Any experience with a BMW 335i?

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?

Didn't GRM "buy" one in the past few years?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

So, uh... what's the plan with the M5?

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.

You won't be able to stretch out a 335 anymore than the M5. It'll get far better gas mileage though...

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. :)

I've got about 5k on the 335i sedan I bought recently. It's a great solution to the hot rod daily driver with good manners and the class factor. Watch out for dirty titles s BMW bought a lot of them back on a variety of issues. Its a 5.5 sec 0-60 car that is supposed to run 12's out of the box. Make sure to get the sport package to get the oil cooler which almost any of the tuners require. Apparently the jb4 tuner is the ticket as it bumps it from 300 to 400 hp with an intake. The best part is that it's almost invisible to the lice as it's just another baby bimmer to the popo.

I picked p an 08 with 60k in great shape for 18k which made it an easy decision.

ProDarwin wrote: 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.

This why I'm always suspicious of the "butt dyno"

A stock 335 is more like a mid 13 second car.

I have a 2007 335i sedan that I bought CPO with roughly 30k on it in 2010. It know has 80k miles and has been pretty trouble free. My car is an auto thanks to the wife as I have a motorcycle and race spec miata and I have 3 year old twins. She got the auto but the carr has been great in spite of the transmission.

My car has the premium, cold weather and sport packages. The only problems I have had is a mechatronic transmission leak, a rear window regulator and a vanos sensor all covered under warranty.

The brakes were close to new at purchase and according to the the computer have less than 10k miles before replacement. According to Turner motorsports the parts will cost roughly $500. I do 10k oil changes and haven't touched the transmission. The car just runs and it is fun for a commuter. I bought snow tires and 17 inch rims for $1000 and they are still good. The sport package has a staggered setup and the rears will wear out quicker if you like to use acceleration along with the rear breaks. Non run flat tires will keep the replacement costs down and give better performance.

The interior of the car is holding up very well considering we sometimes use the car to transport 3 year old twins.

I would definitely recommend the car if it is something that interests you. Try the 1 series and the 328 as well just for comparisons sake. I love the motor in the 335 and only wish that it didn't fall off above 6250 like it does.

Yes,my grandfather has a 2007 335xi (without the sport package, automatic gearbox). I believe that most cars equipped with the sports package come with an oil cooler. Even during conservative driving, the car gets up to 250F which is in the middle of the oil temperature gauge. First off, throttle tip in is tricky. You accelerate lightly and then the first turbo hits at 1,400rpm. Secondly, the ride is horrible and I think that this has a great deal to do with the run *rap tires. Thirdly, certain parts of the interior are absolute E36 M3 in terms of durability and this goes for all BMWs of that era. Just after the normal warranty ends, many of the nice matte plastics in the interior start to peel revealing either a white or black shiny plastic underneath. Curiously enough, when he had them replaced under the extended warranty, the replacement peces resembled fake leather rather than plastic they replaced which suggests a mid model year change. He did have the fuel pump replaced as a recall although it never failed on him. Besides the $tealerships never ending barrage of BS charges, the car has had no issues.

The guy who lives in freaking FLORIDA thinks he has nowhere to "stretch out" his M5? Where would you have room to do that? Germany? Nevada? The surface of Venus?

It sounds like maybe you are feeling guilty about using a car you really really like as a regular car, and if you have the space, I think a better solution to this feeling is to buy something cheap, fun, and a little bit ratty to subject to the typical daily grind, rather than giving up a car you'll probably always regret giving up. I mean, look at Salanis/Beer Baron -- he's already trying to bait us into enabling him to buy another M Coupe just a year or two after he gave the last one up :).

EDIT: Uh, yeah, maybe I should look closer at the date of the original post. Hope my thoughts weren't too prescient :).

Josh wrote: The guy who lives in freaking FLORIDA thinks he has nowhere to "stretch out" his M5? Where *would* you have room to do that? Germany? Nevada? The surface of Venus? It sounds like maybe you are feeling guilty about using a car you really really like as a regular car, and if you have the space, I think a better solution to this feeling is to buy something cheap, fun, and a little bit ratty to subject to the typical daily grind, rather than giving up a car you'll probably always regret giving up. I mean, look at Salanis/Beer Baron -- he's already trying to bait us into enabling him to buy another M Coupe just a year or two after he gave the last one up :). EDIT: Uh, yeah, maybe I should look closer at the date of the original post. Hope my thoughts weren't too prescient :).

LOL. Not sure why this thread resurfaced. Regardless, I sold the e39 M5 and bought a 330i ZHP in its place. I miss the M5, but not the repair and fuel bills. When i said stretch it out, that probably wasn't the right choice of words. It was more of a waste schlepping around in that car. And I cycle through cars rather than keeping them long term. Too many cool cars in the world to drive.

I'm waiting on you to decide you don't want your current one anymore!