335i vs 335xd

[IforB]

For a diesel, the 335d is a superb and refined engine. The caveat being "for a diesel."

I've got both an f31 330d and e92 335d and they both let you know they run on the devil's juice at times. Lovely cars, but not as lovely as a big petrol lump.

It depends on what you use them for though, for me it's mile munching on motorways, so diesel makes sense, but were I to be doing less mileage, then I wouldn't hesitate to chop either in for a 335i.

[JNW1]

IforB said:

For a diesel, the 335d is a superb and refined engine. The caveat being "for a diesel."

I've got both an f31 330d and e92 335d and they both let you know they run on the devil's juice at times. Lovely cars, but not as lovely as a big petrol lump.

It depends on what you use them for though, for me it's mile munching on motorways, so diesel makes sense, but were I to be doing less mileage, then I wouldn't hesitate to chop either in for a 335i.

+1

I think that sums it up quite nicely! These modern diesels are very good but for me there's still no way I'd choose one over a petrol unless there's mile munching to be done and even then I sometimes question the wisdom of choosing a 6-pot diesel. Yes they're more refined and offer higher performance than the 4-pots but in my experience they don't really deliver much of an improvement in economy over the petrol equivalent and hence if decent fuel consumption and range is the motive for going diesel you might as well have a 320d rather than a 330d/335d. Knowing what I know now if I was choosing again today I'd go for either an F31 340i or an S4 Avant rather than a F31 335d....

[cerb4.5lee]

Wills2 said:

I think the piece at the end said it all the engine in the 335i is just better imho, a diesel always lets you know it's a diesel at some point, nothing luxurious or sporty about that clatter.

Completely agree and when I was driving the 640d the other day with the radio off on part throttle you could hear the clatter as clear as day and I said to my mrs that it does make me smile when I read on here when people say you cant tell its a diesel...turning a blind eye to justify owning an oil burner springs to my mind!

There isn't anything luxurious about the noise a diesel makes.

[cerb4.5lee]

JNW1 said:

IforB said:

For a diesel, the 335d is a superb and refined engine. The caveat being "for a diesel."

I've got both an f31 330d and e92 335d and they both let you know they run on the devil's juice at times. Lovely cars, but not as lovely as a big petrol lump.

It depends on what you use them for though, for me it's mile munching on motorways, so diesel makes sense, but were I to be doing less mileage, then I wouldn't hesitate to chop either in for a 335i.

+1

I think that sums it up quite nicely! These modern diesels are very good but for me there's still no way I'd choose one over a petrol unless there's mile munching to be done and even then I sometimes question the wisdom of choosing a 6-pot diesel. Yes they're more refined and offer higher performance than the 4-pots but in my experience they don't really deliver much of an improvement in economy over the petrol equivalent and hence if decent fuel consumption and range is the motive for going diesel you might as well have a 320d rather than a 330d/335d. Knowing what I know now if I was choosing again today I'd go for either an F31 340i or an S4 Avant rather than a F31 335d....

We have done 20k miles in the 640d since last November and as a mile muncher its pretty spot on but there is a chance we wont be doing as many miles going forward so we wont hesitate to go back to petrol again that's for sure.

A diesel just isn't pleasant and not worth putting up with unless you do the mileage as far as I am concerned.

[bad company]

I have a 335d xdrive. It's great but as I am now retired and doing less miles (from 22k to 10k per year) I will probably go for petrol next time. Trouble was at the time of buying the diesel was the best performer of all the 3 series cars except the M.

[JNW1]

cerb4.5lee said:

We have done 20k miles in the 640d since last November and as a mile muncher its pretty spot on but there is a chance we wont be doing as many miles going forward so we wont hesitate to go back to petrol again that's for sure.

A diesel just isn't pleasant and not worth putting up with unless you do the mileage as far as I am concerned.

To do 20k miles in 6 months you're presumably spending a lot of time on motorways and that being the case the diesel makes a lot of sense; sat at 80mph on a motorway I honestly don't think there's any refinement disbenefit and in that sort of running they do deliver decent economy (albeit still with not as much as an advantage over petrol as the published figures would have you believe!). However, once you drop below 18k-20k miles a year it's still petrol for me....

[cerb4.5lee]

JNW1 said:

cerb4.5lee said:

We have done 20k miles in the 640d since last November and as a mile muncher its pretty spot on but there is a chance we wont be doing as many miles going forward so we wont hesitate to go back to petrol again that's for sure.

A diesel just isn't pleasant and not worth putting up with unless you do the mileage as far as I am concerned.

To do 20k miles in 6 months you're presumably spending a lot of time on motorways and that being the case the diesel makes a lot of sense; sat at 80mph on a motorway I honestly don't think there's any refinement disbenefit and in that sort of running they do deliver decent economy (albeit still with not as much as an advantage over petrol as the published figures would have you believe!). However, once you drop below 18k-20k miles a year it's still petrol for me....

Agree it does make complete sense for the mileage we are doing and at motorway speeds it is fine and refined and has plenty of on tap performance if you want it and very frugal too over long distances, just low revs slow speeds from the noise it makes I am not keen.

I just prefer a petrol overall because with a petrol you can feel a nice connection to it when you have a good one and with a diesel no matter how good it is its not an engine you can love but a good tool to do a high mileage job.

[Wills2]

cerb4.5lee said:

Wills2 said:

I think the piece at the end said it all the engine in the 335i is just better imho, a diesel always lets you know it's a diesel at some point, nothing luxurious or sporty about that clatter.

Completely agree and when I was driving the 640d the other day with the radio off on part throttle you could hear the clatter as clear as day and I said to my mrs that it does make me smile when I read on here when people say you cant tell its a diesel...turning a blind eye to justify owning an oil burner springs to my mind!

There isn't anything luxurious about the noise a diesel makes.

That was the noise that annoyed me as well Lee, on partial throttle it would twang and rasp, idle clatter was poor as well.

I would have thought the 6 series would be better insulated than my old 3, so don't try one of those!

[julian64]

I've got one american V8 one flat plane v8 one BMW v8 and one 335xd.

I know I'm going to hell for this but I quite like the devil car. On flat out acceleration it actually sounds quite good.

I actually prefered it to the M135i I tested as it was so muted.

[335d]

julian64 said:

I've got one american V8 one flat plane v8 one BMW v8 and one 335xd.

I know I'm going to hell for this but I quite like the devil car. On flat out acceleration it actually sounds quite good.

I actually prefered it to the M135i I tested as it was so muted.

The 35i engine is a bit of a let down in the noise department. With the fake noise disabled it sounds rather harsh to me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deA0nYO6WMQ

They appear to have used the same, or at least a very similar sound file on the 335d, so the two cars sound quite alike when pressing on with the default fake noise enabled. Of course you could just change the sound file to make it sound like an M4 or probably even the Starship Enterprise!

Hopefully the 40i engine will make a nicer noise.

Edited by 335d on Wednesday 29th April 13:37

[JNW1]

335d said:

julian64 said:

I've got one american V8 one flat plane v8 one BMW v8 and one 335xd.

I know I'm going to hell for this but I quite like the devil car. On flat out acceleration it actually sounds quite good.

I actually prefered it to the M135i I tested as it was so muted.

The 35i engine is a bit of a let down in the noise department. With the fake noise disabled it sounds rather harsh to me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deA0nYO6WMQ

They appear to have used the same, or at least a very similar sound file on the 335d, so the two cars sound quite alike when pressing on with the default fake noise enabled. Of course you could just change the sound file to make it sound like an M4 or probably even the Starship Enterprise!

Hopefully the 40i engine will make a nicer noise.

Edited by 335d on Wednesday 29th April 13:37

I agree the 335d doesn't sound bad for an oil burner but I wouldn't agree it sounds nicer than an M135i or a 335i! Also, while the 335d may not sound too bad on full throttle, to my ear there's still an audible diesel rattle as you accelerate from rest and it doesn't disappear until you get over about 2k revs; not an issue at steady speed cruising (e.g. when you're on a motorway) but a bit irritating when you're in stop-start traffic. Each to their own I suppose but for me trying to argue the diesel sounds as nice - or nicer - than the petrol is like arguing black is white!

[julian64]

How do you delete the fake noise?

[bad company]

julian64 said:

How do you delete the fake noise?

Turn the radio up.

[335d]

julian64 said:

How do you delete the fake noise?

There is an 'Active Sound Design' box about the size of a fag packet under the LHS of the boot floor which can be unplugged. Someone on the F30 Post forum found it and there is a thread there. Others seem to have switched the sound file over to M4 just for amusement.

JNW1 said:

I agree the 335d doesn't sound bad for an oil burner but I wouldn't agree it sounds nicer than an M135i or a 335i! Also, while the 335d may not sound too bad on full throttle, to my ear there's still an audible diesel rattle as you accelerate from rest and it doesn't disappear until you get over about 2k revs; not an issue at steady speed cruising (e.g. when you're on a motorway) but a bit irritating when you're in stop-start traffic. Each to their own I suppose but for me trying to argue the diesel sounds as nice - or nicer - than the petrol is like arguing black is white!

I agree. At very low speed is is unmistakably a diesel. I have a feeling that urban dwellers notice this a lot more due to spending a lot of time crawling. Living in the middle of nowhere and not commuting, means I don't get to hear this much.

[Diderot]

julian64 said:

so not a single 335xd vs 335i to be found on utube. curious, I would have thought there would be millions

Near enough ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyeysU3y1Aw