Beastly Beema (BMW 330Ci Coupe)

Member Name: winsoar

Product:	BMW 330Ci Coupe
Date:	09/07/01 (6331 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Luxurious, Powerful, Fast

Disadvantages: Addictive!

I have just purchased a new BMW 330Ci (2001 model), with leather interior, satellite navigation system, steptronic gearbox, and electric sunroof.

The exterior of the car is superb. The styling is sleek, sophisticated and modern. Its instantly recognisable as a luxury car.

The interior certainly does not disagree with first impressions! The leather seats are very comfortable, well made, and their position can be adjusted electronically. The car even remembers your seating and mirror preferences and can set them automatically when you start the car!

The controls are all at your fingertips, and several functions are available on the sports steering wheel itself including the steptronic gears which I will detail later. Everything is exactly where you would expect it, intuitive and logical.

The satellite navigation system is not well docuemented in the brochures, so I was keen to test it out and see exactly how it works. The system knows your current location using GPS satellites which orbit the planet, and an onboard compass so it knows which direction you are facing. Inputting the destination is simple, just twist a knob to find the first letter of the place, push it in, and go to the next letter. You tend to just have to enter a few letters and it will guess the placename you require. Its very quick, and the lack of a keyboard presents no problems. The route is then calculated and a very well spoken English lady gives you clear directions. The routes given so far have all been very presise and again very logical.

The navigation system also doubles up as a TV set while stationary, with automatic tuning, a superb picture clarity, and stereo sound through the hifi speakers. While driving the TV is not viewable, although you can continue to hear the programme, although with weak signals the engine does tend to interfere very slightly with the sound quality whilst moving.

The centre console contains a handy drinks hold
er, which can hold up to three glasses or cans quite confortably. The dashboard also has quite a large flat surface to place objects on whilst parked. You can quite easily enjoy a three course picnic on a long journey from the comfort of the car.

The passengers in the back have plenty of leg room and confortable seats. There is a centre armrest which is wide enough for two people.

The air conditioning unit can be put on automatic mode, which will maintain a temperature suitable for the driver. If there are outside pollutants detected then it will also automatically recirculate the air inside to prevent odours from getting into the car.

The six disc CD changer (optional) is located in the boot. It hasnt skipped so far, and the sound quality is excellent. There is also an RDS radio, simply select the station name from the screen, press the knob and the station is selected. It also supports traffic announcements from other stations and will fade them in to the programme you are listening to.

Now on to driving itself - afterall that is what most people would buy a car for! I chose the steptronic gearbox, which gives you the choice of fully automatic or a semi-automatic mode where you use nudge the gear lever up or down to change gear like in a racing car. Automatic mode is very sporty, with very fast gear changing, smooth acceleration, and virtually effortless driving!

Slip the gearbox into reverse and the left mirror dips down to aid you in reversing! It seems our German friends have thought of everything in designing this car. There certainly doesn't seem to be anything missing that a small fridge in the boot would not put right!

Safety features include dynamic stability control, ABS, plus passenger and driver air bags. There is also a rain sensor to automatically activate the windscreen wipers, and an automatically dimming rear view mirror to stop you getting blinded from headlights behind at night!
r>Its a fantastic beast of a machine. Very quiet to drive, the engine almost sounds like it is purring, but put your foot down and you will instantly feel the power! Of couse it does drink a lot of petrol, but to drive such a luxurious and exciting car - the cost seems almost worth it!