Decided to take advantage of the 1.9% financing and upgrade '03 325i to '06 330i. I have 2 main questions:

1) manual vs. automatic transmission. Test drove 330 w/ manual and was killer fun to drive. Anyone have comments for manual transmission over longer term??

2) navigation system or not. Have heard some people love iDrive and some hate it. The system looks cool, but not sure if it's worth the extra $2K.

Would appreciate any comments on these 2 subjects and 330 comments in general. If I'm going to order one, it's got to be in the next few days.

Thanks in advance!

go the manual and idrive both in mine. overall i love the way the manual feels. smooth and solid shifts(coming from evo, sti, supra). the idrive took me a few minutes to figure out..and is a bit inconvenient at times, but i try only to use it when i need to. driving the car itself is much more enjoyable than playing with the idrive =)

skip the idrive and get a nice aftermarket setup for 4-800 bucks.

i have steptronic and im impressed, manual cars arent good where i live, its all stop and go traffic, which isnt really good on the clutch.

I have automatic and love it - I would've chosen 6 sp manual but with the amount of 'stop and go' traffic I'm in everyday, would be a pain in the rear.

I drive is a headache - I don't have it but a buddy of mine does and it complicates such simple controls. I passed on it and haven't felt I wished I had ordered it.

I would never buy an automatic, but that's just my personal preference. The iDrive is supposedly much better than the ones in the 5 and the 7 but I don't know if it's worth the money. I have a manual without iDrive.

The iDrive is supposedly much better than the ones in the 5 and the 7 but I don't know if it's worth the money.
First car to have idrive & navigation. Will never do without it again!
I feel it's worth every penny & them some.

Last 4 new cars I made every excuse why not to have navigation.
When I should of admitted that I just did not have $ for the extras.

No I-drive-I really don't like the extra hump on the dash. Manual all the way! It is butter smooth, the clutch is light, and oh so fun to row the gears-what's not to like?

I have automatic and love it - I would've chosen 6 sp manual but with the amount of 'stop and go' traffic I'm in everyday, would be a pain in the rear.

I drive is a headache - I don't have it but a buddy of mine does and it complicates such simple controls. I passed on it and haven't felt I wished I had ordered it.

Could you provide more details/examples of how idrive "complicates such simple controls"? I'm considering opting for idrive in a 330xi.

Thank you,
AMR

I just got my 325i with i-drive and automatic and I absolutely love it.

The idrive itself is worth every penny in my opinion although it can be somewhat conterintuitive at times.

I think it could use a "previous screen" or back button. I think that would greatly increase its usability.