330d or LCI 335d xdrive

[arcticfire]

What's the fuel consumption like when booting the 340i? An almost constant heavy foot with the 330d still returns me around 28mpg urban. That would probably be my only concern with a petrol but the noise would probably make up for that lol

Mind the 6 pot diesel does produce a nice roar when flooring it, but still not as nice as a sweet petrol .

[335d]

arcticfire said:

What's the fuel consumption like when booting the 340i? An almost constant heavy foot with the 330d still returns me around 28mpg urban. That would probably be my only concern with a petrol but the noise would probably make up for that lol

Mind the 6 pot diesel does produce a nice roar when flooring it, but still not as nice as a sweet petrol .

Quite a few of us would also like to know what the real world economy is of the 340i.

The sound in all of these cars (petrol and diesel) is to a fair extent artificial, coming from the speakers, so if you don't like the way the car sounds, you can just update the file. I like the 335d sound, but some have switched their 335d to M3 or 335i sound via coding.

If you hear the 35i engine with artificial sound unplugged, it isn't great https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyxGyhIobjM . I have yet to hear the 340i with or without artificial sound.

[JNW1]

arcticfire said:

What's the fuel consumption like when booting the 340i? An almost constant heavy foot with the 330d still returns me around 28mpg urban. That would probably be my only concern with a petrol but the noise would probably make up for that lol

Mind the 6 pot diesel does produce a nice roar when flooring it, but still not as nice as a sweet petrol .

I think you summed it up quite well with your post yesterday when you said if you're after mpg (to save cost and/or give a longer range) you need something like a 320d. However, if you're after more performance and/or better refinement you really need a six cylinder engine and given the fuel efficiency of the new 340i there seems little point in going for a diesel unless you want X-Drive. Obviously the mpg of the 340i is yet to be proved given it's a new model but the recent Autocar driving impressions article suggested it was doing high 30's when they tested it and I doubt they'll have been driving for economy!

[arcticfire]

I do find that petrols can meet and even exceed the official mpg in real life if driven the right way, whereas diesels don't really get near their official mpg. But if you have a 340i is your right foot going to be feather light? lol My worry would be that a big 6 pot 3 litre petrol engine could drop from an official 41mpg to sub 20mpg when you give it the message, combined never mind urban! Just guessing though, would be good if someone with one could let us know?

I'm heading from Glasgow to Manchester today or tomorrow in the 330d x-drive and will need to go pretty quick so I'll see what mpg it returns.

[smashy]

in my F30 30d one night I once went from beginning of M4 London to Gloucester 115 miles in I hr 35 minutes , yep I was shifting. Couldnt get the OBC lower than 39mpg

[JNW1]

arcticfire said:

I do find that petrols can meet and even exceed the official mpg in real life if driven the right way, whereas diesels don't really get near their official mpg. But if you have a 340i is your right foot going to be feather light? lol My worry would be that a big 6 pot 3 litre petrol engine could drop from an official 41mpg to sub 20mpg when you give it the message, combined never mind urban! Just guessing though, would be good if someone with one could let us know?

I'm heading from Glasgow to Manchester today or tomorrow in the 330d x-drive and will need to go pretty quick so I'll see what mpg it returns.

If you're driving a 340i to get less than 20mpg my guess is you won't keep your licence for long! I averaged just over 30 out of my E92 335i (manual box, N55 engine) and I'd expect to better that by at least 5mpg with a 340i; the 335i would also exceed the combined figure on a long run which my F31 335d seems totally incapable of doing. The running average on my 335d is just under 39mpg after 17k miles so if my guess on the 340i is anywhere near accurate the advantage held by the diesel over the petrol is probably no more than 5mpg; a 330d would obviously be better but with X-Drive they're only a couple of mpg better than a 335d....

[Welshbeef]

First post you said the 330d is in only 1 colour whereas the 335d can be any colour - surely the key question before anything else is do you like the no choice colour? If not get the 335d.

X drive is not needed but sadly unless you get the D3 you have no choice on the 335d.

I've had the 330d it's a great car I've now the 535d RWD it's much faster everywhere.

[Stueyd999]

Welshbeef said:

First post you said the 330d is in only 1 colour whereas the 335d can be any colour - surely the key question before anything else is do you like the no choice colour? If not get the 335d.

X drive is not needed but sadly unless you get the D3 you have no choice on the 335d.

I've had the 330d it's a great car I've now the 535d RWD it's much faster everywhere.

Hi
Thanks for all the replies. The deal I am getting on the 335d is so good it's hard not to just dive in, but it's the wait for delivery whereas the 330 would come a lot sooner. I have just come out of the 520d m sport which was a great car and to be honest I wouldn't consider the 335 since I don't need all that power, but this may be my one opportunity to drive a quick car without paying a fortune. Head or heart ?

[Welshbeef]

Stueyd999 said:

Hi
Thanks for all the replies. The deal I am getting on the 335d is so good it's hard not to just dive in, but it's the wait for delivery whereas the 330 would come a lot sooner. I have just come out of the 520d m sport which was a great car and to be honest I wouldn't consider the 335 since I don't need all that power, but this may be my one opportunity to drive a quick car without paying a fortune. Head or heart ?

Do it - it's a great engine

[larven]

Hello everyone

First post and this thread seemed the appropriate place to put it as I have recently been torn between the 330d and 335d X drive.

I initially ordered the 330d last week (great car) but there was a nagging feeling I'd sold myself short. Having read many of the relevant posts on here, I enquired with the dealer and realised that I could upgrade to the 335d for very little extra. For approximately £8 per month the extra power and 4wd seemed a no brainer so I unduly upgraded to the 335d.

My only concern is the suspension as I've seen the previous version has been heavily criticised for the standard set up. However if recent reports are to be believed BMW have addressed this with the LCI. I like my cars fairly raw and simple so I'm not too fussed about the adaptive and the option to switch modes, I would probably never use it. However just wondering if I should order it anyway or wait to see what the standard set up is like when the car comes, and if I'm not happy rectify it with an after market (probably ACS) set up.

I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience of the LCI 335d and how the standard suspension compares with the previous model?

[Welshbeef]

LCI or pre LCI any xWD is SE suspension not M Sport.

If you are happy with that fine - the adaptive suspension you might think is a gimmick but it really does make a huge difference & the extra monthlies would be tiny.


As for the ACS - given you are on a PCP/lease deal sadly you cannot make any change to the car it is your your possession you are borrowing it until the day of return. If of course you then pay the final balloon it's fine you can do it but during that phase nope as BMW/another finance house owns the car.

[JNW1]

larven said:

Hello everyone

First post and this thread seemed the appropriate place to put it as I have recently been torn between the 330d and 335d X drive.

I initially ordered the 330d last week (great car) but there was a nagging feeling I'd sold myself short. Having read many of the relevant posts on here, I enquired with the dealer and realised that I could upgrade to the 335d for very little extra. For approximately £8 per month the extra power and 4wd seemed a no brainer so I unduly upgraded to the 335d.

My only concern is the suspension as I've seen the previous version has been heavily criticised for the standard set up. However if recent reports are to be believed BMW have addressed this with the LCI. I like my cars fairly raw and simple so I'm not too fussed about the adaptive and the option to switch modes, I would probably never use it. However just wondering if I should order it anyway or wait to see what the standard set up is like when the car comes, and if I'm not happy rectify it with an after market (probably ACS) set up.

I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience of the LCI 335d and how the standard suspension compares with the previous model?

As Welshbeef has said, the fundamental issue with the X-Drives is that all models (even the M-Sports) have SE suspension and, while that's great for ride comfort around town, it does make them a bit soft and floaty if you want to go quickly on a twisty and/or undulating road. Adaptive suspension in sport mode improves this significantly although if you're driving very quickly it's arguably still a touch ponderous IMO (albeit fine most of the time). Those that have fitted the ACS springs seem to give very favourable feedback and you could probably have that done for a similar cost to the adaptive suspension (so circa £500). I take Welshbeef's point about technically not being able to modify a lease car but BMW main dealers are carrying out the upgrade and frankly how would a lease or finance company know? They're hardly likely to look to see whether the springs have been changed and even if they did it's an upgrade to their car! Better solution might of course be a 340i which has the sport suspension as standard and a nicer engine to boot......

[larven]

Thanks for replies.

Decided to stick with the standard suspension as the dealer said they have stiffened it up on the LCI anyway in response to previous criticism. So should be fine for type of driving we do, mostly urban, A roads and motorways. Notice most of the used 335d's don't have adaptive on so seems to be the enthusiastic drivers choice.

[Welshbeef]

larven said:

Thanks for replies.

Decided to stick with the standard suspension as the dealer said they have stiffened it up on the LCI anyway in response to previous criticism. So should be fine for type of driving we do, mostly urban, A roads and motorways. Notice most of the used 335d's don't have adaptive on so seems to be the enthusiastic drivers choice.

For the £600 extra for adaptive suspension and the feedback on this site about with and without it should be an option you select.

[JNW1]

larven said:

Thanks for replies.

Decided to stick with the standard suspension as the dealer said they have stiffened it up on the LCI anyway in response to previous criticism. So should be fine for type of driving we do, mostly urban, A roads and motorways. Notice most of the used 335d's don't have adaptive on so seems to be the enthusiastic drivers choice.

Appreciate there may not be many LCI X-Drives available as demonstrators at the moment but could your dealer get hold of one for you to have a run in while your order's still spec changeable? That should settle it one way or the other but if that's not possible - and you have to confirm your spec without a test drive - I'd still say adaptive is worth it unless there's been a quite fundamental change to the X-Drive suspension on the LCI 3-Series. I'd be a touch wary about taking what a salesman says at face value on that as in my experience they're not always that well informed; one in my local dealership swore blind that M-Sport X-Drives had sport suspension as standard which they don't (or at least they didn't on the pre-LCI model). Being honest my car does spend a lot of its time in the comfort setting but it's nice to be able to firm things up when required so get the adaptive suspension box ticked would be my advice (the cost is after all peanuts in the context of a £40k car!).

[drmark]

larven said:

Thanks for replies.

Decided to stick with the standard suspension as the dealer said they have stiffened it up on the LCI anyway in response to previous criticism. So should be fine for type of driving we do, mostly urban, A roads and motorways. Notice most of the used 335d's don't have adaptive on so seems to be the enthusiastic drivers choice.

Be careful. LCI or not, adaptive is a no brainer in these cars - as some have learned the hard way. Just be sure you are happy with the SE suspension.

[Welshbeef]

I have m sport suspension in my RWD 535D but adaptive suspension comfort to sport makes a difference. I use sport always on a/b roads or if really in s hurry elsewhere. Otherwise comfort is selected.

[drmark]

Welshbeef said:

I have m sport suspension in my RWD 535D but adaptive suspension comfort to sport makes a difference. I use sport always on a/b roads or if really in s hurry elsewhere. Otherwise comfort is selected.

I thought you had VDC rather than adaptive. VERY different in the 5.
3 series set up is VDC like though so fair comparison (no active roll bars etc).

[Welshbeef]

drmark said:

Welshbeef said:

I have m sport suspension in my RWD 535D but adaptive suspension comfort to sport makes a difference. I use sport always on a/b roads or if really in s hurry elsewhere. Otherwise comfort is selected.

I thought you had VDC rather than adaptive. VERY different in the 5.
3 series set up is VDC like though so fair comparison (no active roll bars etc).

Correct - I didn't know the correct name for it.

[smashy]

The thing is that se suspension is crashy on urban streets not comfortable .My ACS susp.is more comfortable.