[Dino355]

Hi all,

Bought myself a 330i SE last weekend as I got (what I feel) a very cheap car compared to what else was out there at the time.

I wanted an M Sport model but the only M Sports I could find within budget were £2.5k more than the car I found and with 40k more miles on the clock.

My question is would you mod an SE or start with a Sport?

I'm not too fussed about the bumpers (never say never) but I would like to add M Sport seats, BMW Performance wheel and M sport gearknob and of course change the suspension (BMW Performance) and the wheels (18" Ellipsoids or BMW BBS Motorsports)

Would you do it? Having owned several M3s over the last few years I've always modified stuff, I just can't help myself.

Ok I could have spent (much) more buying an M Sport to start with but I couldn't find one with the similar mileage (62k) at anywhere near the price I got my SE for.....

So has anyone modded their SE on here? I've seen a fair few American cars that have been lowered with rims and look quite nice.

Thoughts and opinions welcomed

[dxb335d]

It's up to you at the end of the day. Your unlikely to re-coup cash spent (unless you part it) but if you want to mod it go for it.

[foxy-stoat]

With the seats.....expect to pay £700-£900 + for M sport leather/electric seats, then another £75 for the heated seat panel (because you'll want that!) and another £75 for the wiring and a few hours changing everything over - currently doing this myself.

Add £200+ per bumper, £700-£900 for the sport wheels, £450+ for the steering wheel with the air bag and you still havent got the M Sport suspension (will be £1000 + for new) AND you will have to inform the insurance company and brace yourself for open wallet surgery.

You can sell the standard bits and re-coup some of the money or keep everything and put it back to standard when you sell the car as all the M Sport bits will sell to other folk with SE's.

If you add it all up, it will cost you much less if you saved a little more and bought an M Sport to start with, but when I was looking for an E91, the choices are limited for the budget I was on.

[Dino355]

My car already has black leather heated seats so no need to mess about with wiring or heated seat panels.

I plan on finding a heated black sport interior and just swapping the front seats over and then selling the rest. Not sure how much a non sport heated leather interior will sell for though?

Whilst I like the sport bumpers I don't think I will go that route, whilst I love the M Sport they are quite common around where I live (seems to be more M Sports than anything else) we even have a 320d M Sport that my Wife uses. I have considered the BMW Performance bumpers and skirts but at £1300 the set it's a bit rich!

As for the wheels I don't want the MV3 M sports, again far too common and they seem the defacto choice for everyone.

Priorites are suspension, seats, wheels, and steering wheel/gearknob/handbrake, and pretty much in that order.

If I did the above I would look at (when the time comes) selling the car with the M-Sport interior and I would put the susp/rims/steering wheel/knobs back to std

As I said I looked at sports but they were coming in at around £4 - £5k MORE with the same mileage. The ones with the higher mileage would have needed new suspension anyway so it just seemed a false economy buying a higher mileage M Sport for MORE than what my lower mileage SE cost just to go and have to spend money changing suspension on the M Sport anyway!

I will be keeping things standard over the winter though and see how I feel in the Spring! Having come from a background of pure performance cars over the years (the last few being M3s) it's kind of nice having something not as focused and a little more comfy than before!

[foxy-stoat]

Arrr, as I only have the standard manual controlled cloth trim to start with, I have to mess around with the wiring, defo easier job to switch the seats over.....I think theres a set of sports seats in the bay at the moment.....or if you buy a full sport interior, you can just used the fronts and sell your SE trim and nearly get your money back.

Good plan to leave it for next year...at the moment I drive to work in the dark and drive home in the dark so zero interest in messing about with the car in the dark which leaves the weekends to play...but with the GF pestering me to paint the house at the weekend that kinda puts a stop to playing with the car at the weekend...unless its HER car that needs fixing.

[Dino355]

Originally Posted by foxy-stoat

I think theres a set of sports seats in the bay at the moment.....or if you buy a full sport interior, you can just used the fronts and sell your SE trim and nearly get your money back.

Yeah there are a set on eBay but I need to raise a bit of cash before I buy a set. That's exactly what I'll do - just swap the fronts over and sell the std seats with the purchased interior bits. I doubt they will fetch as much as a sport interior but they have got the advantage of being heated....

[Nigelo]

One mod I would do is the aero lip extension for the se bumper...

[img]http://www.**********s.com/images/Products/OEMParts/MLip.jpg[/img]

adds a bit of oomph to the front end!

And then a set of nice alloys. Outside job done!


Inside, Id definitely look into an m-sport steering wheel and gear knob. Makes the car feel great to pilot. Did mine for less than £200

[jimmylimmy]

Originally Posted by Nigelo

One mod I would do is the aero lip extension for the se bumper...

[img]http://www.**********s.com/images/Products/OEMParts/MLip.jpg[/img]

adds a bit of oomph to the front end!

And then a set of nice alloys. Outside job done!


Inside, Id definitely look into an m-sport steering wheel and gear knob. Makes the car feel great to pilot. Did mine for less than £200

I dont think they do an Aero lip for the E90 do they?

[Dino355]

Well the mods have begun for me.

I bought one of the e90 M Sport interiors on eBay and got really strong money for my interior (when all is said and done it's cost me just £100 more to swap to an M Sport interior!) As an added bonus the set that I bought even had split folding rear seats - proper chuffed with that as it's something that I used a lot on my previous M3 coupes.