F31 335d x drive Touring - perfect daily ?
Discussion
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
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 said:
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.
I totally agree. However, we do risk being labelled piss-poor drivers on here!
Also appreciating Xdrive on the cold wet roads 
I’ve had quite a few cars over the last few years, but the only one I regret getting rid of was my f31 335d, it really is the perfect daily.
Currently driving around in a e91 320d so every time i drive, it’s a constant memory of what I used to have
One day I’ll get another, and it will be almost identical to yours, that’s the perfect spec!
Currently driving around in a e91 320d so every time i drive, it’s a constant memory of what I used to have
One day I’ll get another, and it will be almost identical to yours, that’s the perfect spec!
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.
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.
Escort3500 said:
Pizzaeatingking said:
Escort3500 said:
The RS4 was carbon cleaned and mapped (stage 2) at MRC to 427bhp.
Despite the bhp difference there’s not a huge amount of actual difference between the two when you’re pressing on, but it is much better in the wet.
That's handy to know, my mate has just picked up an RS4, it's currently stock and I have the MPPSK on my 40i so I reckon I could give him a run for his money. Despite the bhp difference there’s not a huge amount of actual difference between the two when you’re pressing on, but it is much better in the wet.
Mine's Sunset Orange too, pleased I didn't go with my original choice of grey! Heard lots of good things about PCW, I think he done my mates E92 M3 back in the day but I've seen lots of good reports from M140i owners too on the groups. Depends how far you want to go too I guess, res delete, PPF delete, modified backbox etc.
peetee7 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.
Pizzaeatingking said:
Escort3500 said:
Pizzaeatingking said:
Escort3500 said:
The RS4 was carbon cleaned and mapped (stage 2) at MRC to 427bhp.
Despite the bhp difference there’s not a huge amount of actual difference between the two when you’re pressing on, but it is much better in the wet.
That's handy to know, my mate has just picked up an RS4, it's currently stock and I have the MPPSK on my 40i so I reckon I could give him a run for his money. Despite the bhp difference there’s not a huge amount of actual difference between the two when you’re pressing on, but it is much better in the wet.
Mine's Sunset Orange too, pleased I didn't go with my original choice of grey! Heard lots of good things about PCW, I think he done my mates E92 M3 back in the day but I've seen lots of good reports from M140i owners too on the groups. Depends how far you want to go too I guess, res delete, PPF delete, modified backbox etc.
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 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.
With the Alpina Gearbox map the the 35d now shifts gears like our m140i. Really prefer it this way
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 BreathGassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff