335d xdrive best offers - buy used or new?

[foreverfalling]

Looking to buy a 335d xdrive.

Stratstone have an offer at £459 per month and £459 down inc massive contribution or I can buy a used one at £30k (put £10k cash down) and get a loan for rest.

any suggestions?

Thanks.

[JNW1]

foreverfalling said:

Looking to buy a 335d xdrive.

Stratstone have an offer at £459 per month and £459 down inc massive contribution or I can buy a used one at £30k (put £10k cash down) and get a loan for rest.

any suggestions?

Thanks.

When I went through this last year for a given level of deposit it was cheaper to buy new than used (and hence I bought a new one). I know the finance rates from BMW aren't quite so good now but personally I think the sort of deals being offered by Stratstone and others are still quite attractive and I'd be tempted to pursue those first; not sure there's a lot of sense in putting loads of your own money into something that will just lose it so I'd keep my £10k for other things! Slightly off topic but Vardy's in Edinburgh are advertising new 340i's for £398/month with £398 down (presumably part of the same offer Stratstone are doing on the 335d); do you really want/need the diesel?!

[SBN]

I'm getting a 340i and read a car test review and was impressed by their comment that during a head to head it did high 30's mpg during the entire test. Whilst I didnt solely buy the 340i for this its is reassuring and given I only do 12 miles to work I would believe that the 340i will perform the same as any diesel and will probably allow me to push it more than a 335d.

FYI test drove a 335d and its average mpg was 29mpg

Petrols get up to temperature and in my opinion provide very close to claimed figures than any diesel.

Get the 340i and use the other £60 -70 a month for petrol (if you need to lol)

[JNW1]

SBN said:

I'm getting a 340i and read a car test review and was impressed by their comment that during a head to head it did high 30's mpg during the entire test. Whilst I didnt solely buy the 340i for this its is reassuring and given I only do 12 miles to work I would believe that the 340i will perform the same as any diesel and will probably allow me to push it more than a 335d.

FYI test drove a 335d and its average mpg was 29mpg

Petrols get up to temperature and in my opinion provide very close to claimed figures than any diesel.

Get the 340i and use the other £60 -70 a month for petrol (if you need to lol)

Totally agree! I've got an F31 335d and suffice to say that knowing what I know now I'd definitely opt for a 340i if I was choosing again. I've never achieved anywhere near the combined figure of 50mpg from the 335d whereas on a run my E92 335i would beat the combined figure and some; the real world difference in fuel consumption is nowhere near what the published figures would have you believe so unless you need the X-Drive I'd say go with a 340i in preference to a 335d.

[SBN]

My current octavia vrs is petrol and does more than the published mpg on a commute regardless of how I drive.

In driving a diesel I found myself trying to improve the mpg everyday. It meant I was more focussed on the mpg than how the car could drive and perform

Always go petrol unless you are doing silly miles and even then I'd get a 330d or even 320d considering most of it would be motorway miles.

[foreverfalling]

Thanks for the info guys -

How does the 340i retain value?

The example at vardy probably has the 340i costing the same at the 335d

I have the 335d at 459 deposit and 459 a month on a 10k miles deal...

The 340i deal at 398 per month has 2000 down so probably not really much in it...

If they were the same price which would you opt for?





I went to see my local bmw today and I specced a 335d car and its coming in at 510 with servicing including with 459 deposit. Trying to get in under 500 and might pull the trigger... List is £44k

[smashy]

Bet you will find the ride and handling far better than on the Xdrive335d

[SBN]

The vardy deal is £398 down ?

[JNW1]

SBN said:

The vardy deal is £398 down ?

It was but as per my comment yesterday the figures in their illustration didn't stack-up; the difference was £1,600 so perhaps they've had to increase the customer deposit by that amount in order to make it balance? I'd still take the 340i in preference to the 335d though....

[JNW1]

foreverfalling said:

Thanks for the info guys -

How does the 340i retain value?

The example at vardy probably has the 340i costing the same at the 335d

I have the 335d at 459 deposit and 459 a month on a 10k miles deal...

The 340i deal at 398 per month has 2000 down so probably not really much in it...

If they were the same price which would you opt for?

I went to see my local bmw today and I specced a 335d car and its coming in at 510 with servicing including with 459 deposit. Trying to get in under 500 and might pull the trigger... List is £44k

Being honest I don't think there will be a huge difference in overall PCP cost between a 340i and a 335d so it comes down to which you want/need/prefer. The 335d is without doubt a very good car but unless you need X-Drive I'm not convinced it's got much going for it over the 340i; conversely, the 340i offers a smoother engine that sounds better plus you get sport suspension and decent handling as standard (adaptive or after market suspension mods are a must on an X-Drive IMO). After a year and 16k miles with an F31 335d I'd be buying a 340i if I was choosing again now but that's just my view and I'm sure others would disagree....

[foreverfalling]

Thanks for that

What don't you like about the 335d?

I am definitely speccing the adaptive suspension and m sport plus package on the 335d I think...

[335d]

JNW1 said:

the 340i offers a smoother engine that sounds better plus you get sport suspension and decent handling as standard (adaptive or after market suspension mods are a must on an X-Drive IMO).

According to the reviews the handling is not that good on the 340i, worse even than the fairly average pre-LCI M Sport set up. If that is correct then both it and a 335d would need after market suspension mods to handle anything like they should. If planning to leave the car as standard then I expect the 340i would be the better of the two though.

I will be interested to see the real-world mpg of the 340i. If it really can average high 30s, it will be very impressive. I have my doubts though - my guess is it will be high 20s, possibly into low 30s.

[VerySideways]

335d said:

I will be interested to see the real-world mpg of the 340i. If it really can average high 30s, it will be very impressive. I have my doubts though - my guess is it will be high 20s, possibly into low 30s.

Errr, i'm getting at least that in my F11 535i, and the new B58 is supposed to be a more economical engine and the 3 series is lighter than my 5.
I'm not a particularly economical driver and i live in a very hilly area which punishes economy.
Don't think i've seen less than 29mpg yet, usually in the low 30's.

[335d]

VerySideways said:

Errr, i'm getting at least that in my F11 535i, and the new B58 is supposed to be a more economical engine and the 3 series is lighter than my 5.
I'm not a particularly economical driver and i live in a very hilly area which punishes economy.
Don't think i've seen less than 29mpg yet, usually in the low 30's.

The Fuelly average for the F3x 335i is 29-30mpg and about 27mpg for the 535i.

The difficulty with relying on figures from one person, is there are a large number of factors which may make your numbers better or worse than average.

In my experience new efficient engines from BMW tend to only produce a very small improvement in the real world.

[JNW1]

foreverfalling said:

Thanks for that

What don't you like about the 335d?

I am definitely speccing the adaptive suspension and m sport plus package on the 335d I think...

It's not that I don't like the 335d (it's a very good car), it's more a case of I don't think it offers enough in the way of upside compared to a 340i to compensate for the downsides. What are those downsides? Well, two things in my view.

Firstly (and for me most importantly), despite being excellent for a diesel, the refinement doesn't match a good petrol; you don't notice it when you're cruising on a motorway but over the first couple of thousand revs accelerating from standstill you can definitely tell it's a diesel - it's certainly not as sweet as the N55 engine that was in the 335i and from what I read the N58 in the 340i is better still. Also, whilst not refinement as such, for me the noise a car makes is part of the experience and again the petrol still has a very definite advantage there as far as I'm concerned; I know there are people who like the noise the 35d makes - and it's a world away from a clattery four-pot diesel - but a good six cylinder petrol it isn't.

The second downside for me is that even with adaptive I still think the X-Drives are a touch soft for going quickly on twisty, undulating, roads and I can't help but think that a RWD 340i on the standard sport suspension would be a better option most of the time. Obviously if you need the four-wheel drive it's a different matter but if I'm honest I don't (or at least not very often) and hence I'd lean more towards the rear-drive car with (perhaps) a chassis better suited to my taste.

Given the above you may well ask why I bought a 335d rather than a 335i last year and the answer to that was my annual mileage was about to increase and the better mpg and consequent longer range of the 335d tipped the balance. However, my 335d has averaged about 38.5mpg since I got it which is well down on the 50mpg combined figure; ok I never thought I'd achieve that but my E92 335i averaged over 30mpg in similar use and, bearing in mind the figures for a 340i are much better than for a 335i, my suspicion is that the 335d wouldn't be that much better than a 340i in real world driving. Throw in the fact that the diesel has a smaller tank than the petrol and the effective range of the two is likely to be quite similar and hence at a stroke my main reason for going diesel disappears (which is why I say I'd go for the 340i if I was choosing again now).

Having said all that I'd repeat again that the 335d is a very good car and everyone who's been a passenger in mine has been complimentary (and some have been very surprised when I've told them it's a diesel!). I think in your position the question I'd ask myself is why do you want the diesel? I know some people just prefer them because of the huge torque and lazy power delivery but for me the only reason for going that route is mpg and range and, as I've said, I'm just not convinced that the 335d will hold much of an advantage over the 340i in that respect. Therefore, for me the refinement and nicer noise of the petrol would win the day but ultimately it's something only you can decide - you pays your money and takes your choice!

[moffat]

It will be interesting to see what mpg the new 340i gets, but I would be surprised if it gets within 20% of the 35d/40d engine - which itself is quite old now.

I've got a heavy 640d which is currently averaging 40.1mpg after 9 months and 9000 miles. On a motorway commute from Nottingham to Maidenhead I usually get between 48 and 52mpg depending how quick I go (traffic dependent).

In my previous 35i cars I averaged 25-26mpg combined in much lighter cars.

Even with the new engine benefits I would be surprised if the 40i averages more than 30-33mpg overall in the 3 series and less in a 6 series.

I hope it averages high 30's and there won't be a need for diseasals!!!

[JNW1]

moffat said:

It will be interesting to see what mpg the new 340i gets, but I would be surprised if it gets within 20% of the 35d/40d engine - which itself is quite old now.

I've got a heavy 640d which is currently averaging 40.1mpg after 9 months and 9000 miles. On a motorway commute from Nottingham to Maidenhead I usually get between 48 and 52mpg depending how quick I go (traffic dependent).

In my previous 35i cars I averaged 25-26mpg combined in much lighter cars.

Even with the new engine benefits I would be surprised if the 40i averages more than 30-33mpg overall in the 3 series and less in a 6 series.

I hope it averages high 30's and there won't be a need for diseasals!!!

Then we have very different experience of petrol and diesel fuel consumption! My E92 335i averaged just over 30mpg over the 30k miles I had it and looking back in the spreadsheet log I kept it didn't have a single tankful where the mpg was a low as 26 (I think it would have only dropped to that in short runs and stop/start town driving and it didn't do much of that). My F31 335d has averaged 38.5mpg over 16k miles but the conditions aren't quite like for like as I'm now doing a higher proportion of motorway runs; I'm guessing to some extent here but I'd say the overall average for the 335i would have been at least a couple of mpg better in the same circumstances which would have taken it up to over 32 overall. The combined figure for the F31 340i is then notably better than for the E92 335i so it would seem fair to assume that one of those would be at least a further 2 or 3 mpg better in normal driving; that gets us to 35 for the 340i against 38.5 for the 335d which is a pretty insignificant difference IMO. Viewed another way, my 335i was around 20% down on my 335d despite less favourable driving conditions so I'd be very surprised if the more economical 340i couldn't get much closer to the 335d in the driving I'm doing now. Obviously your experience is different but that's why I've formed the view I have!

[smashy]

I went to bristol and back to chiswick west london yesterday all m4 outside lane plus stop start going through Bristol obc 49mpg f30 30d..I reckon at those speeds a 340i type car would be far far lower and thats my issue sadly

[AB]

I did a run down to Kent and back last week and averaged 52mpg on the journey in my 435d

I do a lot of local runs with it not getting up to temperature. Even so, in the month I've had it, over 2,000 miles it's averaging 38mpg.

It's more than acceptable given it's capabilities but if I wasn't doing 25,000 miles a year I'd probably be in the petrol.

[foreverfalling]

I think by the time i've gone for the Auto box in the 340i and because it has less dealer contribution and less miles included it will cost more than the 335d specced similarly..

Thanks for raising it though...

I used to have 120d and I didn't really mind the diesel power delivery. It was just far too slow after my other cars - a C32 Amg and I've just had stolen from my drive a GOLF R Manual.

The latest Golf R I had was nice, but feels lacking low down in the power (which I imagine the 335d definitely won't) - and the cabin was not half as nice place to be... It was great around the twisties but rarely did I get to use it for that and most of my 12-15k miles a year were motorway miles anyway with work.

When I use power its mostly just accelerating from lights or overtaking etc, - i'm no stig and although the Golf R's grip amazed me, I rarely used its full talents...