which includes city and high speed autobahn driving. (room for improvement- can prob do 60mpg if careful) Very substantial difference.

Lot of $ saved on fuel for minimal performance difference. I would go for the 320d if i lived in Europe. (depending on price difference between 320d and 330i in Sweden). If the prices are not too far apart and i could afford the fuel-prob take 330i.
Wow, big difference in the fuel consumption part. I am kinda happy hearing that the difference in the performance is not that noticable, but if I understood you right, did you feel that the diesel has bad punch after 60mph/100mph? Does the car feel tired after this speed?
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      01-09-2020, 05:08 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StevenX94 View Post
Wow, big difference in the fuel consumption part. I am kinda happy hearing that the difference in the performance is not that noticable, but if I understood you right, did you feel that the diesel has bad punch after 60mph/100mph? Does the car feel tired after this speed?
No, it still pulls pretty hard. Obviously, it's not going to feel like a sports car or m340i and push you back in your seat all the way up to 240kph. I was easily able to get to 240kph on the autobahn without much difficulty. It just took a couple of extra seconds.

That being said, if you are not on the autobahn, it wont really matter anyway. I rarely exceed 90-100 mph over here and i doubt you would reach those speeds in Sweden either. In day to day driving-from stop light to stop light. I never felt like i needed more power in the 320d. Fuel tank would cost almost 2x as much to fill with 330i-that's a lot of $ with those gas prices.
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      01-09-2020, 05:14 PM   #7
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Had the same dilemma a year ago. I was really doubting between the 320d or the 330i. First I ordered the 320d and two weeks later I changed into 330i. Driving it now for 5 months and not a second of regrets. Why?:
- in combination with M-package, a petrol engine is the right choice,
- sounds much better over a diesel
- great fuel consumption (average of 6,2 l/100 km) On motorways it can go down to 5,6 l/100 km)
- In Belgium petrol is now cheaper compared to diesel
- diesel has higher taxes as well in Belgium

Last but not least, I drove with diesel cars for the last 13 years and all of them were peetty noisy (BMW 1, 4 Mercedes C classes)

I would also opt for teh sport automatic gearbox, but that’s probably not an issue?
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      01-09-2020, 05:18 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alpinewhite3 View Post
No, it still pulls pretty hard. Obviously, it's not going to feel like a sports car or m340i and push you back in your seat all the way up to 240kph. I was easily able to get to 240kph on the autobahn without much difficulty. It just took a couple of extra seconds.

That being said, if you are not on the autobahn, it wont really matter anyway. I rarely exceed 90-100 mph over here and i doubt you would reach those speeds in Sweden either. In day to day driving-from stop light to stop light. I never felt like i needed more power in the 320d. Fuel tank would cost almost 2x as much to fill with 330i-that's a lot of $ with those gas prices.
Very true that.
Thats why I felt that a diesel would be the best option for me. It just remains if I just accept the 320d or make the jump to the 330d.
2.0 4 cyl vs the 3.0 6 cyl......
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      01-09-2020, 05:39 PM   #9
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In a drag race, the M340i will beat the 330d, no doubt. And it’s kinda hard to explain when I say the 330d probably has more “push-you-into-the-seat” feeling than the M340i.

I’ll give you an example. When I went to India a couple of months back, I drove my 2.0 diesel VW with 140bhp (I had an Audi A4 B9 2.0TFSI here back then). The VW felt like it pushed me deeper into the seat than my A4 did when accelerating under WOT from a start, even though my A4 had more than twice the power of the VW. Don’t ask me how or why. My VW produces more torque than my A4. I attribute the feeling to torque (I could be wrong). Did my VW out accelerate my A4? Absolutely not (0-60mph in 4.7s vs 7.9s on the VW).
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      01-09-2020, 05:52 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StevenDS85 View Post
Had the same dilemma a year ago. I was really doubting between the 320d or the 330i. First I ordered the 320d and two weeks later I changed into 330i. Driving it now for 5 months and not a second of regrets. Why?:
- in combination with M-package, a petrol engine is the right choice,
- sounds much better over a diesel
- great fuel consumption (average of 6,2 l/100 km) On motorways it can go down to 5,6 l/100 km)
- In Belgium petrol is now cheaper compared to diesel
- diesel has higher taxes as well in Belgium

Last but not least, I drove with diesel cars for the last 13 years and all of them were peetty noisy (BMW 1, 4 Mercedes C classes)

I would also opt for teh sport automatic gearbox, but that’s probably not an issue?
Hmm..the 320d i test drove sounded very quiet, maybe because it had noise cancelation windows.
As for the consumption, I am pretty much sure the diesel consumes less, specially on long trips.

I could agree on the sound, but the thing is, the 330i only has a 4 cyl, and that can not produce the sound and smoothness of the straight six engine. And a six cyl engine is available either in the M340i or the 330d.
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      01-09-2020, 05:54 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VipinLJ View Post
In a drag race, the M340i will beat the 330d, no doubt. And it’s kinda hard to explain when I say the 330d probably has more “push-you-into-the-seat” feeling than the M340i.

I’ll give you an example. When I went to India a couple of months back, I drove my 2.0 diesel VW with 140bhp (I had an Audi A4 B9 2.0TFSI here back then). The VW felt like it pushed me deeper into the seat than my A4 did when accelerating under WOT from a start, even though my A4 had more than twice the power of the VW. Don’t ask me how or why. My VW produces more torque than my A4. I attribute the feeling to torque (I could be wrong). Did my VW out accelerate my A4? Absolutely not (0-60mph in 4.7s vs 7.9s on the VW).
The instant torque is always very fun. I agree tho that petrols maintain the power throughout، even at high speed. But i guess a six cyl petrol engine drinks a hell lot of petrol, as in the M340i.
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      01-09-2020, 06:55 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StevenX94 View Post
The instant torque is always very fun. I agree tho that petrols maintain the power throughout، even at high speed. But i guess a six cyl petrol engine drinks a hell lot of petrol, as in the M340i.
It will. If we got the 330d here in America, I’d probably get that, just for that torque. The added mileage will be a bonus. Though I think diesel is slightly more expensive than petrol here.
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      01-09-2020, 07:31 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VipinLJ View Post
It will. If we got the 330d here in America, I’d probably get that, just for that torque. The added mileage will be a bonus. Though I think diesel is slightly more expensive than petrol here.
Same here, only slightly.
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      01-09-2020, 08:19 PM   #14
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I would test drive both the 320d and the 330d if you can find one. Only then will you be able to decide which one you like better / prefer. If you do go 320d route, you can load it up with some decent options. My 320d rental was bare bones and I missed all the tech options in my 330i. Also didn’t realize how bad the base LED (non-adaptive) lights are.
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      01-09-2020, 08:22 PM   #15
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Very simple, had 4 of them the last decades...

The 320d is an incredible thing of magic... in Germany it allowed me to play with several big machines at +200km/h with incredible authority, really! It was so frugal that I was almost everytime flabbergasted reading my overall average of 5,3l/100km.

Seen the lower weight on the front axle, it has a superior vehicle dynamics than the 330d and that's something I could feel in the F30 generation at least. On +98% of the public road trips, it feels like abundantly powered.

Of course, I've experienced superiour machines like the F90 M5 and M4 competition etc... but they don't compete when TCO comes in play and when you want return for your hard earned money: just go for 320d, it's the best on the market. And I mean it!
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      01-09-2020, 08:31 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alpinewhite3 View Post
I would test drive both the 320d and the 330d if you can find one. Only then will you be able to decide which one you like better / prefer. If you do go 320d route, you can load it up with some decent options. My 320d rental was bare bones and I missed all the tech options in my 330i. Also didn’t realize how bad the base LED (non-adaptive) lights are.
Excatly that, even the dealer told me that you get more out of a 320d. I will try to find a 330d for testing but i doubt there is one. The only thing that makes me interested in the 330d is that people say the straight six engine makes it a totally different car than the 4 cyl, and thats what I need to be sure of first.
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      01-09-2020, 08:39 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KoenG View Post
Very simple, had 4 of them the last decades...

The 320d is an incredible thing of magic... in Germany it allowed me to play with several big machines at +200km/h with incredible authority, really! It was so frugal that I was almost everytime flabbergasted reading my overall average of 5,3l/100km.

Seen the lower weight on the front axle, it has a superior vehicle dynamics than the 330d and that's something I could feel in the F30 generation at least. On +98% of the public road trips, it feels like abundantly powered.

Of course, I've experienced superiour machines like the F90 M5 and M4 competition etc... but they don't compete when TCO comes in play and when you want return for your hard earned money: just go for 320d, it's the best on the market. And I mean it!
It is definetly a great car that has alomst all the power that is needed daily. But if I may ask, did you also have/test the 330d? What exactly do you mean by vehicle dynamics there? Which areas are the ones that the 320d felt superior in?
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      01-09-2020, 09:22 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StevenX94 View Post
It is definetly a great car that has alomst all the power that is needed daily. But if I may ask, did you also have/test the 330d? What exactly do you mean by vehicle dynamics there? Which areas are the ones that the 320d felt superior in?
330d is the overall more endulging machine, but the "business case" is worse since the 320d is in sweet spot of daily usage, fun and € metric.

Every time I bought a 320d, I test drove the 330d. While it felt more luscious, it was about 60% more on TCO and that was a bit too steep.

You could compare the 320d with a 60% less expensive TCO car, that would put you in a Golf 1.6 Tdi for instance. So I always came back on the 320d.

Wrt vehicle dynamics. Less weight on the front axle is better steering in behaviour since less understeer and less inertion.
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      01-10-2020, 02:24 PM   #19
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What's your annual mileage? Is it worth getting the diesel over the petrol?
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      01-10-2020, 05:31 PM   #20
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What's your annual mileage? Is it worth getting the diesel over the petrol?
Annual milage is about 21,000 km per year.
I guess diesel is the more economical choice anyways tho? Or?..
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      01-10-2020, 06:31 PM   #21
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I would go with the 320d. It's not like the 330D is lightning fast or a sub 5 second car. Difference to 100km/h is prob a a little over a second. 5.6 vs 6.7? Not a big enough difference to justify the extra price and extra fuel consumption.
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      01-10-2020, 06:54 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alpinewhite3 View Post
I would go with the 320d. It's not like the 330D is lightning fast or a sub 5 second car. Difference to 100km/h is prob a a little over a second. 5.6 vs 6.7? Not a big enough difference to justify the extra price and extra fuel consumption.
I think it will probably be the 320d in the end, it sounds like the more logical choice.
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