What diesel car to get??

[Taz]

my daily drive is a 2.0ltr golf, does the job for me

 

[BMWZ4MC]

E46 320d - plenty of torque for mid-range acceleration, well balanced for good handling...oh, and 50mpg mixed town and motorway driving

 

[srhutch]

Keep the BMW for summer.... and buy an older diesel Skoda for the commute. Dirt cheap to run and insure.

Sensible suggestion this, but the Alpina idea is a good one too. Alas almost every D3 I look at never has leather or nav or any other toys really. Given how moany everyone is that my car (and others) doesn't have nav it's a wonder they ever sell.

I came to the conclusion then that D3 Alpinas are just badly specced 320D SEs with nice wheels, another turbo and a dubious bodykit. Instead a 330d Sport with the runflats replaced and Alpina suspension would be my choice.

I remember reading about the r&d, and as you say standard spec is BMW SE really. Alpina charge a small fortune if you change the spec apparently.

 

[a11y]

Alas almost every D3 I look at never has leather or nav or any other toys really. Given how moany everyone is that my car (and others) doesn't have nav it's a wonder they ever sell.

I came to the conclusion then that D3 Alpinas are just badly specced 320D SEs with nice wheels, another turbo and a dubious bodykit. Instead a 330d Sport with the runflats replaced and Alpina suspension would be my choice.

Personally I think that's missing the point of the Alpina D3 (although I'm speaking about the earlier single-turbo model and not the later bi-turbo that I know less about). Basically it's a 320d SE with a modified engine (bits from the 330d intake, etc) to give near enough 330d performance but with (more importantly) 320d economy, but also it's had the suspension set up correctly and bits replaced to make it ride much better than either the 320d or 330d irrespective of runflats. Agree that the bodykit is very love/hate though but you can guess what camp I fall into. They do seem seriously over-priced on the secondhand market compared to same-age 320d's and 330d's.

However, damn the 4-cyl BMW diesels sound quite horrific on start up! My neighbour has a 520d and I was across the street when he started it - that's somewhat put me off a 4-cyl diesel if I was to change cars.

 

[rhys4]

My wife has just changed from a A3 petrol to a A6 diesel auto. I wasnt so keen on it at first but she wanted the car and she got a fantastic deal.It's only done 1500 since she bought it and it is averaging 56 to the galon.It's also a lovely car to drive and very well equipped.I am quite impressed.