I've been thinking about my next car and a used 335i sedan might be the ticket. Does anyone have any experience with them? I understand that early production cars may not have come with an oil cooler, causing issues and that fuel pump failures seem common around 50k. Any real world experience to share?
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Nov. 16, 2011 8:47 a.m. dyintorace SuperDork
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Nov. 16, 2011 8:51 a.m. Osterkraut SuperDork
Didn't GRM "buy" one in the past few years?
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Nov. 16, 2011 8:54 a.m. Tom Heath Web Manager
We've had a little fun with one. Ours was a coupe, but we enjoyed it. http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/project-cars/2008-bmw-335i-coupe/
The oil cooler issue was something that bothered us on track a few times, but there are aftermarket fixes if you've got track work in mind. I haven't heard anything about fuel pump problems, but we didn't have ours for that long either.
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Nov. 16, 2011 8:58 a.m. dyintorace SuperDork
This car would not see the track, so that isn't a concern. It would be a DD/highway cruiser. I'd be all over an e46 M3 instead, had BMW seen fit to produce a sedan version.
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Nov. 16, 2011 9:00 a.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork
I have had two different students at Watkins Glen with them. One bone stock and one with a chip, suspension, etc...
Both were fast, capable and comfortable but they both went into limp mode at least once when pressed hard on track due to some temperature condition. They are pretty big and also kinda heavy but as a daily driver - very comfortable I would think. It felt like an E39 540 rather than a 3 series.
I have driven a modded 135i at Summit Point and it is the car a more sport minded driver would choose, hands down. It was much more nimble. In all honesty - for a street car I would buy the 128i and get rid of the puffers all-together - save a few shillings in the process.
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Nov. 16, 2011 9:03 a.m. ProDarwin Dork
A friend has a 335i sedan with a little bit of work done. Its a very nice car. Drives great until you put your foot down, then its like the hand of god pushing you forward. I don't know how fast it actually is (I'd guess somewhere in the low 12s), but it FEELS amazing.
They aren't horribly expensive now either. I say go for it.
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Nov. 16, 2011 9:08 a.m. westsidetalon Reader
HPFP failures can happen at any milelage, mine was a buyback for this problem @ 15k, that I purchased at a good discount. Figured I would try my luck with it and now has 40k+ miles. Great car so far but starting to get some hard starts(HPFP failing symptoms) BMW is warrantying pump replacements to 120k I believe. My only complaints are the Sport seats are a real pain getting in/out of, BMW Jet Black paint is high maintinence and an LSD would be a great bonus.
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Nov. 16, 2011 9:20 a.m. nderwater SuperDork
FWIW, my BWM mechanic friend tells me that he sees a lot more of the turbo than NA cars in the dealership service bays, and that the repair work is a fair bit more expensive. Like all German cars, his advice is to get one with a warranty, and sell the car when it expires
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Nov. 16, 2011 9:52 a.m. Xceler8x SuperDork
I just bought one about 5k miles ago. I can't give much in the way of feedback on reliability. I did have a BMW dealership run the maintenance history on it and it's had 2 fuel pumps replaced. That was it. Hopefully the 3rd is a charm and I won't have to bother with it. I did get a great extended warranty from Carmax when I bought it. Mine is warranted to 125k or 6 years. Currently has 48k on it. No mods.
Driving impression is....impressive. I used to own a Mazdaspeed3 and dig the torque rush. This one has it, in spades. The Speed3 was no slouch but the 335i does best it. The car is supremely comfortable. It has quite a few nice touches that are off putting at first but feel great once you settle in.
For Example: throttle tip in feel. I was put off by it at first. It felt like you had to stomp the throttle to get the car to move. It is true. It does require more throttle to get it to "roll out" than other cars I've driven. But once caught in stop and go traffic I realized why. In most manual cars that I've driven you're off and on the clutch constantly while in stop and go traffic. Not so with the BMW. Because the throttle is slower to tip in it makes using the clutch to modulate speed unnecessary. Nice touch from BMW there. Another is a hill holder clutch. Not necessary but still very nice.
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Nov. 16, 2011 11:19 a.m. njansenv HalfDork
So, uh... what's the plan with the M5?
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Nov. 16, 2011 12:55 p.m. dyintorace SuperDork
Good thoughts so far. Thanks folks! I have a buddy with a Dinan 335i sedan who is going to show me around one up close, but he's not much of a "car guy" so I wanted to ask here.
njansenv wrote:
So, uh... what's the plan with the M5?
Current thinking is to list it for sale. I realize I only bought it early this year, but it's simply too much car for trundling back and forth to work, in my opinion. If I lived out West where I could stretch it out more easily, I might feel differently. And it's not a car I'm going to track so I'm considering "downgrading" to something less capable.
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Nov. 16, 2011 1:58 p.m. docwyte Reader
You won't be able to stretch out a 335 anymore than the M5. It'll get far better gas mileage though...
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Nov. 16, 2011 8:01 p.m. mrsoul55 New Reader
I bought a CPO 2008 335i sedan in March. 23,000 miles, rwd, sport package. No plans to mod or track it. I wanted something quick and fun mainly for my commute. A commute being a commute I sometimes get to have fun with it but mainly I'm crawling around getting crappy gas mileage and wishing I'd just bought a cheap beater. The times I can open it up it's a ton of fun. Not sure if I'll keep it after the warranty runs out. I'm still not sure I've really bonded with the car but I feel like it's growing on me the more I drive it. I know this was probably no help but thanks for reading. :)
