330 Without Sports Pack

Hi I ordered a 330i without sports pack, i donot drive very hard or corner at high speed .
do i need a sports pack. Please give me your input. ED date sept 15th.

On my last 2 330's (E46's) I had the sport package but I don't think it is a must have option for many people (besides myself) because the 3 series handles very well without it and still has a planted feel.

Also if you are in a climate where it snows, you are better off with the all season tires for the snow considering the sport package vehicles with summer tires are downright scary in the snow

i have a 325i without the sports pack. and the ride is amazing. you dont need it. sports gives you a little harsher ride..you feel the bumps and such.but it is alot of fun..

by the way..you have a 330, which means you already have the sports suspension..the only thing the sports pack woulda gave you is low profile wheels..

Originally Posted by De_UnKnOwN_1

i have a 325i without the sports pack. and the ride is amazing. you dont need it. sports gives you a little harsher ride..you feel the bumps and such.but it is alot of fun..

by the way..you have a 330, which means you already have the sports suspension..the only thing the sports pack woulda gave you is low profile wheels..

Um...what about the sport seats and steering wheel in addition to different wheels and "low profile" tires?? Am I forgetting the different front and rear bumper covers?

iam okay not to have sports seat and sports steering wheel. my only concern is about the ride and handling characteristics.

I want go get Sports package because of the awsome seats and the steeringwheel, also the bigger tires are awsome. Besides i can allways get Snow tires which are far better than allseasons in snow.

You don't need it. The E90 handles well without it. Also, the sport package has some downsides--it may transmit irregular road surfaces more readily thereby reducing ride quality, the wheels are more susceptible to damage due to the lower profile tires, the tires are more expensive to replace (plus they don't last as long as all-season tires and they can't be rotated because they are different sizes back and front.) Since you don't drive hard and you can live without the sport seats I think it makes more sense for you to avoid the sport package and save the $1455-$1600 it costs. The last issue is purely cosmetic. Some people prefer the look of the car with the sport wheels. Since that's purely subjective, only you can decide that.

Originally Posted by edsmax

Um...what about the sport seats and steering wheel in addition to different wheels and "low profile" tires?? Am I forgetting the different front and rear bumper covers?

What covers??? What is different there? I haven't noticed any change to the bumpers...

Originally Posted by De_UnKnOwN_1

by the way..you have a 330, which means you already have the sports suspension..the only thing the sports pack woulda gave you is low profile wheels..

I don't think 330 comes with sports suspension standard. On bmwusa.com, both 325i and 330i have "Sport suspension calibration" as one of the items in SP.

I also drove 330i with and without SP. With SP I could feel the road to the degree that I got stomach ache. So, I chose no SP.

I don't think it's necessary for a 330. It already comes with 17" wheels and handles marvelously. I got the 325, so I opted for the SP to make it a little more sporty and get it up TO the 17" wheels. If you get the SP on the 330, you'll have 18" wheels and the ride will be noticeably more harsh. But in your opening statement it really sounds like you have no need for it. On the e46 it was a necessity for me based on the steering wheel alone. I couldn't stand that 4-spoke wheel.

I was also contemplating without sports pkg. How about turning fast at curves and ramps, does the sports package have any significant advantage like lesser body roll etc? What exactly is the fun factor that comes with the sports pkg? I did test drive an E46 with sports pkg before the E90 and I did not feel any harshness but the roads were very good near the dealership.

I have a 330i w/o Sport package and it's great!! I would have loved the steering wheel and sport seats but, my main concern was the lower clearance and performance tires (wanted to at least be able to "try" the all seasons in winter before I got the snows). The harsher ride might have come into play but, I never test drove an E90 with the Sport package so, I wasn't able to really feel the difference. I also knew I was getting the Auto due to nightmare traffic on a daily basis so, it wasn't a difficult decision.

The car handles like a dream and I've had no problems whatsoever pushing it's limits on curves and ramps...

Originally Posted by sojer18

I have a 330i w/o Sport package and it's great!! I would have loved the steering wheel and sport seats but, my main concern was the lower clearance and performance tires (wanted to at least be able to "try" the all seasons in winter before I got the snows). The harsher ride might have come into play but, I never test drove an E90 with the Sport package so, I wasn't able to really feel the difference. I also knew I was getting the Auto due to nightmare traffic on a daily basis so, it wasn't a difficult decision.

The car handles like a dream and I've had no problems whatsoever pushing it's limits on curves and ramps...

Well, you convinced me. I will save that extra money for additional warranty or other features like the CD changer and rear shades.

Originally Posted by bmw_fan

Hi I ordered a 330i without sports pack, i donot drive very hard or corner at high speed .
do i need a sports pack. Please give me your input. ED date sept 15th.

No, non-sport pkg is already good enough for what you describes.

Originally Posted by De_UnKnOwN_1

i have a 325i without the sports pack. and the ride is amazing. you dont need it. sports gives you a little harsher ride..you feel the bumps and such.but it is alot of fun..

by the way..you have a 330, which means you already have the sports suspension..the only thing the sports pack woulda gave you is low profile wheels..

Does anyone know the answer to this, does the 330 without sports package have the sports suspension or is suspenison on 325 and 330 w/o sports the same?? Thanks.

Originally Posted by fundrive

Does anyone know the answer to this, does the 330 without sports package have the sports suspension or is suspenison on 325 and 330 w/o sports the same?? Thanks.

Sports Suspension Calibration comes only with the Sports Package on the 2006 325 & 330i.

You are confusing this with the E46 330i from 2005, which I believe used to have the Sports Suspension as standard in its last few (2?) years of production. In the first few years of the E46 however, only the Coupe had the Sports Suspension as standard.

Originally Posted by RichReg

You are confusing this with the E46 330i from 2005, which I believe used to have the Sports Suspension as standard in its last few (2?) years of production. In the first few years of the E46 however, only the Coupe had the Sports Suspension as standard.

Sport suspension was standard on the E46 330i sedan starting with 3/01 production (still MY01). I don't believe it was ever standard on the E46 325i sedan.

Hi Everyone thanks for your input, Today i drove 330i with sports and without sports pack.
I found that sports pack 330i handles so well and is lot of fun to drive. i pushed both the cars in the corner and i found one with sports handled well and i felt lot of confidence . So i added the sports pack to my order, now iam going to be very aggressive driver which generally iam not , love to feel the adrenalin rush. What a car iam going to love it. .
i also donot want to take a risk becoz all the three BMW i had before had sports pack.

Originally Posted by bmw_fan

Hi Everyone thanks for your input, Today i drove 330i with sports and without sports pack.
I found that sports pack 330i handles so well and is lot of fun to drive. i pushed both the cars in the corner and i found one with sports handled well and i felt lot of confidence . So i added the sports pack to my order, now iam going to be very aggressive driver which generally iam not , love to feel the adrenalin rush. What a car iam going to love it. .
i also donot want to take a risk becoz all the three BMW i had before had sports pack.

You'll NEVER regret it.....
just be careful on unknown roads.

Once you're in familiar territory though, Oooooo la-la!

Originally Posted by bmw_fan

Hi Everyone thanks for your input, Today i drove 330i with sports and without sports pack.
I found that sports pack 330i handles so well and is lot of fun to drive. i pushed both the cars in the corner and i found one with sports handled well and i felt lot of confidence . So i added the sports pack to my order, now iam going to be very aggressive driver which generally iam not , love to feel the adrenalin rush. What a car iam going to love it. .
i also donot want to take a risk becoz all the three BMW i had before had sports pack.

Good choice.
I tested a 330 non-sport first and then a 330 sport a week later on the ramps. I could really feel the difference on the ramp's curve. It was a 180 degree ramp with very little distance. And the SP just looks so much better.

Enjoy the car.

i am picking up my 325i non sport tonight. the sport version does look better, but there are some areas of the country (like here in Boston) where having the sport pkg is really problematic and requires much more of an investment to have (buying winter tires, storage). I tried both and for avg driving, I dont think its a big loss.

but it does look better...

was going by the E46.. anyway i knew about the steering wheel and such but he only wanted to know about the suspension..which i was sure was standard sport on the 330.. oh well who knows

I test drove the sports package and its fun. It's not harsh as I expected and I placed an order with one.

Question: Is there a power button to adjust the backrest width, that is make the side support pads unfold?

e90 330i nonsport is a great choice. Suspension is supple, runflats are less expensive to replace in 17 (vs 18--255/35-18 RE050A runflat is $311 at Tire Rack!). Go for it!

But my quesiton is if there is a power button to increase the width of the backrest, that is to move the side support pads further away from one another. I found the sports seats a little narrow for my back.

I saw the owner's manual. It does mention that the backrest width is adjustable, but the diagram they have shown is for one without power seats.

Can someone confirm that the backrest width is adjustable when you have power seats?