Replace E92 with......??

[Crackie]

My E92 is lacking boot space and the 2 door lack of practicality is becoming tedious..........so the 335D will have to go.

Deciding what to replace it with is proving to be a bit of a challenge though; I ran an E92 335i before the diesel and I want to go back to petrol so I'm considering the following because I need 4 doors minimum and a decent sized boot. Budget £17-18K,

# F30 335i /340i Good engine. less than 1600Kg, easy upgrade with LSD & suspension package ( Birds ). Plenty about.
# F10 535i Plenty of space, almost 1800Kg. LSD from Birds but no suspension package.
# F06 640i Look great, good interior, long........and heavy. Few about.
# F32 435i Current favourite....not too heavy, practical, easy LSD & suspension upgrade.

# Audi S4 Good engine, particularly when mapped, good practically, relatively low weight. Old interior
# Audi S5 Sportback Great engine, particularly when mapped, good practically, almost 1800Kg. Old interior.
# Audi A6 3.0 Tfsi Dark horse, plain jane looks, 400hp mapped. Loads of space. Low cost. Almost 1800Kg
# Audi A7 3.0 Tfsi Hatchback practicality, 400hp mapped. Loads of space. Almost 1800Kg

Very interested to hear pros and cons feedback from owners of any of the above. Thanks.

[mmm-five]

Surely the 2-door F32 coupe is out? Did you mean the F36 435/440i Gran Coupe?

Although if you were happy with the e93 and know all it's foibles, then why not find a decent, low mileage E91 335i Touring, or a F31 335/340i Touring?

[Smuler]

I’ve got a 340i touring and it’s more practical than a GC.
I also owned a E92 335i and find the B58 , the N54s natural successor. I’ve never got on with the N55 , didn’t feel it sounded as good or revved as well.
So I would think a good choice and the best BMW option. I have no experience of Audi apart from when I see them in my rear view mirror!

[Crackie]

mmm-five said:

Surely the 2-door F32 coupe is out? Did you mean the F36 435/440i Gran Coupe?

Although if you were happy with the e93 and know all it's foibles, then why not find a decent, low mileage E91 335i Touring, or a F31 335/340i Touring?

Yes, my mistake. I meant the F36 Gran Coupe.

I don't really fancy an E91 because I've had a couple of E90 series cars already. The previous N54 335i was mapped and so is the current E92 335D; both great.... but having done 80k miles in an E90 series, I just don't fancy another.

If a good F31 touring were available I'd certainly be interested...........an F30 might just work too. I need to check out the size of the boot opening and if it accepts a certain size of box I often carry then I'd rather have a saloon than a touring.

Thanks for the comments.........have you owned any of the cars in the list?

Edited by Crackie on Tuesday 19th May 06:47

[Crackie]

Smuler said:

I’ve got a 340i touring and it’s more practical than a GC.
I also owned a E92 335i and find the B58 , the N54s natural successor. I’ve never got on with the N55 , didn’t feel it sounded as good or revved as well.
So I would think a good choice and the best BMW option. I have no experience of Audi apart from when I see them in my rear view mirror!

There is a healthy N54/N55 modifying community, particularly in the states; there is a plenty of info online about N54s and N55 history and their various specs. The early N55s ( with pneumatic wastegate ) had a powerband like a diesel......loads of torque low down but not worth revving out at the top end. Later N55s, from mid 2013, gained an electronic wastegate, a slightly larger diameter turbo compressor and 3.5" rather than 3.0" plumbing around turbo too. These later ones are prized by the modders because when they are mapped they make approx 25bhp more than the earlier cars.

435is certainly had the gen 2 engines but I don't know whether the late F30/31 335i were fitted with Gen 2. https://www.evolveautomotive.com/evolve-ecu-remap-...

I'm more interested in the gen 2 because it makes the extra power at the top end rather than low down and is the reason I'm considering the supercharged Audi's too. Their factory maps are restricted above 5k revs.........a simple stage one on an A6 or A7 adds another 100Hp where you want it, above 5K. https://www.superchips.co.uk/curves/A730TFSI310PS....

B58 looks great but the cars I've seen so far, in budget, are either very leggy or have had poor specs.

Thanks for your feedback

Edited by Crackie on Tuesday 19th May 14:29

[mmm-five]

Crackie said:

Yes, my mistake. I meant the F36 Gran Coupe.

I don't really fancy an E91 because I've had a couple of E90 series cars already. The previous N54 335i was mapped and so is the current E92 335D; both great.... but having done 80k miles in an E90 series, I just don't fancy another.

If a good F31 touring were available I'd certainly be interested...........an F30 might just work too. I need to check out the size of the boot opening and if it accepts a certain size of box I often carry then I'd rather have a saloon than a touring.

Thanks for the comments.........have you owned any of the cars in the list?

Not 'owned' - only had them on 3-6 month loans (but was doing 2-3,000 miles a month).

As it was usually when one of my cars was off the road due to a non-fault accident (although some personal hire too) they'd normally agree that it would be much cheaper (£50/day vs £400/day) for the insurance company to let me hire a premium car from Hertz/Avis/Enterprise than it was to provide me with a 'equivalent credit hire' one (equivalent to an M5 or a Z4MC).

Last one for any length was a F31 320D M-Sport Auto last spring - and it felt a good bit lighter/quicker/nimbler than my much older e46 330D, and a nicer place to be in side than the e91 - but that could have simply been down to spec. However, I tend to prefer the looks/flexibility/airiness of tourings over saloons/coupes (not just in BMWs) for the daily driver.

I keep looking at Autotrader for F31 330i or 330D for when my workhorse e46 330D Touring eventually dies - I don't like selling cars, so prefer to kill them & scrap them - and I don't need another quick/fun car, so might even consider a F31 320i/D.

Of course, the e46 is getting on, but it is (well, was) happily doing a weekly Liverpool to London to Liverpool (and the monthly Liverpool to Cornwall to Liverpool) schlep quite nicely and gives me almost 40mpg whilst costing me nothing but tyres & scheduled maintenance, and the interior looks very good despite its miles.

[AI1694]

Is there any way of finding out if my 335i has the ‘gen 2’ N55?

[Crackie]

AI1694 said:

Is there any way of finding out if my 335i has the ‘gen 2’ N55?

1 https://bmwtuning.co/ewg-vs-pwg-bmw-n55/


There's an image of each wastegate on this link.
https://www.uspmotorsports.com/Burger-Motorsports-...

REALOEM shows the larger diameter turbo & inlet pipes etc were fitted from July 2013 onwards.........this points to cars registered in Q4 2013 onwards. The only way to be sure is to look at the wastegate.

Here is a link to a before and after dyno plot on a 2nd Gen N55. https://www.evolveautomotive.com/evolve-ecu-remap-...

Edited by Crackie on Tuesday 19th May 14:34

[AI1694]

Crackie said:

1 https://bmwtuning.co/ewg-vs-pwg-bmw-n55/


There's an image of each wastegate on this link.
https://www.uspmotorsports.com/Burger-Motorsports-...

REALOEM shows the larger diameter turbo & inlet pipes etc were fitted from July 2013 onwards.........this points to cars registered in Q4 2013 onwards. The only way to be sure is to look at the wastegate.

Here is a link to a before and after dyno plot on a 2nd Gen N55. https://www.evolveautomotive.com/evolve-ecu-remap-...

Edited by Crackie on Tuesday 19th May 14:34

Thanks! Good info in them links.