[sgm]

Originally Posted by GridReaper

Hey guys I am looking to buy a car for sheer driving pleasure and BMW 330i has blown my mind off. It has made pray to all the gods I know when I tried flooring the gas. I tried Jaguar xe and Audi A4, A6. The closes to Bmw was the Jag but didn’t excite much. Never got my hands on Mercedes 300d AMG. Did I miss any other car to consider? I would love to hear any recommendations and owner experiences.
Thanks in advance.
P.S I already have 2 diesel cars

Hi GridReaper,

In the entry level segment, no other petrol can match G20 330i. Do test drive vRS. When is new Audi A4 2L petrol expected to hit our shores ? It should be getting the same engine from A6. Jag a lousy tuning of the 8-speed ZF gearbox.

If you love to expand your diesel collection, C300D may be a better option compared to 320d. Do test drive and update us

[GridReaper]

Originally Posted by sgm

Hi GridReaper,
In the entry level segment, no other petrol can match G20 330i. Do test drive vRS. When is new Audi A4 2L petrol expected to hit our shores ? It should be getting the same engine from A6. Jag a lousy tuning of the 8-speed ZF gearbox.
If you love to expand your diesel collection, C300D may be a better option compared to 320d. Do test drive and update us

I did ask about the new Audi A4 and they said it's not coming anytime soon. Tried to get a test drive of 300d but it's not available in Bengaluru atleast. And VRS they don't offer test drives at all or atleast that's what I was told

[miharbe]

Congratulations Mate! What a lovely buy this one is. Wish you many miles and smiles with this one!

I've been lusting after one for a very long time and given that COVID-19 has made us think of the what ifs and uncertainties about life in general the itch has grown that much stronger. I have been considering the 330i Sport, been doing a lot of mental maths around it and also fighting the urge to own a SUV (Endeavour) for it's go anywhere ability.

I had zeroed in on the 330i Sport as a sign from almighty above for making the car more affordable for folks like me who'd have dreamt about owning one and are going to bankrupt themselves in satisfying the urge and fulfilling the dream. Amidst all this comes your thread and now i have a visit scheduled to the nearest BMW showroom this week. Let's see how that plays out.

Questions:

1. How is the rear seat legroom. I am 5.11 and wanted to know if someone my height can sit behind my driving position?
2. How's the ride quality on really poor roads? The area where I live in Pune has a really bad last mile so this would be a bit of a concern
3. Can 3 medium sized adults fit in the backseat without exchanging body odour?
4. How much have you budgeted for insurance and maintenance annually? Does 100k rupees sound reasonable?

I used to think the mineral grey looks the best but I think that point of view has also changed now! The car looks oh-so-awesome in this shade.

Congratulations once again. Hope to join the club soon!

[Astitva]

Congratulations on the beautiful car! And what a lovely spec it is.

I'm intrigued by the sentence, "Bangalore market is controlled by the used car mafia".
Could you please throw some light upon it? I've noticed used car prices to be on the higher side in Bangalore but I had credited that too insanely high road taxes.

[shubhamAT]

Congratulations. I just rented the G20 330i (Black color) for a month. Considering it when I move back to India. A good car with an annoying Auto-Stop-Start mechanism. I like the seats though: very easy to find the almost perfect driving position. Wish the headset would front/back too.

[itwasntme]

Forgot to post pictures of the engine itself.

The 2020 BMW 330i comes with the time-tested 1998cc B48B20 Inline 4 longitudinally mounted turbo-petrol engine delivering 254bhp@5,000 rpm and an equally noteworthy 400Nm of torque@1550 rpm.

Noteworthy because both are insane numbers for a family sedan from both a power & torque PoV. BMW has not derated the engine for India, although on RON91 (standard) fuel, the output will be somewhat reduced I imagine.

All stats from this excellent page: https://www.ultimatespecs.com/car-sp...ries-330i.html

Engine bay pictures (will try and label the bits and pieces later on, apologies):

Macro view:





Lovely engine cover with logo:



Engine guard seen below:



Lot of heat shields around. After a longish drive, the engine really heats up; even more than my TSI Octavia:



More engine bay pics:









Solid struts on both sides:



Pressure washing:
Tried my Karcher K4 (Variolance set to soft nozzle) + VMTC foam attachment + Proklear snow foam. Worked pretty well, although the foam could have been thicker (need to experiment with the quantity). A real water & time saver, I was done with a quick rinse, snow foam, minor wiping with a mitt & then a rinse off. Total time taken 15-20 minutes.

Open to trying other brands, and especially buying a 5l pack as they are much more cost effective than the smaller ones. Any advice will be highly appreciated.





Results:

[Mr.Perera]

Congrats on the purchase. Man, the car looks super good ! Especially in that blue shade. The 330i Sport is my favourite car under the 50L bracket. You have just bought a terrific car, so happy for you.
PS: I vote for the black OEM Kidney grille. And a set of black BBS CI-R rims

[srishiva]

Lovely car. I think petrol motor is apt for this car and is anyway also quite powerful and should be creamy

I wonder why is the engine bay so long ? Its also packed tight compared to say Japanese cars for the engine size and not that different from them performance or durability wise.

[dealer]

Congratulations on the lovely car! I wish you thousands of happy miles with this beauty. As a F30 owner, I never really liked the looks of the new G20 but I have to say that the looks have really grown on me over time and this color looks absolutely great. I would suggest running the car on high octane fuel if readily accessible, the B48B20 engine seems to run much happier on good quality fuel and you'll really feel the difference in terms of power, economy and overall smoothness.

[Crazy_Bean]

Congrats on an amazing buy. Quick question: does your car come with any sort of basic ambient ligting. I know it doesnt have the chaging colours etc from M sport, but does it atleast have lit door handles, door bins etc.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Congratulations once again buddy on owning one of best cars available on sale right now.

It is only when you have shredded or torn the tyre that you need worry. A punctured RFT will even allow you to drive short distances
A full tyre will literally eat up all of your boot space.

You are making a silly mistake
M Sport sizes are 225/45/18 and 255/40/18

Probably typed that bit too late at night .

Originally Posted by drsvijay

can you tell me what are the things you miss out for not taking a M Sport ?

Do you get 360 cameras in M sport?

In my opening reasoning section I have captured the list. Take a look?
The M Sport does not come with a lot of goodies found in the US/EU spec cars like 360 degree camera, radar-based suite of assisted driving functions, electric boot, rear/side window blinds, Laser light package, top end music system (forgot the name), 19/20" tyres etc. Frankly, the M Sport specs need to improve for the money asked for. Maybe, they kept it for the LCI (~ late 2021/early 2022).

Originally Posted by Kashish

Congratulations on the car itwasntme!!
I believe you can code it out with the help of apps like Bimmercode through an OBD II adapter.

Thinking but don't want to mess with warranty or insurance in any manner. EVEN if it cannot be detected by BMW Service, a simple test drive during a routine service will reveal it. Open to advice of course.

Originally Posted by Vin76

Congratulations on the new car! It looks absolutely fabulous in that mediterranean blue. The difficulty in ingress and egress in this one, is one of the reason why I’m looking in the direction of 3 GT, as replacement for my Octavia.

Both ingress/egress is difficult. I am ~5'9" weighing ~80kg so borderline obese :-). Healthier folks will find it an area of concern and/or those with lumbar issues.

Originally Posted by TheGearBox

Congrats on the new car. Good to see that it comes with the pseudo-virtual dials, like you get in the 530d, instead of those horrible full-digital ones on the M Sport.

I like the dials - very classy. BMW even experimented with a 6WB cluster in the LCI F30 like this:
https://www.bimmer-tech.net/category...nt-cluster-6wb

This would have been the final iteration of the ana-digi dials before their current move to iDrive & & full digitalization.

Originally Posted by Brishti

Excellent buy I myself was in the market for a 330i in 2018 but bought a Octavia 1.8TSI "After Booking a RS"
I recall the BMW 330i M Sport GT being more fun than any other I had test drove other than the RS.

Thanks, get a Bilstein B6 set + PS4/PS3 225/50/16s and you definitely won't miss the 330i. That 1.8 TSI is an excellent blend of usability, luxury, speed, spaciousness & VFM maintenance.

Originally Posted by coolboy007

Congratulations buddy, every one knew how badly you wanted the 330i. You were all over the G20 threads and you have chosen a lovely exterior+ interior combination.

I hope you enjoy the lovely engine and chassis combo for a long time, the present gen bmw cars are also fairly reliable and am sure it would give you less hassles than the Skoda. You can get some irritants coded out and i suggest you do.

Thanks coolboy007! Enjoy your newly beastified Beast too once you return from your road trip!

Originally Posted by GTO

Beautiful BMW! Congratulations itwasntme. Wishing you a minimum of 10 happy years with this fantastic sedan. There is something special about driving a 3-Series with a high-revving petrol - I feel its just the right size for India and, end of the day, a petrol is a petrol. No diesel can match the sheer pleasure of high-revving a silky smooth petrol. I love everything about your 330i, except the front grille :(.

Many thanks for sharing such a detailed, unbiased review. It's especially important as we haven't officially reviewed the G20. Your car is going to our homepage today .

Here is a thread all G20 owners & fans should read = Handling improvements of the G20 over the F30 (BMW 3-Series G20 over F30 : Dynamics & handling improvements).

Thank you GTO for your comments and advice. Will consider the grill.

Originally Posted by Axe77

Congratulations buddy. Your car looks absolutely gorgeous.

Sorry I may have missed your usage but as a low miles user, I would say avoid the BSI and go for max warranty right up front.
Hands down, for a premium car, go for the Yakima Super Joe Pro 3. This will protect your car the best.
I would suggest rear rack over a roof based carried but if you do want to check out a roof based system, you can check out Graaja's post here from his wonderful thread.
I actually do not mind the grill either subject to the chrome being eliminated. I have done the same to my own 3 GT grill and it should not cost you more than 10k max.

Thanks! Checking out your thread for the grill pictures soon.

Originally Posted by graaja

Congratulations on this fantastic car! Wishing you tens of thousands of miles and smiles.
The exterior/interior color combination looks grand.

If you plan to get a cycle carrier, my suggestion would be to go for roof mounted options. I am sure Thule will have the proper foot kit for the G20. The roof mounted carrier is easy to load/unload the bike, is safe for the bike and the car and also transforms the look of the car.

Thank you graaja! Your amazing car & OT was an inspiration throughout my search.

Originally Posted by sgm

Congratulations itwasntme.
G20 330i is a fantastic driving machine, wishing a lots of happy miles
It is sad to see the 120kmph continuous warming chime with the new cars.
Don't be too much worried about RFT.

Thanks! The 17" do lower my BP rather than always worrying about those super expensive alloys & tyres on the 18" M Sport. Even the 17" OEM alloy is 49K from BMW!

Originally Posted by deepfreak15

Congrats on a truly awesome car. Wishing you many kms of happy motoring. Just curious can anything be done about that speed buzzer without voiding warranty?

Thanks! Jury out on the warranty bit w.r.t the speed warning.

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Congratulations, itwasntme!
I had been batting for the vRS 245 in its threads but I'll tell you what. I was wrong. However capable the vRS may be, a BMW is a BMW is a BMW!

Thanks suhaas. Your exemplary DIY thread is amazing too.

Originally Posted by animeshb

Congratulations itwasntme - wish you and your family years and miles of "JOY". And also, this is doing justice to an ownership report, and there are some people who couldn't even post a few pictures even after being asked repeatedly (sorry again!).

Maybe you can post a few of your glorious machine now. No more excuses! Highlight the differences with mine in text & pictures, and you'll be a hero :-).

Originally Posted by GridReaper

Congratulations Buddy. Excellent detailed review and I found just when I desperately needed. You just helped me make my decision. Thank you and congratulations again.

Thanks. Glad to be of help!

Originally Posted by akash_v12

Congratulations on your beauty! Glad to see you've finally got hold of a Bimmer after so much deliberation all over the forum. Your colour choice (Black over Mediterranean Blue) emphasizes the "Sportier" nature of the Sport even more, if I may say so. Not too subtle yet not too flashy, it's just perfect!

Thank you Akash, yes I like the colour - yet to get it detailed though.

Originally Posted by F1-Addict

congratulations on the new ride!!
i do not like chrome and would go for the black OEM grill.

Thanks! Yes, that black grill is a serious contender.

Originally Posted by Baddychat

Congratulations on the new ride !
So what did you decide to opt for, the Ceramic coating or the PF.

Thanks! Jury's still out on the ceramic vs paint protection + PPF debate.

Originally Posted by miharbe

Congratulations Mate!
Questions:

1. How is the rear seat legroom. I am 5.11 and wanted to know if someone my height can sit behind my driving position?
2. How's the ride quality on really poor roads? The area where I live in Pune has a really bad last mile so this would be a bit of a concern
3. Can 3 medium sized adults fit in the backseat without exchanging body odour?
4. How much have you budgeted for insurance and maintenance annually? Does 100k rupees sound reasonable?

See my legroom pics. Both front seats were adjusted for my 5'9" frame. It's not lavish but not bad either.
Ride quality is firm in front but not uncomfortable. Rear seat yet to be experienced by me. Will ask for family feedback.

Originally Posted by Astitva

Congratulations on the beautiful car! And what a lovely spec it is.

I'm intrigued by the sentence, "Bangalore market is controlled by the used car mafia".
Could you please throw some light upon it?

Thanks! GTO in fact suo moto started an interesting discussion on this: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...car-mafia.html (What is Bangalore's "used car mafia"?)

I will add my rationale (for my statement) shortly.

Originally Posted by Mr.Perera

Congrats on the purchase.
PS: I vote for the black OEM Kidney grille. And a set of black BBS CI-R rims

Thanks, Mr. Perera! Both your vehicles are stunning, and an apt rejoinder that buying such European vehicles are folly in India.

Originally Posted by srishiva

Lovely car. I think petrol motor is apt for this car and is anyway also quite powerful and should be creamy
I wonder why is the engine bay so long ?

Thanks! The engine bay IS packed isn't it? Maybe the BMW experts can help out here.

Originally Posted by dealer

Congratulations on the lovely car! I would suggest running the car on high octane fuel if readily accessible, the B48B20 engine seems to run much happier on good quality fuel and you'll really feel the difference in terms of power, economy and overall smoothness.

Thanks! Will try Speed 97 soon. The nearest bunk (Nagpal's on Bellary Road) is on my way into town but still 19 km away.

Originally Posted by Crazy_Bean

Congrats on an amazing buy. Quick question: does your car come with any sort of basic ambient ligting. I know it doesnt have the chaging colours etc from M sport, but does it atleast have lit door handles, door bins etc.

Thanks! Oh yes it does - I forgot to post on that. There are bright white LEDs in the front footwells and underneath front seats + jewel LEDs integrated into the 4 door handles + a normal door-open light (not projected logo etc.) when you open any door.

[androdev]

Congratulations on a lovely car. The interior color is really classy. The rear seat is looking like a very comfortable place to be in - how does it compare to say C class?

I am glad our market is finally getting lovely petrol engines from BMW instead of 2.0D and dull NA petrol engines that were top sellers few years back.

Drive safe!

[itwasntme]

2 identical pictures taken from my medical shop's mezzanine floor, much to the bemusement of the owner who is convinced that Saar has multiple screws loose :-)

2016 Skoda Octavia 1.8TSI in Rio Red:



2020 BMW 330i Sport in Mediterranean Blue:

[androdev]

I must admit Skoda Octavia punches way above its weight!

[AMG Power]

Congratulations! This is probably the best made-with-Indian-conditions-in-mind-car that BMW has made. Caters to the enthusiast and the non enthusiast and that's not an easy task.

This is also the segment that leaves with you problem that's nice to have - the upgrade dilemna. As indicated you found it hard to take a decision on an upgrade from the Octavia. The G20 will put you into an even greater difficulty on that front as cars in the next higher segment don't come with much higher power or handling attributes unless one gets into M / AMG / Sports car territory all of which aren't too family friendly. But then that's a long time away..

In the meantime do post your driving impressions after a long drive.

Originally Posted by itwasntme

The humongous diesel-like 400 Nm torque is available from 1750 rpm onward

The max torque is available from 1550 rpm.