What's Your Daily?

Rsipad

Rsipad

Member
 Sacramento, CA
Site Supporter
Hi all,

With my college graduation coming up, I've been looking into getting a second car to drive to work. As much as I love the Z4M, 13-18 mpg and a very stiff ride meant for track use isn't really feasible (also I don't think the constant cold starts would be great for rod bearings).

My order of importance for a daily are:
1. Fun to drive
2. Reliability
3. Economy
4. Space (needs to accommodate all 4 of the Z4M's wheels & tires)
5. Comfort

So far I've looked into a F31 330i xdrive, F31 328d xdrive, and Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited RWD. I test drove all 3 and found that the 328d was the worst - I expected a lot more after what I've heard about them, but it just felt gutless. The Ioniq 5 caught me by surprise. It felt the best on the cloverleafs despite weighing the most by far. It also was a lot more confidence inspiring to drive and felt smaller than the F31 while driving/merging even though it looks bigger from the outside. It also comes with the creature comforts like ventilated seats, adaptive cruise, auto lane change, HUD, blindspot monitor, blindspot cameras, and rearview mirror camera. The 330i xdrive really redeemed the F31 for me. The B46 made it the most emotional and fun to drive, and although the paddles aren't even close to as fun to use as a proper manual, it still positively added to the experience.

So far I'm debating between the Ioniq 5 Limited and F31 330i xdrive.

I'm wondering what you all daily drive and if you can share your opinions/thoughts.
 
My daily is an e90 bmw 330d... has everything I want, and nothing i don't. Which is why its proving difficult to replace, even with 176k on the clock.

Its also very cheap, but very reliable. Its also remapped so goes like stink, though 37mpg average could be bettered these days.
 
My daily is a manual E90 330i and like brillomasters' has everything I want and nothing I don't!

I've had it over 6 years and it's still running brilliantly despite approaching 130K miles so it's staying as I really like a straight 6. I get 33 mpg but then I don't commute and can avoid rush hours.

But I'm guessing that isn't much help as you're looking at much newer models.
 
I have a choice of 'dailies', depending on what the wife takes to work.
One is a very boring but infinitely useful Audi A4 estate (avant if you want to be pretentious) auto.
The other is a very not boring Ford Focus ST manual with the RS 2.3 ecoboost. It's completely nuts; like a badly trained greyhound. And it's party piece is massive brembo brakes, coilovers and very clever matrix LED headlights.
 
I have my F31 335xD (which along with the other 6-cyl diesel 330D, wasn’t available in the US - your 328D is the just a rebadged 4-pot 320D), but also gave access to a Hyundai i10 (for town driving), and a Skoda Kamiq.
 
brillomaster said:
My daily is an e90 bmw 330d... has everything I want, and nothing i don't. Which is why its proving difficult to replace, even with 176k on the clock.

Its also very cheap, but very reliable. Its also remapped so goes like stink, though 37mpg average could be bettered these days.
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Good to hear reliability is good!

Mr Tidy said:
My daily is a manual E90 330i and like brillomasters' has everything I want and nothing I don't!

I've had it over 6 years and it's still running brilliantly despite approaching 130K miles so it's staying as I really like a straight 6. I get 33 mpg but then I don't commute and can avoid rush hours.

But I'm guessing that isn't much help as you're looking at much newer models.
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I was actually looking into e91s, but the manual variants are extremely rare on this side of the pond, let alone a rwd wagon. My parents had an auto e90 when I was growing up and even they, not really being into cars, didn't rly like the transmission.

mmm-five said:
I have my F31 335xD (which along with the other 6-cyl diesel 330D, wasn’t available in the US - your 328D is the just a rebadged 4-pot 320D), but also gave access to a Hyundai i10 (for town driving), and a Skoda Kamiq.
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I'm so jealous that you got the 6 cyls in the wagon flavor on that side of the pond! A B58/B57/N57 powered wagon would've made it a no-brainer for me.
 
We've the cut the fleet down to 2 cars now, the Z and we've recently picked up a Skoda Karoq 4wd auto. I'll need to be penitent for all those years I made jokes about Skoda's, actually a really nice car to drive. Mainly bought for towing a horse trailer and all those nasty things you don't do with a Z and the dealership is just down in the town which is handy. Lift the bonnet and its all stamped VW.
 
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So... I ended up getting an F31 330i xDrive Touring. Imperial blue metallic with saddle brown interior. Great deal popped up. Here are some pictures I took of it:
20251108_161101.jpg20251108_161053.jpg20251108_153933.jpg20251108_160420(1).jpg20251108_153840.jpg
 
Can you post some pictures of the interior - I'm curious how dark is the brown of the leather.
 
BMWZ4MC said:
Can you post some pictures of the interior - I'm curious how dark is the brown of the leather.
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I'm currently away at uni. Will snap some photos of the interior when I get back next Friday.

It's not as light as tan, but the leather reflects a lot of light. Interior still feels light and airy with the moonroof down, as opposed to a full black interior.
 
I like a dark brown interior on a dark blue or black car. Unfortunately few are specified that way by their original owner.
 
mmm-five said:
Something like this I guess (BMW press photos)...
View attachment 287141
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Similar to that, yes. The camera is making the reflection off of the seat inorganic.IMG_1329 copy.jpg
I'd say its very close to this image I found online. Maybe a hint darker and richer on the seats. The door card looks pretty accurate. But thats all dependent on sunroof open/closed, window tint, sunlight, clouds, etc. The lighting in this photo makes it look as light as it's likely possible.
 
That looks great. I'd like it even darker for a dark blue car, more of a typical saddle colour.
 
BMWZ4MC said:
That looks great. I'd like it even darker for a dark blue car, more of a typical saddle colour.
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BMW Cognac (which I think is the UK version of saddle):
IMG_8617.JPG

This is a true saddle leather:
IMG_9931.JPG
 
I meant the colour that most saddles seem to be (in my limited experience of nags).
Having googled it, I realise that BMW offer Saddle Brown as an interior colour.
BMW have a brown that is darker still, Mocha Brown, that is closer to the colour I was proposing.IMG_9674.jpeg
 
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