Test drive BMW 3 Episode E46 1998 - 2002 Sedan

Thunder and lightning

Here you are not a plain, here the climate is different,-once a fan of another German brand sang. But these cars will make you forget about everyone else - BMW 330CD & 330CI.
The surroundings of the Spanish city of Malag is probably a very suitable place for the coupe-Kabrielet life. Hot guys as Picasso and Banderas were born here. Recently, the city authorities specially allocated two beaches for night copulations. And the berths of the resort town of Marbella, they say, keep their yachts European thicknesses. However, on the day of our visit, it was pouring rain, and in the mountains the computer showed the grocery temperature +5. Marbella was drowning in cement dust, as if the local mayor was building a third ring. And newspapers discussed the attempt on the owner of one local car dealership, by the way, Russian. What is not Russia, Amigos?
Not about us. The third series is the most circulation product of the Bavarian motorblasts. That is why the treshka always looks fresh - facelifting and other updates happen almost annually. The coupe and convertible, like the tops of 3-Reihe, are generally special attention. So now. The edges of the eyes became sharper. The grill nostrils became wider, the front spoiler with a huge air intake was below. The horizontal groove on board is now breaking off around the side of the side turn signal, which has moved above. The model year and the suspension were finalized by 2003, so that the pleasure of the wheel does not overshadow the body rolls in the turn.
The pleasure is really incomparable. Two programs - and the speedometer arrow goes off scale for 100 km/h. However, the reserve of the moment is such that it can even pull the compartment in the sixth gear. And so, only BMW cars are capable of screwing into the turns of the mountain serpentine. Stopping to admire the landscape, I listened to the sound of a non -warmed engine, looked at the nameplate on the hood. So it is: 330cd. A three -liter diesel is installed on this compartment capable of developing 204 hp. However, all the grin is out of place: the compulsion barely sniffing diesel fuel - on the highway, the consumption is only 5.2 l/100 km - it is able to accelerate to a hundred in just 7.2 seconds. Faster than the 530i well familiar to us.
At a press conference, one of the Spanish journalists sarcastically asked: is it planned to build diesel convertibles or is it cooler-M3 on diesel fuel? The answer was more than pragmatic: putting a diesel on the mentioned machines is not a problem. However, this will not happen due to the lack of predicted demand. We, however, may not particularly worry about 330CD - this car will not be officially sold in Russia.
Umbrella automatic. The roofs of BMW convertibles from this year will only be folded automatically. This mini-performance lasting 25 seconds can be watched endlessly. Here the glasses fell, the locks clicked, the lid rose behind the rear seats - this is not a body of the dump truck, the movement occurs in several planes and is controlled by several engines. Observing this process, one colleague said thoughtfully: here my umbrella once lay on the balcony in winter, stopped opening, I had to throw it away. And I thought to myself: you see, the umbrella was lousy. Indeed, in the same Bavaria where the convertible - almost every fifth car, is also snowing: during our transplantation in Munich, rather large snowdrifts were visible on the sidelines. Somehow they live there ... probably, they don’t get out of the service? And this despite the fact that a convertible costs at least 5350 euros more than a compartment. In fact, a soft roof is no longer a tarp. It sticks perfectly to the body, quite thick to the touch, and in heat and noise insulation it will not yield to the metal. Will cut with a knife and take inward? So excuse me, the window is much easier. However, they can sell fearful for 2100 euros steel hard top.

 
The devil in the box. Despite the bad weather - the roof is down, lift the side glasses, put the net behind the front seats in order to avoid swirls inside the cabin, twist the stove and blow it to the maximum - so you can go even in February Moscow. The music is also maximum so that the door speaker hollows into the left lower leg, because this leg is now resting. On our convertible, SEQUENTIAL ManUAL GEARBOX is installed - a manual gearbox. Believe me, Amigos, not the best option for managing 231 hp. The switching in cruise mode is especially terrible - the mandatory discharge of gas, a pause, you sag on belts and wait for the car to rush forward again. Press the Sport button, the transmission is immediately overwhelmed with the fifth to the third, the box holds the speed higher, but still painful pauses when switching act on the nerves. In manual mode, everything is somehow more fun-you can switch by swinging forward and forth a pen or poking your petals behind the steering wheel. And the main thing is not to forget that this is still not an automatic. A little touched the petal - the car immediately stops thinking for you. Say, when overtaking, it decreased to the second and, having left for the spaciousness, forgot that you have SMG - the engine will break, filling the tachometer arrow into the red zone, but he will never switch.
Fortunately, the buyer still has the opportunity to choose. In base 330CI is equipped with six -speed mechanics, SMG is an additional 1450 euros, but I would oppose the usual five -speed steppatronics for 2000 euros.

 
Do not look at the priests. The Spanish Buenos Nobos allowed to observe the work of another innovation recently approved by the EU, and therefore immediately introduced on the third series of BMW. It's about an adaptive head light. If you are going to drive a sochi-red clearing on your car on your car or anneal with no less speed along the lanes inside the Boulevard Ring, then it makes sense to buy the mentioned function (400 euros) to bixenon headlights (790 euros). It is worth overcoming the light switch to the left position, and the headlights will look into the turn, illuminating the road as much as 24 meters further than ordinary xenon. Is it a lot or not enough? Say, if you enter a gentle turn at a speed of 80 km/h, then these 24 m will allow you to see an old woman who jumped out onto the road 1.1 seconds earlier and give you the opportunity to have time to make the right decision.
   
A xenon spotlight is able to rotate at 15 degrees and focuses not only on the rotation of the steering wheel, but also on the speed of the car. That is, when you go slowly or twist the steering wheel in the parking lot, this does not mean that your BMW will rotate with pupils, like an ambulance in the sleeping area with a headlight fara.
Another visual effect is the LED-3D-BRILANTECHNick Stop Signs. LEDs not only look spectacular, but, being almost eternal, will not ruin the potential owner on light bulbs. It is curious that in cars intended for the American market, LED feet will have two degrees of glow - slightly and very brightly when the slowdown rate exceeds 5 m/s or the abs. This subtlety must be urgently conveyed to the drivers there, so that, go for 330ci, they knew when you can not twitch, and when we should slow down at the floor. We still perform a similar function, do not look at the priests, but look at the feet! Isn't it, Amigos?

Text Dmitry Gronsky, photo of the author and BMW AG

Model/Modification 330 Ci Convertible
Manufacturer/country BMW AG/Germany
ENGINE
Type/number/location of gasoline cylinders/6/row
Working volume (cubic meter) 2979
Power KW (L.S.) at about./Min. 170 (231) at 5900
Moment (nm at about./Min.) 300 at 3500
TRANSMISSION
The rear drive
Gearbox 6-speed, mechanical, sectral type
Brakes, safety
Front/rear disc, ventilated/disk, ventilated
ABS, ASC+T, EBD, CBC, DSC, Adb, DBC electronic systems
Dimensions/mass
Length/width/height (mm) 4488/1757/1372
Wheel base (mm) 2725
Tires 225/45 R17
The mass is equipped/complete (kg) 1705/2020
The volume of the fuel tank (L) 63
Maximum speed (km/h) 247
Acceleration to 100 km/h (sec.) 6.9
Fuel consumption (mixed cycle, l/100 km) 9.6
The price in Moscow is $ 71 thousand.

 

Source: "Autopilot"