Downsizing from RRS to 335d Xdrive touring

[Osinjak]

gizlaroc said:

Buy the 335i or 340i, so much nicer than the 335d imho.

I had a 335d E91 and didn't really get on with it, swapped for the 335i and loved it.
Around 3-4mpg behind each other in the real world.

Now, don't get me wrong I love my Range Rover, and I now have a 3.5 V6 Merc estate as my other car so I have gotten really old, however, I have asked for him to let me know when he is bored of his 340i Touring....








I could swap the Merc for that!

Nice. What colour is that?

[ds666]

I have exactly the same interior - piano trim, opel seats , leather dash top and bottom and leather door tops , doesn't look ordinary to me ,

[Welshbeef]

gizlaroc said:

Buy the 335i or 340i, so much nicer than the 335d imho.

I had a 335d E91 and didn't really get on with it, swapped for the 335i and loved it.
Around 3-4mpg behind each other in the real world.

Now, don't get me wrong I love my Range Rover, and I now have a 3.5 V6 Merc estate as my other car so I have gotten really old, however, I have asked for him to let me know when he is bored of his 340i Touring....








I could swap the Merc for that!

It’s on stilts 😉

[Mr Whippy]

Assuming you have the RRS for its 4x4 in any form, or towing to 3.5 tonnes, then the 340i might be no use, nor may the 335d xdrive.

Personally I think RRS and 335d are miles apart.

I suppose it depends what roads you drive too, but hustling a lower car is tougher.
My Z4, a hot hatch, and a Disco 4 on the roads around here sees the Disco 4 outright fastest and safest over the 'sports' cars.


My friend had a Disco (5?) sport on lease and hated the cost vs quality, so went for a new RR as the price vs quality is very hard to beat apparently.

I'm unsure how poor the Disco sport is but I can't imagine you'd be happy with a 3er even with individual leather, if thus far you've had a nice RRS.

Also as much as an RRS is big, the 3 isn't exactly small wrt footprint for multi-storey parking space sizes either.

[msej449]

{ but hustling a lower car is tougher. My Z4, a hot hatch, and a Disco 4 on the roads around here sees the Disco 4 outright fastest and safest over the 'sports' cars.}

I simply find this impossible to accept. How can a large, top-heavy SUV be faster than a Z4 when you're wanting to 'hustle' - it defies the laws of physics. Powerful SUVs have many advantages, not least a high driving position. But to claim they're better than a sports car on typical public roads, at speed, is bizzare.

I'd agree that an SUV and a 3 Touring are very different cars. You'd have to be sure that you didn't miss the high driving position, for one thing. This could be one of those difficult '% of the time' choices e.g. your SUV is great 20% of the time, and a pain 20% of the time versus a 3 Touring being great 30% of the time and inconvenient 10% of the time etc.

[Mr Whippy]

msej449 said:

{ but hustling a lower car is tougher. My Z4, a hot hatch, and a Disco 4 on the roads around here sees the Disco 4 outright fastest and safest over the 'sports' cars.}

I simply find this impossible to accept. How can a large, top-heavy SUV be faster than a Z4 when you're wanting to 'hustle' - it defies the laws of physics. Powerful SUVs have many advantages, not least a high driving position. But to claim they're better than a sports car on typical public roads, at speed, is bizzare.

I'd agree that an SUV and a 3 Touring are very different cars. You'd have to be sure that you didn't miss the high driving position, for one thing. This could be one of those difficult '% of the time' choices e.g. your SUV is great 20% of the time, and a pain 20% of the time versus a 3 Touring being great 30% of the time and inconvenient 10% of the time etc.

I suppose it depends on the roads you use, and how far beyond the limit point you're willing to go when hustling.

In any case an RRS gives you huge benefits vs a lower sports car.
Ie, overtaking becomes better as most other cars are lower. A Z4 or a VX220 on the other hand, not so good as almost all other cars are taller.

Apart from being a bit big in a car park, an RRS is going to be tough to beat.

Now if the desire is to get a more involving sporty car to drive then that's another thing.

[Osinjak]

Mr Whippy said:

In any case an RRS gives you huge benefits vs a lower sports car.
Ie, overtaking becomes better as most other cars are lower.

An odd statement, define 'better.' In terms of overtaking my 335d has been the best of the lot in my car driving history (and I've owned a RR), it's sheer pace makes it a joy to press on. Regardless of the car, positioning and timing are absolutely key. Get those right and the car becomes largely irrelevant.

[Babw]

I don't know whether it's fate but I've tried to buy 3 x 335d's drives on the BMW used website but they've all sold within me calling and going to view.

Also went to visit my new girlfriends family last night for the first time and they basically live on a farm down the side of a mountain. The track leading down to the house would not be suitable for anything other than an SUV so the RRS may well have to stay.

[Mr Whippy]

Osinjak said:

Mr Whippy said:

In any case an RRS gives you huge benefits vs a lower sports car.
Ie, overtaking becomes better as most other cars are lower.

An odd statement, define 'better.' In terms of overtaking my 335d has been the best of the lot in my car driving history (and I've owned a RR), it's sheer pace makes it a joy to press on. Regardless of the car, positioning and timing are absolutely key. Get those right and the car becomes largely irrelevant.

Positioning and timing are based on visibility though.

Maybe I struggle in the hilly rural roads around Harrogate, where most of the time I'm stuck behind other SUV and unable to look around them easily from in my Z4.

If you live in flatland with wide roads then things will be different.

I did qualify my original statement based on the types of roads you drive, and the needs of having an RRS initially.

A 335d could easily be no better in any significant way depending on your usage needs, while only being marginally better in multi-storey car parks etc.

[Mr Whippy]

Babw said:

I don't know whether it's fate but I've tried to buy 3 x 335d's drives on the BMW used website but they've all sold within me calling and going to view.

Also went to visit my new girlfriends family last night for the first time and they basically live on a farm down the side of a mountain. The track leading down to the house would not be suitable for anything other than an SUV so the RRS may well have to stay.

Tell me about the difficulty sourcing good spec models. I've been pulling my hair out trying to secure one even with electric seats!

It depends on how much you want one and how deep your pockets are, but even so just finding a good spec one to go test is hard work too.

Two big main dealers in wealthy northern areas and they've not even had demo models with adaptive suspension to try.

Ironically Scotland seems to be the place for high end 335d selection!


I'd stick with the RRS personally.

I've considered an MY13 RRS but went for the 3 because of the driving feel and mpg.
If I didn't care about mpg/tax and the drive, I'd have bought an RRS as even the last model ones are wonderful!

[Osinjak]

I've got one with electric seats! I specced the crap out of mine when I bought it with the intent of keeping it for five years only to be sent (imminently) overseas after two years of ownership. It's probably only going to do about 2k miles a year for the next two years as Mrs Osinjak doesn't really like driving it that much. Sheesh.

[Mr Whippy]

The silly thing is getting a high spec car shouldn't cost all that much if ordered new.
The irony is at 3yrs old options add their 'new' price to the used price, give or take.

Sadly actually getting to try them out seems tough.
If I were about to buy a £40,000 car I'd want a 24hr test drive of a fully loaded demo!

I've no idea how BMW are to capture buyers like Babw if they can't let people properly appraise the cars.

Edited by Mr Whippy on Wednesday 1st November 14:47

[JNW1]

Mr Whippy said:

The silly thing is getting a high spec car shouldn't cost all that much if ordered new.
The irony is at 3yrs old options add their 'new' price to the used price, give or take.

Edited by Mr Whippy on Wednesday 1st November 14:47

Interesting, I'd say it was exactly the opposite!

I think there's no way of dodging the cost of extras when you order the car new; a lot of dealers and brokers give a discount only on the car and not the options but even if you find one that will discount both you're still going to be paying 75% of the list price for the extras.

Conversely, come resale time I'd say all those extras add to marketability but not much to value; just take a look at what most options add to the GFV if you do a PCP and it becomes pretty obvious that most extras add little or nothing to the expected residual value of the car.

My car had over £5k of extras fitted when it was new but will most of that be reflected in the price a dealer will offer me on a part-ex? Not a chance!

[gizlaroc]

Osinjak said:

Nice. What colour is that?

Ruby II

I always wanted a Ruby II E46 M3 with champagne extended leather and that would be a cool modern replacement.

[anonymous-user]

I have a 335d x Drive. Fantastic car. Tanzanite blue and opal both individual with leather dash

[Osinjak]

So do i ;-)

[rayyan171]

Only thing I would recommend to swap a RRS for is an X5 xDrive40d/M50d. Much more capable cars, much faster than the RRS, and still has the benefits of a SAV. Wouldn't downsize from a 3 series, the RRS is just more special to drive, bit of an occasion, whereas the 335d xDrive is, in the end, a 3 series, which is a very common sight today.

Obviously all preference, but just my opinion. I hope I haven't insulted any 3 series owners, they are good cars indeed, the 335i is very fast!

[Mr Whippy]

JNW1 said:

Mr Whippy said:

The silly thing is getting a high spec car shouldn't cost all that much if ordered new.
The irony is at 3yrs old options add their 'new' price to the used price, give or take.

Edited by Mr Whippy on Wednesday 1st November 14:47

Interesting, I'd say it was exactly the opposite!

I think there's no way of dodging the cost of extras when you order the car new; a lot of dealers and brokers give a discount only on the car and not the options but even if you find one that will discount both you're still going to be paying 75% of the list price for the extras.

Conversely, come resale time I'd say all those extras add to marketability but not much to value; just take a look at what most options add to the GFV if you do a PCP and it becomes pretty obvious that most extras add little or nothing to the expected residual value of the car.

My car had over £5k of extras fitted when it was new but will most of that be reflected in the price a dealer will offer me on a part-ex? Not a chance!

I agree, but the point was the used price, not the trade/px price.

I've been trawling AUC for weeks and the cars that either seem standout cheap or expensive are either low or high spec respectively.

So if BMW shaft you on price that's another matter.

If you stand by your car and have cared for it, can't you buy it cheap and sell it for much more privately?

[Babw]

To be honest, I'm not really bothered about the image. I drive a tuned Nissan GTR instead of something less exciting but with a better badge.

I live in Wales and bought the RRS to visit friends/family on farms and do 20k miles per year. After owning it for over a year I achieved the 20k miles but the number of times I've actually needed the offroad capability have been a handful. I think a normal car/SUV with less offroad capability would be perfectly adequate for my needs.

RRS has been valued at about 56k trade in and I wouldn't change for an X5 just to save 5-15k as the size is similar. Personally find the Range Rover interior far better and I did test drive an X5, the handling of the RRS in dynamic mode is just as impressive for the size with a more refined ride.

On the other hand I'm *only* 30 so have plenty of years ahead for big SUV's with kids etc so fancy buying a 25k 335d and not really caring too much about it.

Edited by Babw on Wednesday 1st November 21:59

[Mr Whippy]

If you have a tuned GTR for fun, and the RRS just does for rough track duty for visiting people on farms, I'd get a 335d then.

I'd argue even a high ish riding fwd hatchback would probably do but it's nice to have something nice.

I'm getting a 335d over a 340i for almost exactly the same reason, higher ride and a bit softer with awd makes it perfect for the rougher end farm tracks, especially if it's snowed and/or muddy.

I'm planning to get some 18" with winter tyres too. 19" in snow isn't ideal, more so as random big stones on rough track edges are no good with low profile tyres.

Edited by Mr Whippy on Wednesday 1st November 21:44