Drove an E90 330.

John V · 07-05-2006, 11:02 AM

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.

07-05-2006, 11:02 AM	#1
John V No more BMWs Join Date: Apr 2005 Carmudgeonly Ride: Ram, MS3, CX-5, RX-8 Location: Glenwood, MD Posts: 14,753	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.