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      11-30-2018, 03:40 PM   #1
RS Grant
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RS Grant's AW E91 320d Sport Plus Edition

I was running a VW Tiguan, which was great but reached the return of it's lease term.. so I started looking for a worthy replacement for dog duties/tip runs/general use.

I really liked the Tiguan, being the SEL model it came with a LOT of specification as standard and was a really nice comfortable car to drive. I would definitely recommend one to a friend/family if they required a mid-size SUV type vehicle. But after being so spoilt, it wasn't going to be easy to fill the boots of the Tiguan given I was looking at older cars because I wanted to buy the car rather than finance it in any way this time.

Aside from the usual criteria of not being big miles, having full service history and being in good condition, etc.. there were a few 'must-have' items of specification which the replacement needed:

- diesel (even if it sounds like I'll be banned from driving anywhere within a fortnight going by what you read! )
- xenon headlights
- factory integrated bluetooth
- enough 'go' to overtake, but still able to get a genuine 40+mpg on a run without being too gentle with it
- leather interior
- attractive (obviously a subjective thing...)

...you may think that the essentials will be easy to find in an estate/SUV car but you'd be wrong. I spent a lot of time on the usual classified sites to get a feel for what tickled my fancy and after whittling it down to either Skoda Octavia vRS' and BMW 320d M Sport... finding one with a manual gearbox (I'll not entertain an older slushy auto again and older DSG give me the borkfactor fear) with the requirements above was proving quite difficult.

After endless scrolling of forums, Facebook, classifieds... this car evetually popped up for sale outside Rugby, a mere 401 miles away from me.
However, it ticked all of my boxes and quite a few more as well, so after talking to the owner I booked a flight down and once I'd had a test drive/look round the car and was satisfied that it was as described, a deal was done and I was on my way home. Happy days!

The basic details are:

2011 E91 320d (184bhp)
Alpine White
Sport Plus Edition (18" alloys in Dark Chrome, Black Dakota leather with Royal Blue stitching, Enhanced Bluetooth with USB, Dark Chrome exhaust tailpipe, Floor mats with Royal Blue piping, Chrome Grill with Chrome Slats, Sun Protection Glass)

It was ordered with plenty of options (some of which I can't believe BMW charge for... the folding rear headrests cost £45?!) as well:

BMW Professional Media/Sat Nav
BMW Loudspeaker Sound System
Visibility Package (Xenon Adaptive Headlights, Headlight Wash, Rain Sensor & Auto Headlights, High Beam Assistant)
Servotronic Electric Power Steering
CD Changer
Folding Head Restraints Rear
Park Distance Control Front & Rear
Front Seat Lumbar Support
Front Seats Part Electric Adjustment
Heated Front Seats
Folding Exterior Mirrors
Electric Towbar
Extra 12v Power Sockets
Silding Front Armrest
Extended Luggage Features
Extended Storage
Universal Remote Control

...so as you can see, the car has got everything (a lot of which comes standard on other cars!) I wanted and more. I am really enjoying driving it and it's been a great addition, very happy with my decision. It even did decent MPG on the way home at typical motorway speeds:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Here are a couple of pictures I took the other day, it's not as clean as it was when I left the house though.. one of the small drawbacks of living outside the big smoke and having a white car I suppose.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Here's one of the new pup Barney enjoying a brief moment flying shotgun with me:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

I'll be making a couple of wee changes to the car, but apart from that it'll probably stay mainly as-is and I'll keep this thread updated as regularly as I can.
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      12-01-2018, 01:26 PM   #2
dragerboy
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Lovely looking car. Still believe an E91 Lci is the best looking estate ever made.
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      12-01-2018, 01:46 PM   #3
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Lovely looking car. All it needs are black kidney grilles...nothing more.
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      12-02-2018, 08:01 AM   #4
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Although I’m in an E92 I still love the tourings, had an E46 sport touring and still miss it! When I was looking for an E9x it was only going to be a coupe or touring, 4 doors don’t make sense to me. Yours looks lovely, even in white. M sport and a great spec really helps it. 2 too few cylinders would be the only thing that put me off it but that’s it. Looks great! Why oh why did they never make an M3 touring to sell!!!! Best cars never sold in my opinion.
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      12-08-2018, 05:45 AM   #5
RS Grant
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Apologies for the delayed response, I've been crazy busy at work.


Quote:
Originally Posted by dragerboy View Post
Lovely looking car. Still believe an E91 Lci is the best looking estate ever made.
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Originally Posted by 1 AKY View Post
Lovely looking car. All it needs are black kidney grilles...nothing more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nomiS330d View Post
Although I’m in an E92 I still love the tourings, had an E46 sport touring and still miss it! When I was looking for an E9x it was only going to be a coupe or touring, 4 doors don’t make sense to me. Yours looks lovely, even in white. M sport and a great spec really helps it. 2 too few cylinders would be the only thing that put me off it but that’s it. Looks great! Why oh why did they never make an M3 touring to sell!!!! Best cars never sold in my opinion.
Thanks for the comments guys, I agree with them all.. love the LCi E91 shape, more than the newer F31 cars; it does need (and has got) black grilles and I cannot believe that BMW haven't and continue not to build an M3 Touring because I think that stuff like RS4 Avant, C43/C63 Estates, etc are all popular enough to prove that an M3 Touring would be a viable option.
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      12-08-2018, 05:59 AM   #6
RS Grant
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So as I said, I'll be making a few wee changes to the car.. although I hadn't planned to do them as quickly as I have, but I needed rear tyres on the standard 18" wheels which led me to get the 19" wheels and I didn't want to fit them until I'd lowered the car which led me to get the suspension kit... as you can see, I apply man maths liberally.

This is the suspension kit I bought; Koni shocks with H&R springs. I had a similar combo on my old MK7 Golf R and they performed really well... so thought it made sense to stick with what I knew.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Dropped the car off to get the suspension fitted, so snapped a photo with one of my friends E92 at the same time.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

I went away and got my 235/35/19 and 265/30/19 tyres fitted to the new wheels which I got for the car; Strom M359 in Hyper Silver.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

I fitted my genuine BMW Performance grilles, after doing my E92, I'm pretty quick at these now!! I like the gloss black grilles tieing in with the gloss black shadowline trim on the car, although I know that they're not for everyone.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

After a fitted the wheels, my friend was wanting to test out his new camera so suggested that I bring the car along to get a few photos done.. and they comprehensively dump on anything I could produce!!

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

....and given that the car is known as 'The Barney Bus' it made sense for the wee man to have his picture taken with the car too.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

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      12-08-2018, 07:01 AM   #7
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Lovely car - they are a joy to own and so well built

what are you planning to do with those small holes in the front bumper where the original sized number plate filled - photoshop for the images - fill and touch up for the car

nice set of images
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      12-08-2018, 07:48 AM   #8
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It's amazing what a slight drop and a set of wheel do for the look of a car, yours looks particually good for it.

I assume the wheels came from CM Wheels?

Whats the widths and ET's did you get?

I'm torn between 359's and Atomic CSL rep's, both styles are done to death, but work so, so well on the e9* platform.
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      12-10-2018, 09:26 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluewater335D View Post
Lovely car - they are a joy to own and so well built

what are you planning to do with those small holes in the front bumper where the original sized number plate filled - photoshop for the images - fill and touch up for the car

nice set of images
The car will be going into a guy I know who does smart repairs and he will make the holes disappear for me... which can't happen soon enough because I can't stop looking at them each time I walk up to the car.


Quote:
Originally Posted by DrewM. View Post
It's amazing what a slight drop and a set of wheel do for the look of a car, yours looks particually good for it.

I assume the wheels came from CM Wheels?

Whats the widths and ET's did you get?

I'm torn between 359's and Atomic CSL rep's, both styles are done to death, but work so, so well on the e9* platform.
Yep, the wheels came from CM Wheels.. the centre caps and ///M badges came from eBay.

Front: 9" x 19" ET31 with 235/35/19
Rear: 10" x 19" ET38 with 265/30/19

I had some CSLs on my old E91 335i and they looked brilliant, however, if I'm honest then I think I prefer the M359 and think they suit the E9* cars a bit better than CSLs do.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

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      12-10-2018, 10:24 AM   #10
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I kind of agree, the CSL certainly don't look bad, but seem to suit the e46 slightly better than they do the e90's.

My biggest worry is having too much stretch, I've just bought new tyres for my style 225's, I'd rather not buy new rubber so would need to use the 255, 225 combination on the strom 359, 10 and 9J rims, my Falken FK510's do seem a generous width I hope they would only have the slightest of stretch.

Any chance you could grab a couple of photos showing the fitment of your 235, 265 combination?

Last edited by DrewM.; 12-10-2018 at 11:10 AM..
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      12-10-2018, 11:58 AM   #11
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i went to fit my short [plates to my e90,,then noticed i had the holes for the plate holder,,so had to go away and get some more plates done correct length
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      12-11-2018, 02:15 PM   #12
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RS Grant - That looks great! Got me thinking about mine now. My E91 has got 18" Team Dynamics Jade R five spokes on, which is what it had on when I bought it. Also got the original MV3's which I was originally going to refurb and put back on as I wasn't keen on the five spokes. But as it is they've grown on me. But those 19" Strom M359's look the nuts.

With regards to my Jade R's can the centre caps be swapped for BMW ones as the Team Dynamics ones look naff?
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      12-12-2018, 01:09 AM   #13
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Quote:
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RS Grant - That looks great! Got me thinking about mine now. My E91 has got 18" Team Dynamics Jade R five spokes on, which is what it had on when I bought it. Also got the original MV3's which I was originally going to refurb and put back on as I wasn't keen on the five spokes. But as it is they've grown on me. But those 19" Strom M359's look the nuts.

With regards to my Jade R's can the centre caps be swapped for BMW ones as the Team Dynamics ones look naff?
ive just bought some japan racing JR20 wheels in hyper black...centre caps are 68 mm so same size as bmw,,just get a tape measure out like i did and measure,,plenty on e bay,went 9.5j and 8.5j for a little more poke and kept 18 inch for less cracking issues.these are for my 335d,,might try the style 189 that are coming off on my e90 sport,,seen some pics of them on e90 and look good...
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      12-12-2018, 09:08 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rasa bmw View Post
ive just bought some japan racing JR20 wheels in hyper black...centre caps are 68 mm so same size as bmw,,just get a tape measure out like i did and measure,,plenty on e bay,went 9.5j and 8.5j for a little more poke and kept 18 inch for less cracking issues.these are for my 335d,,might try the style 189 that are coming off on my e90 sport,,seen some pics of them on e90 and look good...
Just checked my centre caps and didn't realise they were standard fit ones. They've got all the small allen bolts around the edge so I thought they were to do with how they are attached to the wheels. I went round one centre cap and undid each bolt only to find they serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever and the centre cap just clips in place!
Measured at 68mm so have ordered some BMW ones from fleabay for £3! They'll probably be shit but for £3 they've got to be worth a go, and they can't look any worse than the Team Dynamics centre caps that are on my wheels.
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      12-17-2018, 12:35 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nick46 View Post
Just checked my centre caps and didn't realise they were standard fit ones. They've got all the small allen bolts around the edge so I thought they were to do with how they are attached to the wheels. I went round one centre cap and undid each bolt only to find they serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever and the centre cap just clips in place!
Measured at 68mm so have ordered some BMW ones from fleabay for £3! They'll probably be shit but for £3 they've got to be worth a go, and they can't look any worse than the Team Dynamics centre caps that are on my wheels.
yeh with my wheels being aftermarket i bought some for £2.88,,see if they fit exact,,then ill be getting some different colour ones to match the hyper black
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      12-27-2018, 10:21 AM   #16
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Well my eBay China special centre caps arrived today and as expected they're shit as they don't fit! Slightly too big. Oh well, for £2.99 they were worth a go. They actually look quite good, just a shame they don't fit. On the up side though, I did get some nice new Uniroyal Rainsport 3's fitted on the front today!
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      04-25-2019, 07:18 AM   #17
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Just wondering how the finish on the Strom M359 is holding up, any signs of issues with them?
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      04-25-2019, 07:49 AM   #18
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Lovely looking tourer. Like the subtle mods so far as they suit the E91 perfectly.
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