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Old 07-05-2006, 11:02 AM   #1
John V
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Drove an E90 330.

I was an instructor at one of our region's novice autocross schools this Saturday. Several cool cars showed. "The holy grail" being one of them, a low-mile '93 MR-2 non-turbo, no-sunroof, no t-top car. But I digress. One of the students had an E90 330 that he picked up about 6 months ago. I got to take a few cuts at the course in the car. Okay, so the interior is nice, the materials are of good quality, blah blah blah all the usual stuff you can figure out at the dealership. But how did it DRIVE? Disappointing.

First of all, it was whisper-quiet, even at WOT. Not a hint of the typically excellent-sounding I-6 under the hood. Even worse, the engine had really soggy throttle response. BMW seems to be getting ever-worse with their electronic throttles. There was an annoying delay between hitting the pedal and the car generating forward motion. The linearity was poor as well. Half throttle felt exactly the same as full throttle. Worsening the situation is the fact that the car is flat out slow. I was expecting 330i ZHP / E36 M3 levels of acceleration. Not even close. Maybe it was the complete lack of any kind of passion from the engine and exhaust. Maybe it was the soggy throttle. Maybe it's the Audi A4 level of mass in this new chassis. I . It just felt like a pig off the line.

In the first school element, a long slalom, it actually handled quite well. I know this car isn't meant to be an autocrosser (it's HUGE in person), but it had a light on it's feet feeling in slaloms that was pretty rewarding. However, it would absolutely refuse to rotate under any circumstances. Once it started to understeer through a corner, no combination of throttle lifts, brake pulses or WOT shenanigans would break the rear tires' hold on the pavement. At least with a stock, not setup for autocrossing E36 or E46, the car can be throttle steered a bit. Not the E90. Did I mention that although the steering is reasonably fast, there is absolutely zero feel? I also drove a bone-stock fatpig E46 M3 at this event (a car not known for great steering feel), and its steering was alive with feedback compared to the E90.

That limit of understeer was reached quickly. Attribute that to the runflat tires, maybe. Instead of these rock-hard, expensive, heavy-ass no-grip tires, why not put on some regular tires and, I dunno, a SPARE?

I suppose the car is absolutely perfect for the BMW target market - a reasonbly well-off family guy (or girl) who wants a comfy, prestigious car to commute the 40 miles from the burbs to the office in but thinks Mercedes is too stogy, Audi too unreliable and Lexus too bland. In that light, I suspect it succeeds very well. I'm curious how the E90 M3 will pan out, because as far as I can tell, BMW is gradually tuning all of the fun out of its cars.
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Old 07-05-2006, 11:14 AM   #2
TD
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Odd.
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Old 07-05-2006, 11:16 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John V
BMW seems to be getting ever-worse with their electronic throttles. There was an annoying delay between hitting the pedal and the car generating forward motion. The linearity was poor as well. Half throttle felt exactly the same as full throttle.
That's pretty much what you get from any luxo car these days. I drove a fair number of competing cars 2 months ago, and they all suffer from poor e-throttle response (the TSX wasn't "bad"...), and mind-numbing interior isolation. It didn't help that I was still driving the S2000 at the time, which has a superb cable throttle setup. Almost anything in the target market is going to feel numb and lifeless in comparison.
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Old 07-05-2006, 11:20 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by TD
Odd.
What's odd?

Alex
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Old 07-05-2006, 11:21 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ff
That's pretty much what you get from any luxo car these days. I drove a fair number of competing cars 2 months ago, and they all suffer from poor e-throttle response (the TSX wasn't "bad"...), and mind-numbing interior isolation. It didn't help that I was still driving the S2000 at the time, which has a superb cable throttle setup. Almost anything in the target market is going to feel numb and lifeless in comparison.
Obviously. For instance, I wouldn't expect it to have the quick steering of an RX-8, Boxster, Vette, S2k, etc. That would be unreasonable (not that I'm never unreasonable. )

I just expected the car to have SOME passion, SOME kind of sporting DNA. A little intake howl or exhaust growl. A little liveliness to the handling. A little soul.
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Old 07-05-2006, 11:22 AM   #6
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See, this is so at odds with my impressions that I wonder if it was the example of the car. Yes, the car is isolated. But you can hear it clearly at WOT. And the throttle has pretty decent feel. Or I wouldn't have one. It's what I HATED about the E46.

John- You should swing by my office after work one night and take my car out. I'm often here until 6 or 7pm.
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Old 07-05-2006, 11:28 AM   #7
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The e46 330i had a great sound to it, something that triggered a comment from almost anyone that drove my car. Is this gone in the e90? I find that a bit hard to believe since I think BMW "engineers in" the sound. For example, in the Z4, isn't there a device to pipe in engine noise to the cabin?
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Old 07-05-2006, 11:34 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John V
Obviously. For instance, I wouldn't expect it to have the quick steering of an RX-8, Boxster, Vette, S2k, etc. That would be unreasonable (not that I'm never unreasonable. )

I just expected the car to have SOME passion, SOME kind of sporting DNA. A little intake howl or exhaust growl. A little liveliness to the handling. A little soul.

I definitely agree.. Not much of an auto-x'er myself but check out my first thread on the e90. I found it very quiet and capable but not as lively and lowered in feedback. I really felt it was audi-like in a good way but that the e46 had more of a sporty feel (though perhaps less capable). I did not find it slow - butt-feel felt about equal with zhp/e46 with a touch more torque in the bottom and a little less zing up top.

The e90 clutch felt better and there was a less "busy" and more removed feel in chassis/steering.
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Old 07-05-2006, 11:36 AM   #9
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-I agree marginally on the throttle response, I find it a bit slow on mine.

-The runflats do suck. Total agreement.

-But I don't understand not being able to steer with the throttle. On at least 4 occasions I've been able to induce understeer and then slide the rear end out very easily. It's also been amazingly easy to control in a "drifting" sort of way. I hope this isn't insulting, but did you turn the electronic gizmo's ALL the way off?
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Old 07-05-2006, 11:58 AM   #10
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wow.

just wow.

that's very not promising.
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