535d at £13k will be pre facelift, old gearbox and will return 22ish round town, 34ish on a steady run and about 26/27 combined.

335d will be about 10mpg more in general I would guess.

I have an E92 335d and get a long term average of around 34mpg, that's with a good amount of town driving, the odd "run" and a hoon every couple of weeks or so. On a proper run, sticking to 70mph you can get over 45mpg. Spank it and that will plummet pretty fast though.

The paddles are lame, the change up/down isn't sharp enough for me to use them properly really. However, they are useful for getting the car ready for a quick overtake and when approaching roundabouts etc.

With regards to options, my "must-have" list was as follows:

1. Pro-Nav

2. USB music interface (code is 6FL and it allows you to play MP3s off a USB stick)

3. Split armrest with sliding adjustment

Xenons are standard on coupés but if you're getting a saloon/touring I would suggest this is a pretty essential option, makes the car look that much smarter IMO.

I put 134k on a 335d, paddles are a novelty that soon wears off. Its lighter on its feet (tyres) than the 5, but the 5 has better comfort.

I used to average about 25 mpg with a worst of 19 mpg (track) sold mine for 9.5k and the DPF went a week later. Spend more to get better. Oh, leather is crap and wears badly.

For the budget the 335d will offer more mpg being lighter ad smaller as the main thing I would imagine

I went for the e61 as wanted the space

Hi everyone - I'm a lowly Audi A3 2.0 TDI DSG (140, mapped to 180) owner but I am thinking about making amends and getting a used 335D M Sport or 535D LCI M Sport. I drove a nice 335D M Sport today (E90 pre-facelift) and I liked it but not quite as much as I was hoping I would. Certainly pulled well but couldn't help but think 'remap', which I understand they do very well. The old style auto 'box felt mushy compared to the DSG in my Audi and I found the steering perhaps a little heavy. I haven't drive a 535D yet. A few questions:

i) What are the differences between the E90 335D pre and post facelift? I think the face and tail are slightly reshaped and the iDrive controls are improved? Are there any other changes? I think I read somewhere that the steering went from hydraulic to electric but not sure if that's true. The specs on Autotrader show a slight improvement in MPG and 0-60 in 6.0 rather than 6.2.

ii) I'd like to have split/fold rear seats but these seem rare as hens teeth. The retrofit seems like a reasonably straightforward job BUT you need to find matching seats from a breakers yard (or no doubt pay through the nose for new from BMW), which I am guessing is not that easy. Any comments?

iii) Clearly I need to drive a 535D next but what are people's opinions about the handling characteristics? I see that there is only a little over 100kg between the 335D and 535D, which surprised me because I had always thought that the 5 series was a much larger and heavier car. Is a 535D significantly less fun on twisty B roads than a 335D? Most of my driving is town/motorway dull stuff, so most of the time I'd go for comfort but the 335D seemed probably even more comfortable than my nicely spec'd 2004 A3. I drove an Audi A5 Sportback 3.0 TDI Quattro last year and it felt like a ship compared to my A3 and I didn't like it at all. The 335D felt heavier than the A3 but a lot more powerful. I wonder if the 535D would just be too boat like? Clearly subjective and again I really need to go drive a 535D to compare. However, all opinions welcome.

iv) Anyone know if there are any problems retrofitting a removable tow bar to either the 335D or 535D?

Sorry for the mass of questions.

Cheers,
Jim

Paddle shift in the 335d is a waste of time IMO. Tried to use it a couple of times, but the rev-range is too small to take full advantage of it so you just end up watching the clocks all the time for the red-line. Better off letting the box just do its own thing, which it's pretty good at

Also, the push/pull thing on each paddle isn't a great set-up, SMG functionality of up and down on different levers is much better

Regards the above sat Nav comment. I find mine works absolutely fine and have never felt the need for a Tom Tom. Mines an lci car though and it may be different?

If you're up for the running costs and commitment of an M car then that's always going to be the better choice.

Post up some pictures.

Sorry for going off topic, I just wanted to throw in my new purchase because I was dead set on a 335d/535d and I ended up with this!

.....thats nuts ,a Tractor turns into a work of art,brilliant.

...and it has got my must have on it,a sunroof.

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!