[gangzoom]

Originally Posted by C.J

I'm looking at this:

eBay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-330I-1...item3cce1dd58f

PH: http://www.pistonheads.com/classifie...t-2007/1067922

It's got high mileage, more than I've ever owned, let alone bought. But it's got a lot of the boxes ticked, FSH, and its cheap.

Any advice/pointers?

I've also never driven an auto, how are the paddles?

I don't know enough about the engine in the 330i to really comment but the general experience I had moving from mainly Japanese cars to BMW is that on the whole BMWs just aren't as reliable as Nissans/Hondas, which really surprised me (after all BMWs cost more to buy, so I assumed they would be just as reliable).

I've NEVER before thought about having any kind of extended warranty on my cars, because in nearly 8 years of owing various Japanese cars I've never experienced a single mechanical failure. As you know, about the only thing that goes wrong on a 350Z is a squeaky rear axle. Where as on my current 335i theres a pretty decent list of "potential" failures specifically just for the 335i. Thats on top of the various other things that effect E90/92 in general, eg cracked wheels, steering lock problems, DTC/ABS problems....

I had to think long and hard about modding the car because nearly everyone seems to agree to run a 335/M3 longterm you should have an extended warranty...but luckily the guys (Mitz/Andy) who worked on my old Z are just as good at fixing things on the E90, so I'm no longer worried about things breaking!!

Regarding the auto-box, I think its the same one as in the 335i, in which case you have no worries. It shifts when you want it to, and is so smooth most of the time I have no idea what gear its in. If you want to have fun stick it in Manual mode, it'll let you hit the rev limiter before shifting up.

Overall though I think your find the the 330i to be nicer package than the 350Z. A 350Z is always going to look better, but the dash/controls is no where near the quality found in a E90/92.....the concerns I had about reliability of BMWs may be more to do with the fact Nissan/Honda are so good at making car that just don't ever break I simply had stupidly high expectations, and that actually on the whole BMWs are still much more reliable than some other manufactures.

Hope that helps

...oh and DONT buy a car with only the base speaker setup (no tweeters in window surrounds), its awful!!