Pick a car from this list

[iaind]

How many of them have you driven?

 

[[TW]Fox]

Personally I think the car you drive fox is better than any of the ones you listed, the build quality on all those new ones isn't as good as your E39. I also prefer the look of the E36/9 to the newer ones but thats just my personal preference.

The E39 Sport (Well, actually, the E39 M5) is in my opinion BMW's finest hour when it comes to styling. I dont think we'll ever again see a BMW which, discounting the naturally more 'modern' look that time brings, is a better styled car.

A crying shame, but there we go.

 

[[TW]Fox]

How many of them have you driven?

I have driven a 335i M Sport, a 525i LCI E60 (I have access to this whenever so I guess as I become more familiar with it, it'll be interesting to see what I think), 530d M Sport and many 320d M Sport's.

There are important gaps in my experience I must fill, obviously

I guess I ought to drop the pretence that this is some sort of random 'for the lulz' thread - it is my replacement car shortlist. There are a few other things on there, but tbh they are outsiders. You all know what I'm like by now, my post-car-research stage makes World War II look short and quick.

Just thought some opinion independant of my thoughts or my perceived needs would be pretty useful, it's been interesting to see various peoples takes. I'm suprised how little negativity there is about the cars in the list actually, given how anti BMW this forum often is!

 

[iaind]

Definitely - you're completely right about the performance, that although the numbers suggest they are similar, I bet they are completely different beasts.

I'm a great believer that performance is quite subjective - completely depends on what you use the car for, how you drive it and to a lesser extent your expectations.

Very few people drive a car at full tilt all the time, while shouting POWAAAAAH, so figures recorded under those conditions are to be taken with a pinch of salt

 

[nanospider]

If only they made the 335d with a manual option A 3 series auto seems wrong to me, thats what the 5s are for imo

I'd have to go 335i from this list. In my case i'd probably not be doing the miles to worry much about the economy difference so it'd seem silly to go for the 330i. I'd probably be willing to take the risk on turbos and hpfp but likely wouldn't be pushing the engine that hard (er... after the first month or so ) most of the time so i'd hope to get lucky and be able to pass it on before it broke.

That said, if i knew how much the it'd cost if a turbo went bang i might change my mind about that risk

 

[realscot]

Auto isn't really a con on the 335d, even without a remap you'd be riding a wave of torque till you lift your right foot. I'd have to admit if they were all the same price i'd probably have the 335d as I think the new 5 series almost feels too big. I also have to admit the new 3 series is the better looking of the two.
Also if your starting to list fuel economy as a con fox, perhaps its time to have a derv, expecially since the performance gap is closing more and more with modern diesels.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Also if your starting to list fuel economy as a con fox, perhaps its time to have a derv, expecially since the performance gap is closing more and more with modern diesels.

I was trying to be subjective.

I currently do 50 miles a week, with a 400-500 mile round trip once a month or so. Fuel economy isn't important.

But of course circumstances often change - and its worth having an answer to 'What if' if you are considering a long term purchase - so something with a V8 that does 20mpg and is therefore perfectly suited now might not be the most sensible long term choice

Sadly I am not like most in that I can chop and change as I see fit, once I've got something I have to hang onto it for far, far too long. Thats just me, sadly, so rather than fight that, I have to plan for that

 

[Eliot]

The thing that impressed me with The 335d is the consistency at which the red needle moves across the speedo
The rate of accleration doesnt seems to slow and the speed that you can throw it about are silly

There was one moment where we just trained our way past a type r and the driver looked just gutted really lol

 

[Coco]

After running the 330d for a year and realising just how economical it can be when driving carefully, I fail to see the point of the petrol equivalents. If they were noisy clattery 4-pot diesels then yes, I'd be inclined to ignore them and get the petrol, but they aren't. If I wanted a car for out and out fun then it wouldn't be a non M powered 3 or 5 series.

Same here, I would only consider these cars as daily drivers & as such I would want the best economy on offer. Dag-dag-dag me up!
For weekend fun, none of these cut the mustard for what I want.

Paradigm, can you remember what sort of MPG you we're bagging?
And can you briefly describe the journey & mileage you were covering.
I quite fancy a 330d as the work-Horse.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Having the best economy on offer is only really important if you do the miles to justify it. Otherwise its another meaningless pub stat. Great, 55mpg on a cruise. Not that impressive if you only do one long journey a month though..

 

[Moeks]

Sadly I am not like most in that I can chop and change as I see fit, once I've got something I have to hang onto it for far, far too long. Thats just me, sadly, so rather than fight that, I have to plan for that

I wish I was more like you in this regard and I could hang onto something for longer, since changing often does cost money, or at least it does the way I do it, i.e. I hate messing about and waiting very long.

I just get fed up with a car, even if I like it a lot and want to try something different. I am getting the itch again now 7 months into 540i ownership, luckily I've decided to stick with 'cheap' (to buy) cars for the time being, I couldn't spend £15-20k on a car when I know I'd want something else in a year.

 

[Coco]

I nail a sniff over 2,500 miles each month, 55 mpg rocks my socks!

Has anybody else also found that you have to cover +30 miles for a dag-dag to have properly warmed up in order to release the high MPG?
You have to be a touch special to not go for petrol power if you cover under 15k each year!

 

[iaind]

Ive always found mine to be much worse on fuel when cold, but they never took 30 miles to warm up though!

 

[Sukh]

330i so you don't have turbos to go pop and its not diesel.

 

[Irish_Tom]

I nail a sniff over 2,500 miles each month, 55 mpg rocks my socks!

Has anybody else also found that you have to cover +30 miles for a dag-dag to have properly warmed up in order to release the high MPG?

I do 50 miles a day (25 to work and back). Half of that is stop-start traffic, the other half is motorway at 80. Average consumption is about 35mpg according to the computer.

If I do a run to Cornwall (maybe once a month) 205 miles each way – I get an average of 39mpg which is nearly all dual carriageway so it doesn't seem to make that much difference.

 

[djjuk]

Any of the E92's on your list really. Then park it next to my E92 320d MSport & see who can tell the difference

Jokes aside, the E92 is a fantastic package & if I was spending my own money I would find it incredibly hard to see past the 335i.

Awesome car.

 

[Coco]

Cheers iaind & Panzerbjorn,
To be honest i've never done the 'paper maths' on any diesel motors i've used over such a short distance, it must actually be better than I thought and just the way the computer indicator thingy starts at a low MPG figure & clicks up that had me wondering.

I think I need a swig of 97ron, far too much diesel torque going on! (i make no apology for the pun!)

 

[[TW]Fox]

If I do a run to Cornwall (maybe once a month) 205 miles each way – I get an average of 39mpg which is nearly all dual carriageway so it doesn't seem to make that much difference.

I quite often do Plymouth to Southampton which is largely the same route (But obviously less overall duration so less dual carraigeway and less cruising to get the MPG up) and I get 31mpg from the 530i.

Strangely if I do it at night, leaving Plymouth at about 9pm when the roads are quite it only does 27mpg

 

[[TW]Fox]

Any of the E92's on your list really. Then park it next to my E92 320d MSport & see who can tell the difference

I'm already beginning to get insecure about that. It would obviously need a full length '335i' decal along the side.

 

[iaind]

With a flame motif too