F31 335d xDrive - experiences?

F31 335d xDrive - experiences?

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Discussion

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

197 months

Monday 29th June 2015
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bad company said:
The sound is not great but it is a diesel. If you want a car that sounds great get a big V8 petrol engine.

My car with extras/toys was £47K list tho I paid considerably less. Great value and a great car IMO.
Been these had a V8 RS6. Much fun but fuel economy was crippling big tank premium fuel very short range....
Sound stunning. Way way faster in every aspect to the 535d cornered utterly flat and brakes were incredible. But chocolate gearbox and every job was multiple £k so it became a worry over enjoyment.

bad company

18,483 posts

265 months

Monday 29th June 2015
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Welshbeef said:
bad company said:
The sound is not great but it is a diesel. If you want a car that sounds great get a big V8 petrol engine.

My car with extras/toys was £47K list tho I paid considerably less. Great value and a great car IMO.
Been these had a V8 RS6. Much fun but fuel economy was crippling big tank premium fuel very short range....
Sound stunning. Way way faster in every aspect to the 535d cornered utterly flat and brakes were incredible. But chocolate gearbox and every job was multiple £k so it became a worry over enjoyment.
Yes I agree. My 335d is great but the sun was shining today and I was out in my TVR Chim 500. driving

Nothing sounds as good and I have never had as much fun with my clothes on. sperm

JNW1

7,707 posts

193 months

Tuesday 30th June 2015
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apotts said:
smile

335d is not for me though - too cramped and noisy, and really not noticeably lighter (6%). And no hydraulic anti roll bars... Does it have the GPS gearbox yet? Probably the one feature I'd hate to not have, and I didn't even have to tick a box and be ruthlessly fleeced.
I think 335d's got the GPS gearbox from around August/September build last year. I don't find my F31 either noisy or cramped but I guess that depends on your reference point and I came from an E91/E92; however, compared to those I don't find the F31 to be especially agile either as it feels bigger and heavier (probably because it is!). Therefore, I can see a logic that says if you're going to have something a bit barge like you might as well get the 5 series because as well as being more spacious it also has (IMO) a nicer interior design with a better feel to the quality of the materials.

Osinjak

Original Poster:

5,453 posts

120 months

Tuesday 30th June 2015
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JNW1 said:
I think 335d's got the GPS gearbox from around August/September build last year. I don't find my F31 either noisy or cramped but I guess that depends on your reference point and I came from an E91/E92; however, compared to those I don't find the F31 to be especially agile either as it feels bigger and heavier (probably because it is!). Therefore, I can see a logic that says if you're going to have something a bit barge like you might as well get the 5 series because as well as being more spacious it also has (IMO) a nicer interior design with a better feel to the quality of the materials.
They're bigger than you think too. I put my old E91 up against an F31 and was genuinely surprised at the difference!

Tengocity

29 posts

105 months

Tuesday 30th June 2015
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JNW1 said:
I think 335d's got the GPS gearbox from around August/September build last year. I don't find my F31 either noisy or cramped but I guess that depends on your reference point and I came from an E91/E92; however, compared to those I don't find the F31 to be especially agile either as it feels bigger and heavier (probably because it is!). Therefore, I can see a logic that says if you're going to have something a bit barge like you might as well get the 5 series because as well as being more spacious it also has (IMO) a nicer interior design with a better feel to the quality of the materials.
I m inclined to agree and if I was buying now I think I would have possibly gone for the 5 series. The 3 series is quite sensitive to the road surface for noise I find. However the 5 series is huge. When I had an E60 5 series I loved it for long journeys but a total pain to park and manoeuvre around town. The wife almost refused to drive it so the 3 is the compromise option. That's the issue with a 3 I guess... Really good at lots of things but not perfect in any one aspect. If it just had a slightly higher interior quality and refinement, but in the same size package it would be close to perfection, along with my suspension mods of course!

JNW1

7,707 posts

193 months

Tuesday 30th June 2015
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Tengocity said:
I m inclined to agree and if I was buying now I think I would have possibly gone for the 5 series. The 3 series is quite sensitive to the road surface for noise I find. However the 5 series is huge. When I had an E60 5 series I loved it for long journeys but a total pain to park and manoeuvre around town. The wife almost refused to drive it so the 3 is the compromise option. That's the issue with a 3 I guess... Really good at lots of things but not perfect in any one aspect. If it just had a slightly higher interior quality and refinement, but in the same size package it would be close to perfection, along with my suspension mods of course!
To be honest I find the F31 less handy in things like tight car parks compared to the E91/92 but I can see a 5 series being even worse! I genuinely don't find refinement an issue with the F31 but if i'd come from a 5 series (or an XF or an E class) perhaps I'd think otherwise. In terms of the interior, I don't have a massive issue with the quality (it's certainly an improvement over the E91/92) but I'm not so keen on the design; the E9x was like smaller version of the 5 series whereas the F31 is more like a bigger version of a 1 series. Really can't get used to that sat-nav screen that's stuck on top of the dashboard like an afterthought; the twin binnacle arrangement in the E9x was far nicer to my eye!

Osinjak

Original Poster:

5,453 posts

120 months

Tuesday 30th June 2015
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JNW1 said:
Really can't get used to that sat-nav screen that's stuck on top of the dashboard like an afterthought; the twin binnacle arrangement in the E9x was far nicer to my eye!
When I first sat in an F31 I pointed at the screen and asked the sales bloke, 'Does that go down?' Obviously it didn't but it looks as if it should. I asked him why it looked so odd and why it was so high up and he said that it was EU-ism in that all screens needed to be eye-level rather than buried somewhere else. Seems plausible enough but they still look weird.

knitware

1,473 posts

192 months

Tuesday 30th June 2015
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JNW1 said:
So you've changed springs, dampers and tyres on your car? Did you do all three at the same time and if so how do you determine which of them has made a real difference?!
For reference, I have a F31 330d M Sport on passive suspension.

After around 6 months and tiring of the floaty sensation I changed to ACS springs, no more floaty sensations and a real difference to flatness control.
Another few months pass and I changed to Michelin Super Sport non run flat tyres, this transformed the tramlining, noisy harshness and now it’s so different it’s like I’m driving a different car.
Independently they are good modifications, together they make the 3 Series superb.

Tengocity

29 posts

105 months

Tuesday 30th June 2015
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Osinjak said:
When I first sat in an F31 I pointed at the screen and asked the sales bloke, 'Does that go down?' Obviously it didn't but it looks as if it should. I asked him why it looked so odd and why it was so high up and he said that it was EU-ism in that all screens needed to be eye-level rather than buried somewhere else. Seems plausible enough but they still look weird.
I reckon that's salesman's bullst! I can think of a few cars where the sat nav sits a bit lower.

BMRuss

1,547 posts

189 months

Tuesday 30th June 2015
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I'm looking forward to seeing how my 335d X Drive will cope this week.

The car will be loaded up to the max, including a bike rack and roof box, along with my family ready for a 900 mile drive down to the South of France.

It's also fitted with ACS springs, so whether our backs will be in 1 piece or not remains to be seen!

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

197 months

Tuesday 30th June 2015
quotequote all
Osinjak said:
They're bigger than you think too. I put my old E91 up against an F31 and was genuinely surprised at the difference!
They are as big as the E39 externally and internally....



I averaged just 40mpg today on commute but over B roads 25 miles I averaged 46mph which given the number of villages junctions and traffic lights is very impressive.
Schnel. Schnel.

julian64

14,317 posts

253 months

Wednesday 1st July 2015
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Welshbeef said:
Osinjak said:
They're bigger than you think too. I put my old E91 up against an F31 and was genuinely surprised at the difference!
They are as big as the E39 externally and internally....



I averaged just 40mpg today on commute but over B roads 25 miles I averaged 46mph which given the number of villages junctions and traffic lights is very impressive.
Schnel. Schnel.
I averaged 50.1 this morning on a journey that I've done for the last 5 years in an E39 M5 and my best consumption in that was 24.6.
Given that the performance of both cars are relatively comparable thats quite some achievement by BMW.

JNW1

7,707 posts

193 months

Wednesday 1st July 2015
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julian64 said:
I averaged 50.1 this morning on a journey that I've done for the last 5 years in an E39 M5 and my best consumption in that was 24.6.
Given that the performance of both cars are relatively comparable thats quite some achievement by BMW.
Blimey, you managed over 50mpg? Never got anywhere near that on an individual tank so what sort of journey was that? Don't think I'd tempt mine to anywhere near 50mpg unless it was through a long stretch of roadworks with SPECS cameras enforcing a 50mph speed limit!

julian64

14,317 posts

253 months

Wednesday 1st July 2015
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JNW1 said:
julian64 said:
I averaged 50.1 this morning on a journey that I've done for the last 5 years in an E39 M5 and my best consumption in that was 24.6.
Given that the performance of both cars are relatively comparable thats quite some achievement by BMW.
Blimey, you managed over 50mpg? Never got anywhere near that on an individual tank so what sort of journey was that? Don't think I'd tempt mine to anywhere near 50mpg unless it was through a long stretch of roadworks with SPECS cameras enforcing a 50mph speed limit!
Well pretty much that. The car starts from cold the journey is about 16 miles from the countryside near brands hatch up the A21, along the M25, and down the A2 to the holiday inn turn off.

The journey into work would be different for everyone but the striking this is with the comparision between cars.

My personal opinion is that diving hard the E39 would go down to about 19-20 and the F30 goes down to about 25. The big differnece between the cars is that diving the M5 like miss daisy didn't get you a lot, whereas driving the F30 like miss daisy gets you an awful lot.

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

197 months

Wednesday 1st July 2015
quotequote all
K
julian64 said:
Well pretty much that. The car starts from cold the journey is about 16 miles from the countryside near brands hatch up the A21, along the M25, and down the A2 to the holiday inn turn off.

The journey into work would be different for everyone but the striking this is with the comparision between cars.

My personal opinion is that diving hard the E39 would go down to about 19-20 and the F30 goes down to about 25. The big differnece between the cars is that diving the M5 like miss daisy didn't get you a lot, whereas driving the F30 like miss daisy gets you an awful lot.
25mpg from driving it hard x35d!!!

And I though I was Mr Heavy foot...

JNW1

7,707 posts

193 months

Wednesday 1st July 2015
quotequote all
julian64 said:
Well pretty much that. The car starts from cold the journey is about 16 miles from the countryside near brands hatch up the A21, along the M25, and down the A2 to the holiday inn turn off.

The journey into work would be different for everyone but the striking this is with the comparision between cars.

My personal opinion is that diving hard the E39 would go down to about 19-20 and the F30 goes down to about 25. The big differnece between the cars is that diving the M5 like miss daisy didn't get you a lot, whereas driving the F30 like miss daisy gets you an awful lot.
Don't know what the claimed combined figure was for an E39 M5 but my experience has been that petrols get much closer to those numbers than their diesel counterparts. For example, if I was to drive to get the claimed figure of 50mpg from my F31 I think my E92 335i would have returned at least mid to high 30's driven the same way (that against a combined figure of 33). Based on my mileage profile my rough rule of thumb is that petrol is 10% down on the combined figure while diesel is somewhere between 20 and 25% down in the same circumstances (albeit obviously still better in absolute terms!).

drivin_me_nuts

17,949 posts

210 months

Wednesday 1st July 2015
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Over 140k of mostly motorway miles, my E39 M5 averaged 23mpg. Drive it remotely hard for a few miles and that will easily drop to 10-12.

smashy

3,030 posts

157 months

Wednesday 1st July 2015
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JNW1 said:
Blimey, you managed over 50mpg? Never got anywhere near that on an individual tank so what sort of journey was that? Don't think I'd tempt mine to anywhere near 50mpg unless it was through a long stretch of roadworks with SPECS cameras enforcing a 50mph speed limit!
I had 15 miles of that exact journey in my F30 30d reset OBC at the beginning at the end showed 71 mpg ( yep 71) ,may have been a gradient all the way but not obvious if there was.

julian64

14,317 posts

253 months

Wednesday 1st July 2015
quotequote all
smashy said:
JNW1 said:
Blimey, you managed over 50mpg? Never got anywhere near that on an individual tank so what sort of journey was that? Don't think I'd tempt mine to anywhere near 50mpg unless it was through a long stretch of roadworks with SPECS cameras enforcing a 50mph speed limit!
I had 15 miles of that exact journey in my F30 30d reset OBC at the beginning at the end showed 71 mpg ( yep 71) ,may have been a gradient all the way but not obvious if there was.
Holy moly!!!!!!

JNW1

7,707 posts

193 months

Wednesday 1st July 2015
quotequote all
drivin_me_nuts said:
Over 140k of mostly motorway miles, my E39 M5 averaged 23mpg. Drive it remotely hard for a few miles and that will easily drop to 10-12.
A quick look on Google suggests your 23mpg is actually 15% better than the combined figure - I rest my case!