BMW F30 Build Highlight – Louie’s Nardo 330i

What F30 dreams are made of!

Sport sedans, a market segment that shall and probably always will be dominated by the likes of the BMW 3-Series. Its fast, practical, gets good gas mileage and all that jazz that normal people seem to care so much about. However, there’s another reason why us gearheads can’t get enough of them either, there’s just this certain magic with the way a BMW effortlessly glides itself around a corner that no front-heavy Mercedes or understeer prone Audi could ever manage. So if a standard 3-Series is already so good, it begs the question as to just how much potential lies baked beneath its sensible German roots.

Well, wonder no longer, because this 2017 F30 BMW 330i has been tinkered, felted and modified to such an extremity where even a full-fat BMW M3 might start to look like the lesser vehicle. Wrapped in a stunning nardo vinyl wrap, this 330i looks ready to go brawling around at night looking for timid eco boxes to devour for its own personal satisfaction.

Much of this new outlandish bravado comes from a series of tasteful aesthetic upgrades that include a GTS aluminium hood, Bayoptiks 3/4 Halo headlights,  M performance styled CF mirror caps, an M3 competition rear spoiler and a JHP dynamic rear wing to create what could very well be one of the best looking F30 BMWs on the planet. Much of this beemers appeal comes from the fact that the owner didn’t feel the need to go absolutely mental.

There’s no ridiculous camber to speak of or cheap muffler delete to make It sound like a woodchipper gargling up nails. Everything from the wheels to those stunning LED headlights looks almost, dare we say, OEM. The interior hasn’t seen much of an overhaul, which is good because you can’t really improve upon German build quality. However, it does feature a custom M performance Alcantara steering wheel, and we all know just how much a good steering wheel can add to the overall driving feel. 

In its stock configuration, the F30 BMW 330i features a 2.0 litre turbocharged inline-4 with around 248bhp and 258 lb-ft of torque. This was good for 60mph in just around 5.5 seconds and a 14.2-second quarter-mile time. That’s not lacklustre by any means but you wouldn’t exactly go around calling your friends with those figures.

But don’t worry, this 330i isn’t all shirt and no trousers. Under the hood, you’ll find a custom E30 tune from Cary Jordan, an Injen intake and a full AWE quad Catback exhaust with an ER DP/Chargepipe. With a spec sheet like that, this family-friendly BMW 330i is now pushing out around 300 wheel horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque, that’s a healthy 50 extra bhp and a massive 100 lb-ft of extra torque. Which means this F30 BMW will certainly leave quite a few sports owners cars frazzled as it roars off into the distance between stop lights. 

All these modifications are good for more than just raw performance figures as well. The tune alone now spreads the power out more evenly across the rev band. So now whenever you decide to get a bit overzealous with your root foot, there’s more than enough grunt to get you up to, shall we say, brisk speeds.