- Sun May 04, 2014 4:30 pm
#3763558
Afternoon chaps,
Well, I finally parted with my EP3 after nearly 6yrs of ownership. The little CTR has been a pleasure to own and never let me down and actually drove better they day it went than the day I bought it, it was sad to see it go.
This time around I'd decided I wanted some more refinement and having realising how solid my brother's new 120d felt after a quick drive, decided I really fancied a BMW. After lots of humming and harring, to cut a long story short I ended up buying a 2008 E92 320d in Metallic Sapphire with a shade over 60k on the clock. It has all the usual BMW sh-t such as Dakota leather, electric seats, bluetooth, xenons (angel eye DRLs), folding mirrors, etc. The one thing that swayed me to this one being that it has a BMW factory-fitted Power Kit which is essentially a bigger FMIC, uprated cooling fan and a modified ECU which together increases the power output slightly from 177 to 197bhp and 390nm torque, so it picks up pretty well. The chassis is very well balanced and the handling is superb - I still can't get it to slip even with DTC turned off. It has staggered 19" wheels running Bridgestone RE050 RFTs (Front 235/35 and Rear 255/30) and they provide an amazing amount of grip. Let's just say its the complete polar opposite of driving an EP3 but hopefully will be a worthy replacement...pics are crap but you get the jist.
Well, I finally parted with my EP3 after nearly 6yrs of ownership. The little CTR has been a pleasure to own and never let me down and actually drove better they day it went than the day I bought it, it was sad to see it go.
This time around I'd decided I wanted some more refinement and having realising how solid my brother's new 120d felt after a quick drive, decided I really fancied a BMW. After lots of humming and harring, to cut a long story short I ended up buying a 2008 E92 320d in Metallic Sapphire with a shade over 60k on the clock. It has all the usual BMW sh-t such as Dakota leather, electric seats, bluetooth, xenons (angel eye DRLs), folding mirrors, etc. The one thing that swayed me to this one being that it has a BMW factory-fitted Power Kit which is essentially a bigger FMIC, uprated cooling fan and a modified ECU which together increases the power output slightly from 177 to 197bhp and 390nm torque, so it picks up pretty well. The chassis is very well balanced and the handling is superb - I still can't get it to slip even with DTC turned off. It has staggered 19" wheels running Bridgestone RE050 RFTs (Front 235/35 and Rear 255/30) and they provide an amazing amount of grip. Let's just say its the complete polar opposite of driving an EP3 but hopefully will be a worthy replacement...pics are crap but you get the jist.