Remember the article about a petrolhead buying a new car? Well the decision was finally made. And it wasn’t a very obvious one. Dare to make a guess before opening the article?
After taking into account the performance and comfort lists and figuring out it’s a pretty limited selection, I was faced with an annoying predisposition. I needed to wait for the perfect car to appear.
What car joined Shiftndrive fleet?
I almost gave up on BMW’s when a wild 3-series E91 LCI appeared in the small ads. It sure had more than enough space, seeing I was buying a coupe at first and I am now looking at a station wagon.
It is powered by a 3.0-litre straight six petrol engine that sounds amazing and pushes out a healthy 218 HP. All of them going straight to the rear wheels. More than enough for the daily commute.
It is also a manual transmission which is pretty rare amongst BMW’s in the country. Especially with an engine of this size.
It came with bi-xenon headlights (one of them of course failed and needed to be replaced – more on this in a following article), air conditioning, cruise control and a huge panoramic roof. That was an added bonus and I’ve got to admit, I love it.
And the boxes it didn’t tick?
Well the car doesn’t have an LSD, nor did it come with the very nice looking OEM navigation. It is also equipped with regular upholstery instead of leather or alcantara interior.
With the exception of the missing LSD, all of the rest is easily forgotten once you start putting down the power and realizing how easily the car climbs into triple digit speed and how controllable it is when you »accidently« put it in a slide.
What is the E91 325i like to drive?
I’ve only had the car for about a week now, so no real test yet. What I have managed to do is put together a video of a dynamic drive on a local scenic road. Accelerating from a cloud covered valley and then punching through the cloud cap, enjoying the snow covered winter fairy tale.
First part of the video is filmed in-car but the camera was placed at a bit of a bad angle. So for the second part I chose to place the action cam on the roof, capturing some pretty awesome footage. Well except for the last part that is.
Main question now? How long will I hold on until the modifying bug bites again…
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