E9x or F30 335d 335i

[OctaneV8]

Has anyone tried both,

I've always liked the styling of the E9x and have an E46 3.0 petrol auto.

initially I have been looking for an E92 or E91 335d, possibly E90 if it has split-fold rear seats,

also like the 2010+ n55 335i.


now I'm tempted by the improved economy, and ZF 8hp gearbox on the F30,

seems sensible for £10k or under to consider the F30.

Interested to hear your comparisons.

[rottenegg]

E9x and F3x are both great cars. The last of the handsome 3 series imo. G30 onwards they've started getting a bit fugly and bland looking.

F3x loses the E9x's hydraulic steering in favour of EPS, which has absolutely no feel what so ever.....but...the weighting of the F3x's electric rack actually feels quite nice to the hand, imo. Just need to trust the front tyres are gripping, in spite of the puny amount of negative camber (half a degree), but thats another story.

The ZF8 is what makes the F3x imo. Such a huge improvement over the ZF6 in the E9x, both in terms of acceleration, refinement and mpg.

The F3x body shell is markedly stiffer than the E9x as well, so handling and overall structural integrity is a noticeable step up over the E9x.

If it were my money, F3x all day long.

The N57 and N55 are both great engines. They just need regular maintenance and mechanical sympathy and you're golden. You just need to decide if you want derv or petrol.

If derv, I would personally go for the F3x 30d RWD. The 35d's extra turbo doesn't really come into play until you're doing silly speeds and the consequential mpg hit isn't worth it, imo.

If you want petrol, personally I would stretch the budget to a 340i with the B58 engine.

[Court_S]

The E9x cars are quite a bit smaller than the F3x cars which can be a good or a bad thing. I had an F30 for a week which felt massive compared to my E90 I had. My car felt very small when I got it back a week later.

The tech on the later car is obviously better but the CCC and CIC nav on the older car is easy to upgrade to CarPlay / Android auto which brings it bang up to date.

The HPAS of the older car is a bit nicer, but it’s still not brimming with feel.

The ZF8 is way better than the ZF6 but the E92 335i coupe was available with the DCT which would be my pick of the gearboxes.

[danb79]

As above

When I sold my last Jap import E39 I wanted an E91 335i - I test drove an E90 325i and E91 330D locally just to see how they were for size, and they're small inside; smaller than the E39, no good for me as I'm not a small person!

I've got a RWD F31 touring and it's a superb car; the ZF8 is such a good box and makes the drive fantastic. They're a great car inside too with bags of room

They're a good car steering wise & handling wise too and simple mods can make them much better also (ie I've fitted Bilstein B4S shocks and Eibach pro kit springs to mine as part of a full suspension overhaul, to future proof the car) and the car now drives/handles much, much better

I've got the 325d (far and few between, twin turbo 4 port N47 engine) and it's belting. But agree, if you can and want to, deffo go for the 30d straight six; the N57 is such a good engine. Or, maybe a 330i (if you can find one) or a 340i (if you're budget stretches)

[rottenegg]

Court_S said:

The E9x cars are quite a bit smaller than the F3x cars which can be a good or a bad thing. I had an F30 for a week which felt massive compared to my E90 I had. My car felt very small when I got it back a week later.

The tech on the later car is obviously better but the CCC and CIC nav on the older car is easy to upgrade to CarPlay / Android auto which brings it bang up to date.

The HPAS of the older car is a bit nicer, but it’s still not brimming with feel.

The ZF8 is way better than the ZF6 but the E92 335i coupe was available with the DCT which would be my pick of the gearboxes.

Yeah the F3x is quite a bulky car externally but the interior space is no bigger than my old MK5 Golf's! The F3x is also a fair chunk heavier than the E9x as well iirc, but because of the 8 speeds, you don't really notice it when accelerating. The first 4 gears are silly short.

The DCT hooked up to the V8 in the E9x M3 was a match made in heaven, but DCT in the F series is only available in the F80 M3 sadly.

Yeah the infotainment in the F series is a pain in the hoop to upgrade. Mega expensive to upgrade to iDrive 6, but there's always the Chinese MMI boxes if the OEM route is too expensive. But anything like that will likely void a BMW insured warranty.

[MajorMantra]

On the subject of steering, don't the later E9x cars have EPAS too? I forget exactly when the change happened, sometime around the LCI maybe?

[bgunn]

Yep, anything ‘EfficientDynamics’ has EPAS.

[Court_S]

MajorMantra said:

On the subject of steering, don't the later E9x cars have EPAS too? I forget exactly when the change happened, sometime around the LCI maybe?

Not on all of them, I believed the 335i kept HPAS as did the M3.

[Court_S]

rottenegg said:

Yeah the F3x is quite a bulky car externally but the interior space is no bigger than my old MK5 Golf's! The F3x is also a fair chunk heavier than the E9x as well iirc, but because of the 8 speeds, you don't really notice it when accelerating. The first 4 gears are silly short.

The DCT hooked up to the V8 in the E9x M3 was a match made in heaven, but DCT in the F series is only available in the F80 M3 sadly.

Yeah the infotainment in the F series is a pain in the hoop to upgrade. Mega expensive to upgrade to iDrive 6, but there's always the Chinese MMI boxes if the OEM route is too expensive. But anything like that will likely void a BMW insured warranty.

An E92 335i was available with the DCT gearbox if the OP is happier with the older car.

You can always just change the screen in the F series cars to add CarPlay for not too much cash. I’ve used Andream in the past, and can’t fault the way they worked.

[InitialDave]

I've driven both the E and the F in automatic 330d form, and I think for an all-rounder daily to use as-is I'd go with the F.

Though my preference would be for petrol if I were buying for myself.

[helix403]

E9x 335d kept hpas.

[Pica-Pica]

rottenegg said:

If derv, I would personally go for the F3x 30d RWD. The 35d's extra turbo doesn't really come into play until you're doing silly speeds and the consequential mpg hit isn't worth it, imo.

I disagree about the 335d turbo. In fact the reverse of what you say. The 330d single turbo does not come into play at lower revs, whereas the 335d has higher torque and coming in lower down the rev range annd continuing, to ensure the power keeps developing as the revs rise.

[cerb4.5lee]

Pica-Pica said:

rottenegg said:

If derv, I would personally go for the F3x 30d RWD. The 35d's extra turbo doesn't really come into play until you're doing silly speeds and the consequential mpg hit isn't worth it, imo.

I disagree about the 335d turbo. In fact the reverse of what you say. The 330d single turbo does not come into play at lower revs, whereas the 335d has higher torque and coming in lower down the rev range annd continuing, to ensure the power keeps developing as the revs rise.

I always think that a second turbo just adds that little bit of extra something as well, and I think that for both petrol and diesel engines.

[Court_S]

Pica-Pica said:

I disagree about the 335d turbo. In fact the reverse of what you say. The 330d single turbo does not come into play at lower revs, whereas the 335d has higher torque and coming in lower down the rev range annd continuing, to ensure the power keeps developing as the revs rise.

I agree, the 35d engine is mightily impressive. The 30d is a very good engine, the 35d is just punchier.

[Boleros]

I've owned both in 335d Touring form and the F31 is the better car. Gearbox is better, ride is better (although I did spec Adaptive), interior is generally a nicer place to sit and it feels a bit more useable. Economy was the biggest thing I noticed, so much better in the newer car, I was really surprised. On the plus side for the E91 it did feel more lively being only rear wheel drive but I didn't really buy that car for a hoon although both of them are pretty quick.

[rottenegg]

Pica-Pica said:

rottenegg said:

If derv, I would personally go for the F3x 30d RWD. The 35d's extra turbo doesn't really come into play until you're doing silly speeds and the consequential mpg hit isn't worth it, imo.

I disagree about the 335d turbo. In fact the reverse of what you say. The 330d single turbo does not come into play at lower revs, whereas the 335d has higher torque and coming in lower down the rev range annd continuing, to ensure the power keeps developing as the revs rise.

That isn't what I experienced during the test drives. I drove a 435d and a 330d back to back from the same dealer on the same day. I only noticed the 35d's extra clout past 2000rpm. Maybe that particular car was a 'bad egg', or maybe the 30d was a 'good one', who knows, but ultimately I settled on the 30d. Don't get me wrong, I was expecting to be blown away by the 435d after testing the 30d first, but I wasn't.

[rottenegg]

Court_S said:

rottenegg said:

Yeah the F3x is quite a bulky car externally but the interior space is no bigger than my old MK5 Golf's! The F3x is also a fair chunk heavier than the E9x as well iirc, but because of the 8 speeds, you don't really notice it when accelerating. The first 4 gears are silly short.

The DCT hooked up to the V8 in the E9x M3 was a match made in heaven, but DCT in the F series is only available in the F80 M3 sadly.

Yeah the infotainment in the F series is a pain in the hoop to upgrade. Mega expensive to upgrade to iDrive 6, but there's always the Chinese MMI boxes if the OEM route is too expensive. But anything like that will likely void a BMW insured warranty.

An E92 335i was available with the DCT gearbox if the OP is happier with the older car.

You can always just change the screen in the F series cars to add CarPlay for not too much cash. I’ve used Andream in the past, and can’t fault the way they worked.

Depends on the head unit. Some MMI boxes don't support the Magnetti Marelli 6.5" EntryNAV HU in the 2015/2016 cross over year, which is the issue I ran into. I have to use the much more expensive Integrated Automotive box, so I didn't bother and just stuck an 8.8" screen in instead.

[Pica-Pica]

rottenegg said:

Pica-Pica said:

rottenegg said:

If derv, I would personally go for the F3x 30d RWD. The 35d's extra turbo doesn't really come into play until you're doing silly speeds and the consequential mpg hit isn't worth it, imo.

I disagree about the 335d turbo. In fact the reverse of what you say. The 330d single turbo does not come into play at lower revs, whereas the 335d has higher torque and coming in lower down the rev range annd continuing, to ensure the power keeps developing as the revs rise.

That isn't what I experienced during the test drives. I drove a 435d and a 330d back to back from the same dealer on the same day. I only noticed the 35d's extra clout past 2000rpm. Maybe that particular car was a 'bad egg', or maybe the 30d was a 'good one', who knows, but ultimately I settled on the 30d. Don't get me wrong, I was expecting to be blown away by the 435d after testing the 30d first, but I wasn't.

This is the torque and power curves for the 335d. Note the max torque from 1500rpm, and 80% of that max torque comes in at1200rpm, which is the minimum engine revs that it goes to before down changing when cruising on a level road.

[Court_S]

rottenegg said:

Depends on the head unit. Some MMI boxes don't support the Magnetti Marelli 6.5" EntryNAV HU in the 2015/2016 cross over year, which is the issue I ran into. I have to use the much more expensive Integrated Automotive box, so I didn't bother and just stuck an 8.8" screen in instead.

Andream is a screen replacement, not a box.

Integrated Automotive stuff isn’t cheap but works well (I used their solution to add CarPlay to my 130i with CCC nav).

[Billy_Rosewood]

F30 is the better everyday car simply down to the infotainment.

Everything else is relatively similar.

F30 is better looking than the E90, but the E92 is better looking than an F32 imo.

Zf8 is a better gearbox, for everyday, but the zf6 is still great. I just found the shift point between 2nd and 3rd a little high and awkward for slow driving around town..