What do u think about a 335i

[335i nay]

would u have one and how much would you spend ???

[Fox-]

Only with a comprehensive BMW warranty.

[roofer]

Never heard of this fellow 'U'...so i'm oot...

[kiethton]

Fox- said:

Only with a comprehensive BMW warranty.

Indeed, in the 8 months i've had mine its had 6 injectors, HPFP and a few other bits. I think i will be re-newing it come january!

[Crackie]

335i nay said:

would u have one and how much would you spend ???

Are you thinking of getting another to go with your 335i convertible ? Yes, I would have one ~ I don't understand the benefit of your second question though; what is your budget ?

My 2007 E92 has been remapped to 370+ Hp and 400+ lb/ft; an intermiitent ABS/DSC issue has been my only concern during 9 months of ownership.

[Guvernator]

kiethton said:

Fox- said:

Only with a comprehensive BMW warranty.

Indeed, in the 8 months i've had mine its had 6 injectors, HPFP and a few other bits. I think i will be re-newing it come january!

Interesting, I've been toying with the idea of one of these as a good compromise between performance, a bit of luxury and running costs and two things are putting me off.

1) All this talk of fueling\injector\hpfp issues. Are they really that bad? I though the issues were mostly confined to the US due to the high sulphur content in their fuel but appers the issue also happens here.

2) I tried an auto and really didn't like it. As much as autobox technology has moved on, it still felt sluggish when changing gear which is not what you want in a sports coupe IMO. Unfortunately a manual with sat nav which is the spec I would want, seem to be rare as hens teeth. It seems that people either spec the whole lot, i.e. autobox, sat nav, sound etc or have a poverty spec with manual box. What gives?

[JNW1]

Guvernator said:

2) I tried an auto and really didn't like it. As much as autobox technology has moved on, it still felt sluggish when changing gear which is not what you want in a sports coupe IMO. Unfortunately a manual with sat nav which is the spec I would want, seem to be rare as hens teeth. It seems that people either spec the whole lot, i.e. autobox, sat nav, sound etc or have a poverty spec with manual box. What gives?

Not sure what age of car you're looking at but if you want a coupe and are prepared to come to a 58-plate or newer you should be able to get a car with DCT; still not as involving as a manual but would probably address some of the shortcomings you've highlighted with the conventional auto.

You're right about manual 335i's being rare beasts though. I remember chatting to the used car sales manager at my local dealer two or three years ago and he quite openly said he wouldn't buy a 335i manual for stock because there was next to no demand for them. He'd try to source a manual if a customer wanted one and would reluctantly accept one as a part-ex (presumably offering a low price!) but basically his view was that the market for manuals was very limited and he'd rather not risk being left with something he couldn't shift. Things like M3's were a different matter - he was quite happy to buy-in manual versions of those - but, much as we may like to think that 335i's are bought by keen drivers, most probably aren't!

[S3_Graham]

My father just picked up an e92 '56' 335se @ 32k for £9,250.

Hoping it's reliable after I persuaded him to actually buy it!!

[Sticks.]

JNW1 said:

Not sure what age of car you're looking at but if you want a coupe and are prepared to come to a 58-plate or newer you should be able to get a car with DCT; still not as involving as a manual but would probably address some of the shortcomings you've highlighted with the conventional auto.

You're right about manual 335i's being rare beasts though. I remember chatting to the used car sales manager at my local dealer two or three years ago and he quite openly said he wouldn't buy a 335i manual for stock because there was next to no demand for them. He'd try to source a manual if a customer wanted one and would reluctantly accept one as a part-ex (presumably offering a low price!) but basically his view was that the market for manuals was very limited and he'd rather not risk being left with something he couldn't shift. Things like M3's were a different matter - he was quite happy to buy-in manual versions of those - but, much as we may like to think that 335i's are bought by keen drivers, most probably aren't!

Hmm keen driver = must have a manual, poss another thread come to think of it, don't start me off lol

O/t slightly but is the DCT any better than the VAG's S+DSG?

[gangzoom]

Guvernator said:

2) I tried an auto and really didn't like it. As much as autobox technology has moved on, it still felt sluggish when changing gear which is not what you want in a sports coupe IMO. Unfortunately a manual with sat nav which is the spec I would want, seem to be rare as hens teeth. It seems that people either spec the whole lot, i.e. autobox, sat nav, sound etc or have a poverty spec with manual box. What gives?

Probably because people who buy manuals realise that all the extra kit doesn't add to the driving experience. Personally I love my 335i auto. It shifts much smoother and faster than I ever could, and in traffic is perfect. Only car I would swap my 335i for would a be E90 M3 or the new F10 M5, and personally I would now have an auto box rather than manual (but I'm getting old these days)....but those are £50-100K monsters

Edited by gangzoom on Wednesday 31st August 20:31

[JNW1]

Sticks. said:

Hmm keen driver = must have a manual, poss another thread come to think of it, don't start me off lol

O/t slightly but is the DCT any better than the VAG's S+DSG?

To clarify, I'm not saying if you have an auto that means you can't be a keen driver; I'd like to think I'm a reasonably keen driver but I'd have an auto if my mileage profile made it the sensible choice (e.g. if a high proportion of my driving was stop-start city work). Also, some very good driver's cars (AMG Mercs, XKR/XFR Jags, etc) are auto only so you don't even have the option of a manual. However, my personal view is that a manual is more involving and to me that's part of the satisfaction of driving even though I'd readily concede that a good auto or DCT could probably do the job to a high standard more consistently than I can. My suspicion, though, is that most buyers of new 335i's wouldn't even give that a thought because I reckon most of them aren't car people, they're people with a bit of money who are buying an image as much as anything else. Nothing wrong in that of course - it's a free country after all - but if you've a choice between manual and auto and the vast majority sold are autos it probably says much about the type of buyer; they can't all be driving round town all the time so the almost complete absence of manuals says to me that on the whole the buying population of 335i's is probably not that interested in driving (completely anecdotal and all IMO of course!).

In terms of DCT and the S-tronic boxes fitted to Audis and the like, I suspect it's fundamentally the same gearbox that's quite possibly made by the same manufacturer (Getrag?). I've driven a 335i with DCT and it was good to use and pretty smooth even in auto mode; however, one thing I've never been able to find out is how the clutch life compares to a conventional manual (i.e. similar, better, worse?). Given there are two clutches I do wonder if ownership could get a tad expensive as the mileage increases!

[kiethton]

Guvernator said:

Interesting, I've been toying with the idea of one of these as a good compromise between performance, a bit of luxury and running costs and two things are putting me off.

1) All this talk of fueling\injector\hpfp issues. Are they really that bad? I though the issues were mostly confined to the US due to the high sulphur content in their fuel but appers the issue also happens here.

2) I tried an auto and really didn't like it. As much as autobox technology has moved on, it still felt sluggish when changing gear which is not what you want in a sports coupe IMO. Unfortunately a manual with sat nav which is the spec I would want, seem to be rare as hens teeth. It seems that people either spec the whole lot, i.e. autobox, sat nav, sound etc or have a poverty spec with manual box. What gives?

fair point, and to the cars defence i didn't pick up on them (i don't drive it hard on the road). The HPFP was picked up by the ECU when back for other work and the injectors were done as a recall. The car is an 07 E92 auto with 31k on the clock now, i got it in january with 21k.

[Crackie]

kiethton said:

fair point, and to the cars defence i didn't pick up on them (i don't drive it hard on the road). The HPFP was picked up by the ECU when back for other work and the injectors were done as a recall. The car is an 07 E92 auto with 31k on the clock now, i got it in january with 21k.

Hi keithton - interested to read your injectors have been done as part of a recall earlier this year. I've had a manual 07 E92 since December last year; if you don't mind me asking, how did you get to hear about the recall? Were you contacted by BMW or was the subject raised when back for the other work you mentioned ?

The car is running very well but I'm concerned that the majority of my journeys are very short i.e cold engine. I think this contributes to the extreme sooty residue on the exhaust tips and can't be good for the long term health of the injectors either.

Edited by Crackie on Thursday 1st September 07:16

[Crackie]

Guvernator said:

Unfortunately a manual with sat nav which is the spec I would want, seem to be rare as hens teeth. It seems that people either spec the whole lot, i.e. autobox, sat nav, sound etc or have a poverty spec with manual box. What gives?

imho of course but I don't think BMW did a great job with the sat nav on thr E90 range. Looks like a badly integrated afterthought to me particilarly on cars with dark interiors and no glass sunroof. I don't think BMW's nav works as well as the better after market nav systems either. If you do without the built in sat nav then a few more manual machines become avalable.

If built in nav is right for you then here's a couple.....great cars

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3153688.htm

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3122898.htm

Edited by Crackie on Thursday 1st September 07:48

[anonymous-user]

JNW1 said:

To clarify, I'm not saying if you have an auto that means you can't be a keen driver; I'd like to think I'm a reasonably keen driver but I'd have an auto if my mileage profile made it the sensible choice (e.g. if a high proportion of my driving was stop-start city work). Also, some very good driver's cars (AMG Mercs, XKR/XFR Jags, etc) are auto only so you don't even have the option of a manual. However, my personal view is that a manual is more involving and to me that's part of the satisfaction of driving even though I'd readily concede that a good auto or DCT could probably do the job to a high standard more consistently than I can. My suspicion, though, is that most buyers of new 335i's wouldn't even give that a thought because I reckon most of them aren't car people, they're people with a bit of money who are buying an image as much as anything else. Nothing wrong in that of course - it's a free country after all - but if you've a choice between manual and auto and the vast majority sold are autos it probably says much about the type of buyer; they can't all be driving round town all the time so the almost complete absence of manuals says to me that on the whole the buying population of 335i's is probably not that interested in driving (completely anecdotal and all IMO of course!).

In terms of DCT and the S-tronic boxes fitted to Audis and the like, I suspect it's fundamentally the same gearbox that's quite possibly made by the same manufacturer (Getrag?). I've driven a 335i with DCT and it was good to use and pretty smooth even in auto mode; however, one thing I've never been able to find out is how the clutch life compares to a conventional manual (i.e. similar, better, worse?). Given there are two clutches I do wonder if ownership could get a tad expensive as the mileage increases!

I would of thought that clutch life on DSG boxes is much longer than on a 'normal' manual car. When you think about it, the gearchanges on a DSG box are going to be perfect everytime whereas a manual car will sometimes get the clutch ridden, slipped, etc

[kiethton]

Crackie said:

Hi keithton - interested to read your injectors have been done as part of a recall earlier this year. I've had a manual 07 E92 since December last year; if you don't mind me asking, how did you get to hear about the recall? Were you contacted by BMW or was the subject raised when back for the other work you mentioned ?

The car is running very well but I'm concerned that the majority of my journeys are very short i.e cold engine. I think this contributes to the extreme sooty residue on the exhaust tips and can't be good for the long term health of the injectors either.

Edited by Crackie on Thursday 1st September 07:16

i was called out of the blue by the garage I bought the car from, was booked in for the following week and collected the day after. Most of my journeys are a little longer (although short time wise) 15 miles on the motorway.

[Steff]

St John Smythe said:

When you think about it, the gearchanges on a DSG box are going to be perfect everytime

In theory yes, in practice no, I'd take a manual everytime.

[Guvernator]

The fact that the injectors were done as a recall is great. I am also pretty sure the HPFP is covered by an extended 10 year warranty, even if you don't have BMW warranty. It certainly is in the US where the issue seems to be much more prevailent. Still disappointing though that every performance coupe\saloon I look at seems to suffer from some kind of fault. RS4 with DRC\Suspension issues, 335 with fueling issues etc. Can noone build reliable cars anymore?

As for the auto vs manual argument, while I have nothing against autos per se and have driven some fine auto's in the past, I'm just not sure if it suits the character of the 335i. When I took one for a test drive it was brilliant in stop start traffic but once I got out of town on the lanes it just didn't shift quick enough for me or give the feedback I desired. To be honest much maligned as they are, I prefered the more direct feeling of the SMG box which I have tried on an E46 M3 previously. I just don't think a perfomance coupe should be trying it's best to slur\smooth out gear changes but perhaps as others stated I am misreading the market for the 335i and it is aimed at people who aren't really that interested in driving. Strange for a 3 litre twin turbo coupe with 300bhp+?

Perhaps I should just give in too and buy an auto convertible model and cruise around like everyone else.

[EK993]

I have had my 2007 E92 for a year and a half now. Other than the official hpfp recall there has been no issues with the car (note the hpfp has not failed during my ownership).

As I live in US now I bought an automatic with paddle shifters. Its the first autobox car I have owned having previously had cars like 993's, an F355 and Elise SC so a big departure for me! I must also be getting old as I love the autobox. I don't see myself going back to a manual again, I will look for an automated manual (DCT, PDK or whatever) in my next car. If you flip the gearlever over to DS mode it significantly reduces the sluggish feeling and the paddles whilst not giving you manual levels of control over gearshifts does a pretty bloody good job.

As a daily hack I really enjoy the 335i

[e21Mark]

I've got a 335 but it's not quite as luxurious as the later ones. It is a manual though and definately an involving drive. MPG isn't great with triple 45's but neither do I have injector problems to contend with.

TWR Alpina 335