E91 320d M Sport

E91 320d M Sport known as "Jurgen"

I had a very specific criteria when looking for this vehicle. I wanted an E91 320d Sparkling Graphite Grey M Sport, but this did prove difficult, with my strict budget criteria.
I wanted a touring to fit with my mountain biking exploits, dogs etc.

In an ideal world, I would have gone for a 335d, but an impending house move, has put the kybosh on that for now.

My search took me to Peterborough, where I found this car at an independent dealer. A deal was struck.

The car has been remapped by Mike @ Motech where the performance has been improved from the standard 163bhp, to 214bhp with 350ft (Estimated) which makes it able to keep pace on the road, and i'm seeing another 3-4mpg.

I have also assigned my private registration.

BMW "Park Lane" Tax disc holder has also been added.

I am a bit of a perfectionist, so there are a few things on the "to-do" list to bring it up to standard.

- Front bumper paint to remove stone chips.
- Wheels refurbished.
- New wheel centre badges and "M" Logos.
- New "M" Steering wheel trim
- New "M" Gear knob, which is showing signs of wear.
- Rubber drivers door seal, which is showing a slight "crack"
- New tyres all round, as the brands on the front to rear are different.
- Full size dealer plates (maybe) I like the shortened plates, but I don't want to loose the front number plate recess, which I feel I will need to do, if I keep the shortened plates, to tidy it up. I'm still pondering this currently.









Edited by GaryL - 05 Jul 2013 at 4:24pm

Looks nice Gary, I have recently bought a 318d Touring (E91) and think it's a great car, haven't decided if I should get it remapped yet though...

So a little running report on the E91.

All the parts for the wheels have arrived; so new bolts with after market covers, and new centre caps (Bought from BMW direct on eBay, very good service indeed)

Just waiting for a slot in the bodyshop so the front bumper can have a new lick of paint to deal with the stone chips, and remove the couple of car park dings. Whilst its there, the front number plate recess is going to be scaled down, or just removed, so I can run my shorter plate at the front unsure which as yet.

I have fitted the new roundel to the bootlid, much better, the old one, was way past its best, and was quite water damaged, so its made quite an improvement.

The sticky spilt hatch switch has been replaced, so is now working perfectly (which was the only fault to be fair)

I have also recently used the great chaps at MTek in Northampton (BMW Specalist) who have renewed the gearbox and diff oil, and re-charged the air con whilst I was there.

The remap is fine, and the car is performing well (it's worth mapping for the surprise factor alone!) The way it pulls is rapid, and in lower gears, you have to keep an eye on the rev counter, as it hits the redline very quickly indeed, but has the road manners and low down pull to potter about. The car gets fed with ultimate diesel, and it seems to like it, and i'm seeing between 6-9mpg more, which is a bonus, and off sets the additional cost of the fuel per litre.

No other issues have reared their head, and the car is soaking up the miles really well. I think tyres are going to be the next expense, and I'm keen to replace all round, but the wear appears even, so happy with how the car is set up, along with some new pads for the rear, which are showing wear.
I have however being keeping my eyes peeled for BMW Performance brakes, but they are very expensive - but after driving an identical car with the package, I couldn't get over how good they were!

Still some items to buy to tidy up the interior, the new M sill covers, gearknob, and steering wheel insert will be next on the list, and to find someone with a BMW computer to turn on some on the hidden options.

So plenty to keep me busy.

So a tad of an update;
Spent most of Sunday carrying out some odds and ends.

Fitted new updated centre cap badges to the wheels, new black bolts, with covers and some new BMW locking wheel nuts with covers. The old bolts and centre caps really let the car down in my opinion.

I have also wire brushed, and painted the hubs in silver, the whole package looks much better indeed.

The shortened plates are no more - and full dealer plates have replaced them.

I have ordered most of the interior parts that I wanted, the new steering wheel insert, gearknob and interior trim that I wanted, just waiting for that all to arrive at the dealer.

The front bumper paint is on hold - with the bad weather coming, I have decided to leave that until the new year, as I don't want to damage new soft paint.

Kermit - I went for the "extreme" map. Based on the fact, my car although sitting at 120k miles, has had a new clutch and flywheel, along with a new turbo.

Mike @ Motech is a personal friend, but he is very good at recommending what is best, he will take into account previous service history etc... He wont load a map onto the car which is going to blow it up! Put it that way!

The maps that Mike uses are from Richard Washbrook. In a nutshell the "map" worked based on the throttle position (the benefit of fly by wire) So the driving experience doesn't change unless you give the loud pedal a good old stab. Watch for the DTC light flashing however!

Personally I don't chase bhp figures, I enjoy real world driveability, but I'm very impressed with the performance now, and I am seeing more mpg, The map still has the built in parameters as well, for high temperature driving, low temperature driving, and I can run it on normal diesel, but I choose to run mine on Shell or BP super, and it does seem to like it.

I haven't had my car on the rollers, but I have seen identical cars running the same map; pulling the exact same figure, so its pretty much spot on.
After I had it mapped, it felt like the car "should be" if that makes sense. He also offers a try before you buy service as well.

I might sound like a salesman, but I can not recommend him highly enough; he has mapped my last two cars, 50,000 miles covered, no issues what so ever, I'm under no illison that this places extra strain on componments, you would be naïve to think it wouldn't, but I'm prepared for that.

I'm not planning any other power upgrades to be honest, as it just pointless when you could buy a 330/335d.

I have driven a mapped 535d, rated at 340bhp with over 700nm - that was interesting!



Edited by GLiddle - 02 Oct 2013 at 5:06pm

Tony, I've just seen this, very sorry.
I wouldn't have made it due to work commitments.

Oh yes, insurance informed, made no difference what so ever!

I've heard that Chris' dad isn't a bad photographer as well 

If you do ever get a 335D I can highly recommend them. I had a 57 plate one which I bought at 3 years old with 15K on the clock. I sold it 25K later and only depreciated by 2K. 286bhp is fairly rapid for an E92 coupe, they hold their price and mine was an M sport packaged one.

Lovely car, only surpassed by the Alpina at 500 bhp, but not like for like so a little unfair to compare.

Edited by Norrie - 09 Jul 2014 at 10:30am