I am about to sell my 530d in preparation for getting my 911 Carrera. I need to look at buying a "sensible" tax efficient car for business use. My choice is narrowed down to either a new Golf GTi 3 door with DSG gearbox or a new E90 320d SE. Both are comparable from a tax and performance perspective. Which would you go for? I have been offered a 4% discount on the Golf and a 6% discount on the new 3.

 

i would hold on until new model of three comes out later this year i think about june

 

I'd go for the Golf, there is a lot of positive noise being made about in the UK press at the moment. And you might not get a chance to have a play with the DSG gearbox for a very long time otherwise.

 

The E90 320d is the NEW 3 series. It is available to order now for March delivery. I have the ordering info for all of the accessories from my dealer together with prices.

That is why I face the dilemma - take the 3 and get effectively a mini 5 series ( only 300mm shorter overall length and nicer interior styling IMHO) or go for the new Golf which has had rave reviews in all of the car mags and TV auto shows. I've driven the Golf GTi for a day last week and it was great fun. I can't drive a new 3 series as they won't be in dealerships until March so I'll be buying "blind" again as I did with the 530d.

 

Tough one man. I wish I was in your position.
Havn't driven the Golf GTi but, as an earlier post mentioned, it's getting excellent write ups.

I had an e46 320d manual and thoroughly enjoyed the car. Bags ot torque. Beautifuly balanced. The E90 320d has (I believe) and additional 13bhp and an extra 10nm. If it were manual on manual, I'd go for the E90. Without a doubt.

If you were thinking auto E90, I think I'd be swayed slightly towards the GTi. I don't think the 4-cyl diesel sounds great with an auto. I think it brings out the 'diesel' sound more so than the 6-cyl diesel engines. But, if the E90 came as a 325d, advantage back to BMW.

How does the 320d and GTi compare on price ?

I haven't seen anything on the E90 re the 325d. I'd be interested myself if it were available. The info you have on the E90 pricing and accessories, is it available on the web?

Spoilt for choice. :'(

 

I put a post on the other models forum about the E90 prices. There is no 325d available at launch and I would be looking at the steptronic 320d as I hate manual gearboxes now (can't be bothered riding the clutch in traffic queues).

I have got a full list of the options which can be ordered along with prices though this is supposed to ba an internal use BMW document only - quite how they expect customers to order a car without sight of this document baffles me.

 

Definitely - I'm still thinking of a 3 series for the missus, yet I can't get hold of anything like that!

Is there an option for SMG-like transmission there? My wife has been scared by the manual input / effort involved in the M5 and thus won't go back to manual, and an SMG-like option would satisfy her needs, and of course mine when I take it in for servicing / thrashes

 

TMC,

There is no mention of SMG as an option, only automatic transmission. There is no dynamic drive either, only active steering. I-drive only comes with either business or pro nav. Other than that the options are pretty standard 3 series fare.

The option pricing seems reasonable but I somehow have managed to add ?6k to the base price with auto, leather, 17" alloys, metallic paint, bluetooth, sports seats and a few other toys. I haven't even put nav or xenons on it!

 

I've gone from Porsche + Audi to a BMW E60. So I understand the question. Sensible business car that is sporty, or business car plus sports (performance) car.

So I would recommend Porsche 997 + Audi A4 2.0 tdi, as I don't like the image of 3-series drivers.

Or Porsche 986 + BMW E60.

Getting a BMW 320d isn't a bad choice. Just not one I would make.

Anyway, I thought you were going to run the 997 for business use. What happened about that. AFAIK if you do 20K+ miles per year in a new Porsche, it affects the resale. And therefore you'd need to reclaim at least ?1 per mile for business use. And of course IR only allows 40p. So you're better keeping personal miles to 10K, and then do 10-15K on something else. That's the dilemma I went through anyway.

 

I'm already committed to the 997 Carrera and decided I'd need a "cheaper" (relatively speaking) car for business use that was tax efficient. I only do around 15,000 miles a year so depreciation wasn't my main consideration but it would certainly affect the value.

The 320d has superb emissions and is taxed at only 17% of it's value. IMHO it also looks the best resolved design of the new Bangle inspired cars and the interior to my eyes looks better than the E60 - I much prefer the way the interior door treatment mirrors previous BMW designs such as the E46. The Golf appeals due to a low purchase price and a lot of bang for the buck factor. My head is saying E90 though.

The Audi A4 does not appeal at all as Audi's have woeful handling and, having seen the new B7 A4 design 2 months ago in a local car park, I think it is a hideous looking car. I had an A4 3.0 cabrio which I got rid off and replaced with the E60 due to the Audi's laughable handling. A great car ruined by front wheel drive and too much weight in the nose.