Well,
Picked it up yesterday afternoon and it was all mine for 4 whole hours. The roads were quiet thanks to some obscure football match and the weather variable from dry to damp to wet and back again. It was driven along duals and Mways and more interestingly along A and Bs......
The Car.
Was a demonstration 335 saloon with 1.7k on the clock, it came in a light metallic blue with a tan leather interior, it had a horrid (to me) sequential auto (about 1.5k on the price), tan leather interior (about 1.2k apparantly) 18" optional alloys (I think they're about £500). Anyway, the engine is probably the best six cylinder BMW motor I have ever been behind, no make that the best petrol engine I've ever been behind - ever. There are few superlatives without resorting to clichés to describe this motor. totally compliant in town, with a heart of pure gold on the back roads, total smoothness and near silence (apart from what I suspect is a tuned exhaust sound), I have seen a BMW bike ad with the by-line "Unleash Civilization" it would certainly suit this car - it is a beast in an Armani suit....brilliant brilliant motor. Everything is just right inside, the leather's aromatic properties overcome the trend of recent BMWs to smell gluey, I immediately felt at home in this car, I could close my eyes and know I was in a three series despite the fact I'd never driven the latest shape version. Just right.
Roadwise.
BMW seem to have overcome the problems they had with the run flats, despite it's 18 inch wheels, the ride was flat and smooth (definitely smoother than SWMBO's Golf), handling on some of my favourite bends was predictable and as safe as anything, there is no drama in this car, everything happened as expected. overtaking was totally effortless (as it should be) - maybe it was slightly disengaging to drive, only because it is so good, very very good. To me this is the acme of the chassis and engine maker's art but it didn't make me want it enough, everything is so sorted, so competent that it fails to thrill. I have to be honest Tony Pond's IoM video was very much in my mind when I tripped this car. I swear if I took the Golf along these roads it would excite and involve me more. it even failed to skit across the acres of white lines that decorate one of my bends like the five does and maybe that summed it up - too sorted. Nice car though.
I'll buy one of these when I'm sixty.
|
"To me this is the acme of the chassis and engine maker's art but it didn't make me want it enough, everything is so sorted, so competent that it fails to thrill"
But isn't that also true of your 535D, PU? I can see the point - you want to be challenged more than that.
Micky has a point - although to keep the challenge to the driving rather than avoiding breakdowns perhaps you need a 911 of some sort. Mrs PU's next task (per the other thread) is to arrange the family finances to get you one of those of a suitable vintage, leaving the 535 for work.
|
|
The 535 is more "human" - it feels more "complete" but on the other hand less perfect. MAybe it's time for a 911 (a friend has an '88)...
|
|
Interesting review...strange conclusion. Why even bother to take it out if you are the kind of driver who will draw the above kind of conclusion. Seriously, what else did you expect from that kind of car in this day and age?
|
|
|
|
|
911? Tail-happy, bite-your-bottom, thrash-me-if-dare offering from the 70s or 80s? Yes please! I'm sure the modern incarnation is very quick indeed, but where's the challenge? I'm more than happy to be cosseted during my tedious 30k-ish per annum as a wage slave, but if it's 0600hrs and it's Sunday and spring is well and truly sprung then I want a challenge, I want foibles, I want general twitchiness. Although it would be nice to drive a car with some sort of support for the vital components, so perhaps a TVR with anything other than an engine by TVR.
|
|
|
|
Reading your posts in the last couple of weeks is badly making me want to try a MK5 Golf GTi.
If you want something involving to drive, try an E46 M3.
|
I've had a 335i at the back of my mind ever since I read the road tests. Awesome performance, incredible economy. Fantastic value compared with a Porsche, and no compromise on quality either. In fact, I've serious misgivings over modern Porsche quality (see James May in last Sat's Torygraph).
My 320d is so highly capable as to be a bit boring - so safe and predictable that some of the pleasure has been programmed out. I'd have expected a 335i or 335d to be more entertaining, though. But my experience led me the other day to think that modern cars are 'over-tyred' (amongst other things, maybe), so that they have too much grip and too much predictability. Made me think that some of the most entertaining cars might be base-ish model small cars on fairly narrow tyres. Not much power, so you can drive hard without getting up to mental speeds, but some fun handling too. (But then maybe I'd compalin that the handling was too soggy, not sharp enough.) Mind you, my MINI Cooper S manages to be entertaining on 205/45s.
Regarding an old 911, well forget water-cooled ones apart from a 996 GT3 or 996 Turbo (maybe). 993s have beautiful, predictable handling and 964s aren't particularly tail-happy either. But the trouble is, they are, well, old. They might be basically reliable, but they need a lot of TLC too keep them in top condition. And that means they're expensive. I know from my 993 ownership.
That 335i is a bargain, and so highly practical with it. Or there's the E46 M3 that someone mentioned...
|
Car manufacturers today face an impossible task. To launch anything "twitchy" will land them in court faster than you can say "original Audi TT". That car was apparently fabulous to drive when it was launched, and because a few incompetent people stuffed them into the scenery, a series of rushed modifications "fixed" the slight instability, and completely killed the handling. That was the beginning of the end for driver involvement and proper, old school agility (or twitchiness if you want to put a negative spin on it).
The most enjoyable car I've driven across country, the Peugeot 306 GTI-6, went out of production in 2000. Nothing I've driven since has come close. This BMW 335i would wipe the floor with it over most roads, as would some of the current 200+bhp turbo hot hatches, but the Peugeot raises the pulse (in a good way) and just flows in a way a modern 1400kg+ lard wagon simply cannot. It also depends on the driver to get the best out of it, and be able to use lift off oversteer rather than fear it.
As a result, that turn-in is just electric. Steering has dollops of feel, brakes powerful but not overservoed, throttle is as effective as the steering wheel towards the limit, and a lovely supple ride. Few modern performance cars can claim all that.
Cheers
DP
|
I've re-read my original post, and want to point out that it is a beautiful (especially in coupe bodystyle) and very fast car and I didn't mean to sound quite as negative as my OP appeared. I retraced part of Saturday's route in my own car from work this evening) and then back a few minutes later in SWMBO's Golf ( I forgot to set an alarm), the one bend really highlights the differences between three very capable cars, the 5 takes it as well as anything, but there is more feel to the way it handles, really difficult to explain, SWMBO's Golf is go-kart quick and as previously stated here is the best fwd car I've driven with all that that implies. It feels a lot quicker than the the 3 series even though on paper it loses a couple of seconds to 60. The 335i is a seriously fast car, with phenomenal handling and superb ride, the software on the other two just give them that little tiny edge of "humanity" if that's the right word, they feel as if the suspension was thought out by an organic brain rather than an by electronics - flawed is the wrong word for all three cars. I love that petrol bi-turbo motor and would have that planted in less perfect version tomorrow. Oh how I love cars.
PS
MKv Golf GTi........superb all rounder, plenty of poke, no need to be chipped - trust me.
|
if you want to enjoy yourself, get a classic......something like a TR6/ 20 yr old 911/ Austin Healey 3000/ E Type (if you can afford it), etc
then you can use a modern, reliable, possibly boring machine everyday when you need/want the comfort reliability etc......and enjoy yourself when it's play time
|
|
|
|
:no_upscale():format(webp)/https://cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/cas/aed428ed0cd93c202939d03f3d40aca2/38c0652e5fc19cde7828fb88187e2d89.jpg)
:no_upscale():format(webp)/https://cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/cas/1cb29e9d9fc9d13d3bf85e1c4086a78b/be94d3f4b0c13ceed258bcfbdcbb6ce3.jpg)
:no_upscale():format(webp)/https://cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/fallback/coming-soon.webp)
:no_upscale():format(webp)/https://cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/cas/6a7a2003b98a864dcc6386328ec3ca87/498c54f6cf5b8380672a6d3aec4ab57a.jpg)
