[lawgone]

As some of you may know, I am planning on leasing a 3er this coming spring. The BMWStore in Cincinnati called me this week and asked if I'd like to come in for a test drive. I work right next store and figured what the heck. They knew I was trying to decide between a 328i and 335i coupe so they had those set up for me. All they have in stock though is xdrive so these came with it. My thoughts...

I drove the 328xi first. They didn't have a coupe so gave me the sedan. I had driven one before on a warmer day and this one felt much better than I remember. Silky smooth I6 and the great handling you would expect. I purposely punched it a couple times and was happy with the acceleration. I drove both side roads and highway.

Next, I took out a 335xi coupe and was prepared to be blown away. First thing I noticed was that I like the styling much better and the exhaust note was nice. Just pulling out I noticed a little more punch when stepping on the gas. But when I got on the road and punched it, I was surprised that I was not noticing much more acceleration than the 328xi sedan. I tried several times. The growl from the exhaust was there and it did get going, but not that much more than the 328. I was really looking for that "shove me back into the seat" feeling and didn't really get it as much as I had hoped. I guess I was just expecting with all that low-end torque, I wouldn't have to step on it so much to get it to react.

The feeling I was left with at the end of the test drives is that I would not be "disappointed" by a lack of power if I chose the 328i, but that all things being equal I'd still prefer the 335i. HOWEVER, I did not feel the 335i was worth the $7,000 price differential plus the increased insurance cost.

In summary, I'm now leaning much more towards the 328i coupe in the spring. Also, I had been planning on Montego Blue with Oyster and Black trim, but the 335i coupe with the Space Grey and Black was really nice so I'm now considering that. Who knows, my mind may change, but that's what I'm thinking now.

P.S. There is a hard curved exit ramp to the dealer and that has a 30mph sign. On my way there in my Honda Accord, I didn't feel comfortable at 40mph and slowed it down to 35. On both 3ers I did 50mph, barely feeling any lean and feeling like it could take a lot more. Nice

[roundle]

Were both AT or MT?

[lawgone]

Originally Posted by roundle

Were both AT or MT?

Both were AT's.

[Nedim]

Get the 335 and put a jb3 in it

[chancejat]

Hard to believe you cant feel 90 whp in the drivers seat.....just get the 328, BC the 335 is significantly faster and you can't seem to tell.

[lawgone]

Originally Posted by Nedim

Get the 335 and put a jb3 in it

It will be a lease so no mods.

[lawgone]

Originally Posted by chancejat

Hard to believe you cant feel 90 whp in the drivers seat.....just get the 328, BC the 335 is significantly faster and you can't seem to tell.

I could tell it was faster, it just didn't feel significantly faster to me. I'm not hating on it, but for $7,000 extra I expected it would throw me back in my seat a little more than it did.

[I335]

Nothing wrong with a 328 at all - those engines have plenty of power too, but they just can't be modded as easily for tons of power like the 335 can.

[dtc100]

Originally Posted by lawgone

I could tell it was faster, it just didn't feel significantly faster to me. I'm not hating on it, but for $7,000 extra I expected it would throw me back in my seat a little more than it did.

Try a 328i coupe in the spring, usually a coupe will handle better than a sedan.

As far as throttle response, we hear a lot of 335i owners complaining about their 328i loaners being too slow, that has a lot to do with their lazy foot due to getting used to the low end turbo boost. Driving a 328i is entirely different than driving a 335i. The fun part of driving a 328i is you get to rev your smooth engine to 6500 RPM as often as it allows you to, not something you can often do in other brands because they start to vibrate and fall apart.

[roundle]

I recall test driving a 135i back in 2008. The low-end was indeed amazing; however, I remember being a little let down by the power over 5000RPM--the engine (with 15 miles on it) felt a bit "numb" up high when compared to other cars that I had owned (M52 BMWs and B18C Hondas). The 328i (n52) on the other hand has a lot less low-end; however, as the RPMs build, so does power.

In any event, will be hard to go wrong with either the 328 or 335.

[dday]

I find it really hard to believe that you couldn't feel the difference. I also drove both of these cars when shopping an had the exact opposite experience.

The 0-60 on the 335 vs 328 is 2 seconds faster, that's hard not to notice, the 328xi with AT has a 7.1 second 0-60. Is 0-60 everything? hell no, but it just didn't feel nearly as fun as the 335. You must not have been in the right gear with the 335 because it will definitely toss you back in your seat if you are, especially in 2nd gear.

That said if you can't tell the difference good for you I guess, saves you a bunch of money.

[Saintor]

Some people love to believe that acceleration is the end of it all. They just basically don't get what a BMW is all about (it is all about driving experience, like their 168HP ancestors did so well).

[tuco44]

Originally Posted by dtc100

Try a 328i coupe in the spring, usually a coupe will handle better than a sedan.

As far as throttle response, we hear a lot of 335i owners complaining about their 328i loaners being too slow, that has a lot to do with their lazy foot due to getting used to the low end turbo boost. Driving a 328i is entirely different than driving a 335i. The fun part of driving a 328i is you get to rev your smooth engine to 6500 RPM as often as it allows you to, not something you can often do in other brands because they start to vibrate and fall apart.

Agree with this post, and I am now driving a 328 after just having an M3, and a 535xi...!!! The 328 is neither of those cars in a straight line test, but there is so much more to BMWs than 0-60. The 328 with a stick is a fun machine.

[scottp999]

Stick with the 328 since it will be a lease that you don't plan to mod.

[tofu-]

You want to be sucked back into your seat with every blip of the throttle? Sounds like a bad long term driving experience to me.

[dday]

One more tip I would give is drive both cars with a MT if you can (an are willing to own a MT car) for the the 335 was ok with the MT and a blast with the MT, not trying to start a flame war at all, this was just my personal experience/preference.

[lawgone]

Thanks for all the input. I too was surprised I didn't feel as much difference as I thought I would. Perhaps I had just built it up in my head too much. But considering the 328xi was a sedan, I was I expecting a night and day difference with the 335xi coupe. The differences were more subtle. I'm sure that would change if I were racing it but this was just some spirited driving for about 10 miles. Like I said, no disrespect to any 335i owners out there...it's a great car.

[lawgone]

Originally Posted by tofu-

You want to be sucked back into your seat with every blip of the throttle? Sounds like a bad long term driving experience to me.

Not with a blip...but when I put it more than half way down I thought there would be more urgency.

[07E92TT]

Originally Posted by dtc100

Try a 328i coupe in the spring, usually a coupe will handle better than a sedan.
.

says who?

[conix67]

Originally Posted by dday

I find it really hard to believe that you couldn't feel the difference. I also drove both of these cars when shopping an had the exact opposite experience.

The 0-60 on the 335 vs 328 is 2 seconds faster, that's hard not to notice, the 328xi with AT has a 7.1 second 0-60. Is 0-60 everything? hell no, but it just didn't feel nearly as fun as the 335. You must not have been in the right gear with the 335 because it will definitely toss you back in your seat if you are, especially in 2nd gear.

That said if you can't tell the difference good for you I guess, saves you a bunch of money.

On 0-60, 335 vs 328 is less than 1 second, as Car and driver managed to get 328 from 0-60 at 5.8 seconds. That's actually pretty fast, but this was on RWD 6MT.

[michaelthepsycho]

I test drove a 328i MT and even running it up to 4k revs on city streets, I wasn't impressed when comparing to my AT 335i. I'd spring for the RWD MT and get separate winter tires... Don't think the 200 lb of torque is enough to lug along the AWD components.

[roundle]

Originally Posted by conix67

On 0-60, 335 vs 328 is less than 1 second, as Car and driver managed to get 328 from 0-60 at 5.8 seconds. That's actually pretty fast, but this was on RWD 6MT.

Wow, that's quick (and kind of hard to believe).

As for MichaelThePsycho, 4K is where power is just starting--try 6500 next time.