F31 335d x drive Touring - perfect daily ?

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Scottie - NW said:

The only reason i thought of the oil starvation issue is because not too far from you, twice a year Liverpool motorsports get's to hold a Saturday trackday on the old Aintree F1 circuit, or at least part of it. It only happens on these days because it's in the middle of the horse racing track, and there is also a golf course in the middle of the F1 part, so you can't run the activities together, the odd car ends up on a fairway etc

What made me think of this is that they have a very long fact corner, and it seems to catch out some cars every year as the corner goes on for a long time and cars end up with oil starvation, and the odd diesel engine has had an incident.

I honestly have no idea if diesel s6 is better or worse than petrol, it just made me think as some cars more intended for track like m cars do they have some sump baffling if not dry sumped?

Anyway if you've never been to see this event it really is great, cars are grouped A to D and the D group is some superb pure old racing cars from the 70's and 80's it's a great mix of performance cars.

Excellent thanks I will definitely take a look at Aintree F1 circuit. The car won’t be seeing another track day with the exception of Nurburgring just once - it’ll be a good little ownership memory. Will be aiming for a sub 9 minute run which is realistic.

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Wheels are looking very tired now. Quite disappointed as I’ve always cleaned them with ph neutral wheel cleaners and they’ve still corroded. Decided to go for a powder coat finish as diamond cut is expensive and will probably only last another year before they begin to corrode again. Rather annoying !

Gone a bit wild with the choice of colour … gloss / jet black. Gulp. Let’s see how they turn out … hopefully not too silly.

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Wheels are now powder coated black. Not to everyone’s taste but they don’t look too bad IMO. Took the little one pumpkin picking today .. glad it’s an x-drive. That field was proper muddy.

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Sat behind a lorry this morning for a couple of junctions on the motorway genuinely couldn't get the MPG to drop below 60

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s70rmp said:

i think i have driven mine in eco pro for like 2 miles in total !

Of late i've just slowed right down to the point where i'm using eco pro quite often. It never used to be like this .... i'm not even that old yet lol

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ATM said:

What do people think of this one?

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/12454286

Gearbox oil change by Noel Butler @ NCB AutoKraft and the more frequent oil changes. Not often something like this comes up on the market.

MTC don't make an MTC Evo 2 intercooler. It's just called an MTC intercooler. Wagner on the other hand make a Wagner Evo 2 so just worth checking that. I think he just means its got an MTC Intercooler. Also check if he's had the X-Drive transfer box oil changed.

For 17k is there another car that'll do

- 60mpg
- 170+ mph
- Won't leave you stranded when it snows
- Virtually no loss in performance in rain
- Decent boot space
- Discreet and floats under the radar
- Family safety

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30,000 mile update

So a 30,000 mile update on the 335d now owned for 18 months. Car is currently on 57,000 miles and it's been absolutely spot on. I do occasionally find myself on the classified trying to come up with replacements but in the end they all seem to fall short to me in some way or another - either practicality, economy or performance in all weather. I can categorically say this car is to be kept for the long haul. Naturally the thread will be a place for me to log my ownership experience and adventures .. something to look back on in years to come and of course to share the journey with fellow Piston Heads.

A quick 9 picture summary on my 335d Touring ownership. One word comes to mind. Versatility.


Snowmobile when needed ...




Dragster when needed ...




Off the clock 170mph + when needed ...




61 mpg when needed...




Towing Donkey when needed ...




Track car when needed ...




European tour bus when needed ...




Refuse truck when needed ...




Most important job - the discreet dependable family wagon ...

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Genuine OEM Front brake pads and sensor arrived. The squeal was getting borderline unbearable.



Did some Dragy runs last night. Too much gravel on surface from launch and an uphill gradient. Didn’t manage to crack 4 seconds this time.

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Font brake pads and sensor changed. No silly brake squeal now on braking which was getting rather annoying. The trackday wasn't pleasant to the previous set

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Benmac said:

Sub 4s 0-60 always good. They are fab cars (mine's a 340i).

love the f31 340i tourer hope you're enjoying it. I adore them

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Not enough snow to justify winter tyres. Didn't want to insult the sottozero's. PS4's doing a good enough job in the snow. Obligatory car park look back picture ..

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Currently the fastest 335d touring over a quarter mile in the UK according to Dragy. GPS verified. Will try again with an empty boot

Must be faster ones out there though

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Attended the PH Sunday Service in my E39 M5 today. Matt Bird was kind enough to give me a PH sticker. Have applied it to the 35d - car is absolutely filthy and can to with a wash soon.

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Front & rear wiper blades fitted at 58,900 miles. Old ones had been on 1.5 years and were beginning to streak. All better now. Parts purchased from Harry Fairbairn Kirkcaldy BMW

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peetee7 said:

Thread Update,

Couple of updates …

Gearbox software updated from Alpina to xHP Stage 3. It’s taken 2 weeks to fine tune the settings to suit my driving style. I’ve got it so that I have nice early shifts when driving slowly in Comfort with gearbox in D mode. In Sport / Sport + with gearbox in S mode the shifts are really aggressive with the car always in its power band. In both modes the gear changes are faster than the Alpina software. Will get the Dragy out and do a few runs to see if my 0-60 and quarter mile times are any quicker .. though Santa Pod is only 15 days away …

Individual Opal White Merino leather is very soft – noticed the driver side bolster showing signs of slight wear. I started looking at seat covers to preserve the driver’s seat and pulled the trigger on a Northcore seat cover. Will modify the cover slightly one day for it to fit more snug with the seat ...




I’ve booked myself with Unicorn Motor Developments at the end of July to go Stage 2 tune. Should see approximately 400bhp / 800nm torque – with the target of running a 12 second flat or quicker quarter mile. Tuning is a slippery slope.

Anglesey trackday booked with some friends – most likely will be taking the 335d instead of the M3 or M5 … I’m an idiot Anglesey is not until September so plenty of time to get the braided brake lines and uprate the brake fluid. More than likely will be Goodridge Brake Lines with Motul RBF600 brake fluid.

Otherwise car is performing daily duties well – errands, nursery and work. Goes under the radar, just another 3 series on the road. Common as muck!

Can't recommend this seat cover. After 8 months this is what my Northcore seat cover looks like. Sent a quick email to Northcore customer services for their research & development. They replied ''Its out of our 6 month warranty period''. Class

If anyone can recommend a high quality seat cover please do let me know.

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JimBR said:

I recognise the location of some of the pictures, I don’t think you’re a million miles from me.

Where do you go for servicing? I’ve used JMF Motorworx in the past for other things, but wondered if you had any recommendations (other than BMW themselves).

Hey! I’ve been using Tamworth BMW up until now but will be switching to Noel Butler at NCB AutoKraft. He’s a great guy and looks after my M cars. Proper old school master tech. I have a major service booked in with him in 2 weeks time.

JMF are excellent both Jon & Paul are great guys and very knowledgable. They did all the hardware mods to enable my stage 2 tune.

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Thread Update,

Car has just ticked over 60,000 miles.



Organised a 335d owners meet up @ Caffeine & Machine. Wasn’t expecting much of a turn out, much to my surprise there was a few very passionate owners out there.

12 x F31 335d
2 x E91 335d
1 x 435d Coupe
1 x F10 535d

16 cars total. I believe this is the largest known 35d meet up. Makes a change from the usual M car convoy and meet ups I’m used to.

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Thread Update

Car serviced last week. Have made a permanent switch from Sytner Tamworth BMW to Noel @ NCB AutoKraft. Parts supplied by Harry Fairbairn Kirkcaldy. This time it was a Service B – Oil / Air Filter / Fuel Filter / Cabin Filter / Oil Filter.


2018 - Service 1 - 16,936
2020 - Service 2 - 10,587
2020 - Service 3 - 8,901
2021 - Service 4 - 8,393
2021 - Service 5 – 7,379
2022 - Service 6 – 8,337

Total Mileage – 60,533

There’s not much paperwork with modern BMW’s as everything is on iDrive, but I am a bit obsessed with collecting paperwork such as receipts etc

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WTFWT said:

This is fast becoming THE F31 335d thread. Good work!

I have a pre LCI F31 335d. It’s been mapped by Simon at Emaps.

Suspension next - undecided whether to go the full Birds or just settle for the ACS springs. Mine’s non adaptive. Half of me wants to limit the outlay but then I also intend to keep it a good while as it’s only done 24k miles.

Having had 2x 535ds in the past and a E350d relatively recently, the lack of engine refinement is a bit of an unwelcome surprise. Wind noise too. Maybe I’m just spoiled?

In years I’ll look back and think – I really did have a lot of time on my hands for this thread haha

For the money a spring kit works nicely. It’s even cheaper if you go with the Eibach pro lowering springs instead of ACS which pretty much do the same job.

Talking of Mercedes Benz I do miss the turning circle sometimes

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Thomas_ said:

Awesome read. I recently sold a 435D and at the point of selling had all the time in the world to replace it. This changed very quickly with Boris saying we can return to the office. So I bought a high spec LCI 335D..haha

Haha love it ... hopefully you’ll get a chance to rack some miles on your 35d wagon