F31 335d x drive Touring - perfect daily ?

[peetee7]

If brake fade scenario's continue will look to upgrade to HEL hoses, Motul600 and DS2500’s. For an out of the box brake system it's still impressive. Will look into Redstuff – thanks.

Nearly 10k miles since it’s last oil change by Tamworth BMW. Will perform an interim service myself using genuine BMW oil & BMW oil filter. iDrive recommendation is March 2022 OR 6,800 miles whichever comes first. Not a fan of BMW Condition Based Servicing (CBS) service intervals – too long IMO.

[peetee7]

jagfan2 said:

I didnt hold out and went for the one i found in the Tanzanite, wanted the pano roof and big brakes too, but couldn't handle my wifes Astra any longer. Generally loving it though still only in the 40ish mpg but enjoying the performance still



Only annoyance at the moment is the road roar on poor surfaces - mines really bad, am told its not unusual but am not sure there isnt something up on mine, will be trying non RFT when they wear out, unfortunately their nearly new

Congrats ! Hope you enjoy it

Mine came with Bridgestone Potenza's. After switching to PS4's cannot explain the difference. Better ride, less noise and endless grip ..

[peetee7]

Quick oil service this morning (not resetting the iDrive). Only 8,901 miles since the last oil change which was done by BMW Tamworth. Car is utterly filthy in this Autumn weather. Gave the engine bay a quick wipe down afterwards whilst the engine cover was off

[peetee7]

likesachange said:

I have just supplied a friends car with the M5 Comp wheels! Looks great!

That works really well , never considered that combination before. Nice

[peetee7]

Pica-Pica said:

What pump is that? Is it a clean job? Tell me more.

Normally I’d jack each corner up onto extremely thick railway sleeper wood and take my time by opening up the sump plug and letting the oil drain out slowly. Then to satisfy my OCD I’d jack each corner the last time to shake out any last few drips.

Not having time to do the above I used the extractor. It’s a Sealey TP69 6.5L. Simply enter the nozzle into the dipstick hole and it’ll suck all the oil out by creating vacuum. Really clean and tidy and takes almost no time.

Edited by peetee7 on Sunday 25th October 01:16

[peetee7]

likesachange said:

Yeah looks really good.

I’ve just had some 20’s fitted to mine and MPS4’s
Have 3 sets left . Car is filthy tho. Follow me on WheelHubUK on IG

Followed

[peetee7]

vulture1 said:

Took mine for its first major run with some pretty bloody stiff competition.

Up the west coast of Scotland some roads I know a little. Aside from the mclaren the car kept up and got away from some of the "competiton"

I learned that the gearstick semi up down is useless you need your hands on the wheel but full manual and sport mode using the paddles is very good. I'm used to manual sports cars (e46 m3 noble m12) and knowing that i'm going down from 4th to 3rd itowards a corner etc. However in the 8 speed box this is impossible. The best way to drive it quick is to just drop a gear or pull a gear if you need to there will be one there for you. And being diesel and "on it" it is hard to just tell by engine sound however looking ahead you can just catch the rev needle out the corner of your eye.
After a few miles I was in the zone and while leading managed to drop the porsche 911.

The driving style had to be different to the others though. You had to very much have the car ready for the corner and then once settled power through, Manual sport (gearstick tot he left) stopped the car from its awkward downshifts mid corner which can upset the balance so as long as you paddled down in the correct gear you are set to rocket out the corner.


It was a great run and while i knew the car is not a sports car it can definitely keep up with proper sports cars.

Edited by vulture1 on Saturday 24th October 23:34

Quite a line up there. Good mix of cars. I agree, if driven correctly they are certainly quite capable. Surprisingly capable

[peetee7]

Escort3500 said:

Great thread; I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s comments and advice.

Had our 340i since January and quite impressed so far. It’s pretty much the prefect all-rounder for us - two dogs, effortless on a long drive and entertaining on shorter ones, low annual mileage (so no diesel requirement) and prefer the look of a touring over a saloon. Only downside so far is the awful Bridgestone runflat tyres so they’ll be replaced in due course with Michelin Pilots, and I’ll probably fit Bilstein B14 coil overs next year.

It makes our 2007 RS4 feel very dated though it’s not as quick (the Audi’s mapped) or sure-footed in the wet and doesn’t sound as nice.

Oh, and it’s Sunset Orange, which is not to everyone’s taste, but we fancied a change from a succession of silver and black cars.

Keep the posts coming please chaps

Two very capable fast wagons you have there mate , love it. Always had a massive thing for the B7 RS4 and many years ago had the privilege of driving a friends one on his wedding day - dedicated driver so was a smooth and gentle drive. A healthy B7 RS4 + remap could hold off a 340i just about I’d imagine.

340i Touring sounds lovely. Don’t believe I’ve ever seen the 40i in Sunset Orange .. please share pics. The B58 is a different animal all together - never fails to impress. Personally if I went down the 340i Touring route I’m almost certain I’d go down the Birds route with the B3 Sport Suspension and Quaife ATB Diff. Or possibly even the Wavetrac diff.

Michelin PS4S's are tyres you need. It'll transform the car and keep some spare Holts Tyreweld in the boot in the event of a puncture.

[peetee7]

Does make a good van. 7/8 trips to the tip since ownership





Gruesome ..

[peetee7]

Castrol for a knave said:

Lovely colour - toying with the idea of one to replace the cooking spec A4.

That's Aldridge tip isn't it?

Thanks. Sorry I missed this ... yes it is

[peetee7]

Another run to the tip. Seems like it's the only time I leave the house

[peetee7]

With wet roads the 35d really does come into its own compared with anything I’ve owned before. Having had RWD’s for the best part of 9 years the new-found grip levels are well received. X-Drive makes joining junctions, roundabouts and accelerating from a set of traffic lights scenarios drama free and the car just takes all in its stride. No throttle modulation and / or flashing traction control light .. in the real world it is a remarkably fast car.

Shorter days with roads getting dark sooner the Adaptive LED Headlights & High-Beam Assist are proving helpful and somewhat entertaining. They put on quite a light show at times when there’s traffic ahead travelling in either direction. The high beam assist isn’t as elegant as the W205 Intelligent Lighting System but does the job it needs to do. Found the Mercedes Benz Intelligent Lighting System transitioned more elegantly than the BMW.

Slight Annoyances - gearbox wants to holds gears longer than necessary occasionally. Do find myself on the gear up paddle sometimes. First world problems I suppose.

Trip to Unicorn Motor Developments is imminent for some software to make the car perform a touch quicker

[peetee7]

Had to run a couple of errands this evening. Stopped for a quick picture ...

[peetee7]

and ..

[peetee7]

Gearbox Flash - update on the recent Alpina gearbox flash.

Prior to the flash I noticed the stock gearbox had shiftpoints of approx 1,800 to 2,000 rpm at approx. 10% throttle – this is a steady drive situation in flowing traffic. Often found myself on the shift up paddle to find the next gear to which the car would comfortably use torque to continue accelerating.

Now with the Alpina flash driving at approx. 10% throttle I am finding the shift points are approx. 1,400 to 1,800 – I’m well happy with the result. It suits the character of the car extremely well and is more of a pleasure to gently glide along in traffic. In both Eco Pro & Comfort the dash displays which gear is selected at all times i.e. D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, D8 - another well received feature.

Sport + mode with the car in full automatic the gear changes are a touch swifter than stock making the car superb when accelerating hard and going through the gears.

In manual paddle mode the shift up and shift down is also superb. It’s even quicker to respond and I didn’t even think the stock paddle response times were a problem. Furthermore, the coasting feature in Eco Pro mode is retained. I’ve not tried Launch Control yet but I’ve been assured this will continue to work as per normal.

Final thoughts are I am very pleased with the upgrade to the Alpina gearbox flash, I see it more of an OEM + modification and a half way house between stock and xHP with the xHP being a more performance-oriented gearbox flash.

[peetee7]

Pizzaeatingking said:

Looks cracking there, the filth on it adds to the well used daily effect!

Alpina flash sounds decent, I've only got the xHP option for mine but I've not heard a bad word about the Alpina setup.

I'm surprised that yours held onto gears so long as stock, my 40i feels like it wants to get up into the next gear ASAP.

Thanks - it's filthy right now. Used as intended

With the Alpina Gearbox map the the 35d now shifts gears like our m140i. Really prefer it this way

[peetee7]

matt21 said:

Mentioned earlier that our family has an identical colour scheme and wheels to this, but 330d. Wheels are corroded very badly (2016 39k miles). BMW not interested. How are your wheels?

Thankfully no corrosion/ milking on any of the wheels - quite surprised. Mine is on 37,456 and registered in 01/03/2017. I don't think BMW will be at all interested to replace wheels on cars of this age. Generally good practice to clean the wheels with ph neutral wheel cleaners. My preferred wheel cleaner is ValetPRO Dragon's Breath

[peetee7]

Court_S said:

I’m guessing that you’re not a million miles away from me OP if Sytner Tamworth are your local main dealer...they’re mine too. Not a fan of the sales guys, but Tom in service is a good bloke abs really helpful.

BMW Tamworth is a 30 minute drive .. through a group of friends I met a guy who happens to be a senior tech there. He is always assigned to the job card - at least it gives me the peace of mind any maintenance is done correctly

[peetee7]

CODING

Some coding enhancements I performed using BIMMERCODE which I forgot to mention. These were done 2 weeks after taking delivery of the car to suite my personal preference,

1. Disable stop/start. Done from eco pro & comfort
2. Automatic mirror folding on key fob lock/ unlock. Includes comfort access
3. Open/Close tailgate from key fob
4. Open/ Close tailgate from driver side footwell
5. Deactivate fog lights from adaptive headlights
6. Video in motion
7. Door LED’s on reverse


NUMBER 1 was the feature I wanted to code out as a priority – frustrated me a lot. NUMBER 5 reminded me of my wife’s Seat Ibiza which we sold many years ago with the left and right fog light switching on when moving the steering from left to right. NUMBER 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 just generally make the car easy to live with

[peetee7]

s70rmp said:

Can i ask where you got the Alpina gearbox map done and how much ?

this could be an interesting next option for mine - until i can find a decent F31 or possible move to a C43 estate

In mid 2019 an estate C43 Premium Plus in Brilliant Blue (massive options list identical to my outgoing C250d) caught my attention on the Mercedes Benz Approved Used website. I was really going through an Estate C43/ B9 S4 Avant phase at the time.

Contacted my local dealer to arrange a test drive and I was really up for buying it. It looked absolutely stunning and the interior was equally impressive. After the test drive however, I was really underwhelmed. It genuinely looks a lot faster than it goes and with that fuel economy it didn’t really make sense. Nothing stood out for me during the test drive other than when I dropped the windows and put the car into sport mode it made a fantastic noise. It looks and sounds a lot faster than it goes. It’s not the feeling I want to be getting after spending 47k or so it was up for at the time.

In the real world my F31 35d feels as fast and with the options list I really don’t miss owning the AMG ‘lite’ .. the sad fact is after all these years of owning Mercedes Benz cars and having a long line of them in my immediate family I don’t think they longer offer a car which is suitable for me. Had they offered the C estate with a 400d engine I don’t think I’d be the owner of the F31 335d today.

RE Alpina gearbox flash I contacted a few reputable BMW F series coding, programming, diagnostic specialists and in the end I paid £70 to ZED coding purely as he was most competitive with price. Highly recommended.