In the sake of fairness

[esanger]

I test drove a BMW 335i today. I wanted to stack it against the G37 Journey with Premium and Nav that I have basically decided upon. Here are my impressions:

The Interior is BLAH.. I mean, the MSRP was 48K, and the leather was like sand paper!! Everything else felt like the reused leftover platic dash parts from a Yugo...Very unimpressed with the looks, feel and layout of the interior..The seat was not even that comfortable, it was hard and unforgiving..The back seat has no room. Given that I am 6'2", I have to put the front seat all the way back. By doing this, there was about 2" of legroom left for the passenger behind me..so much for taking the car on family trips..

Exterior is nice. Paint and features are nice. Tires were run-flat which I don't care for and the car does not come with a spare, donut or anything because of this..nor is there room in the trunk for a spare or donut so I guess you are stuck with owning run flats for the rest of your life...that sucks..

Ride was..ok.. I mean it handles nice, turbo has a little lag but kicks in nicely.. low end torque was good and the car has some get up and go..but honestly, the lack of refinement in the interior and the lack of space killed the idea of owning a 3-series for me.. Just to appease the salesman, I said I would test drive a 5-series next week, but I am not optimistic.

One thing I did like that my Infiniti dealer would not let me do, is take the vehicle out by myself.. I was much better able to feel the car and felt much less under pressure which gave me the opportunity to really evaluate the car...

[joe603]

I've taken Infiniti cars out on test drives with my wife...it's really up to the dealership/salesmen.

I agree 100% with you on the 335i. A friend of mine has one and I was not impressed with the interior at all. The one thing that was better than the G, was the NAV system could be operated while moving...

See if you can test drive the M3!! That was in my pool of choices...a bit more expensive if you buy new. I also wanted the G8 GXP, which are really hard to find and they don't make them anymore....but 415+HP is hard to beat!

[Poyzinous]

Is the M3 just a 335 with a different engine? if so, he may still have space/storage issues. Either way, I've sat in the back seat of a G37 and its comfy enough for an hour long drive...

[Kendahl]

My wife's nephew used to have a 330ix. When the warranty expired, he replaced it with a 535i. He has three children from 2 to 8 years old. There wasn't enough room for them in the back seat of a 3-series car.

I appreciate your comment about turbo lag. While turbos have improved over the last 20 years, they still have to spin up before they do any good. A normally aspirated engine, or a supercharged one, is always ready to go. Before buying my G37S, I thought about a 328i coupe. Fast enough and no turbo lag.

I think the M cars do not come with run flats. That should tell us something about the target market for each.

Tell us more about the handling. That is supposed be BMW's forte. Maybe no longer.

[infinitgkid]

[zozoka1212]

Coupe vs Coupe BMW has more room and faster. Never been a big fan of european interior. Too traditional to my taste.
It is subjective some people prefer that instead of the jap version.
Sedan vs Sedan the G is bigger. It is a size between the 3-5 series.

In both cases the 335i is faster and much easier to tune it.



The new 335i might be a different story since they change it to single turbo instead of twin. Only the S version will come with twin. Also the fuel pump issue I believe still there.

Both cars nice tho. If I did not care about interior space and reliability I would probably buy one of the 335 just for tune the hack out of it. Tuned 335 can beat the M3.

[soul_hfk]

the thing that turned me off from the german line of car is the cost of owner ship oh and joe im with u on the G8. damn u GM for make a damn car that looks good and runs like a SOB and then u drop that line after only a 2 yr run.

[joe603]

The G8 GXP did not go with GM's new direction...at least the corvette has been spared. I'm hoping for a 4-door version (or a friggen backseat) of the 'Vette someday.

[tfree32]

I've experienced the same frustration with trying to use the Nav system while driving Joe, but using the voice commands seems to work pretty well. I realize not wanting people fiddling with controls while they drive is probably a safety thing...but how about disabling that if there's a passenger in the car?

[joe603]

I did the NAV bypass mod...so it works as it should now. But I totally agree that a passenger should be able to use the system while moving.

[kmckis1029]

The G8 GXP did not go with GM's new direction...at least the corvette has been spared. I'm hoping for a 4-door version (or a friggen backseat) of the 'Vette someday.

i would of seriously looked at the G8 if it was AWD.

the 335ix didnt sway me from getting my g37x as the G's interior just killed it, bmws look dated. Im a big technology fan so infiniti won me over. then its like $10k more for the same stuff, the cost of owership and fuel pump problems futher scared me away. Also BMWs are a dime a dozen where i live... ive yet to see a 2010 g37x in my area

yeah the bmw is a little faster with its turbo, and i do like the outside styling but its not as unique as the G. Then as i was looking on their site, real leather is not standard on a bmw anymore wtf? they got something called "leatherett" (i guess that was the sandpaper you sat on LOL) its like another $1500 for real leather. BMW is slacking SMH

[joe603]

That's typical for BMW. The have options for everything! The one thing I liked about the 335i's engine is that with an aftermarket boost controller, you could bump the HP to 400. But like you mentioned, the fuel pump issue is a real problem....aside from the huge $$ premium over the G's.

[esanger]

The car handled phenominal. I mean, it really is a good road course car. But I speced out a 2011 335 with Nav and Premium and it was 48K MSRP..and the interior was horrible..fake leather, Geo Metro type plastic dash...blech..

I also didn't care for the Salesman (who happened to be the New Car Sales Manager)...He said "You looked at the Infiniti and the Lexus and yet here you are"...WTF??

[sniper27]

I've never cared for BMW's interior. My favorite German brand would be Audi, and they have one of the most beautiful interiors out there. The Audi S4 would be my choice. It beats the 335 in every way.

[kmckis1029]

The car handled phenominal. I mean, it really is a good road course car. But I speced out a 2011 335 with Nav and Premium and it was 48K MSRP..and the interior was horrible..fake leather, Geo Metro type plastic dash...blech..

I also didn't care for the Salesman (who happened to be the New Car Sales Manager)...He said "You looked at the Infiniti and the Lexus and yet here you are"...WTF??

LOL that smug comment was probably aimed at the fact a lot of people get BMW strictly based on the name "bmw" and dont really sit down and see what you getting compared to other brands.

+1

if i was going to spend 50k on a luxury sport sedan... audi or benz would be my choice. But id rather wait and save 30k more and go for a nissian GTR

[Tim30250]

Then as i was looking on their site, real leather is not standard on a bmw anymore wtf? they got something called "leatherett" (i guess that was the sandpaper you sat on LOL) its like another $1500 for real leather. BMW is slacking SMH

I'm not sure it ever was standard, as BMW is well known for optioning customers half to death by not including much at all in the base price. Neither the 1999 323is that I owned nor the 330Ci that I currently own came with standard leather. In the 323is, I had to order it with premium pkg to get the leather, and my 330Ci had to have the sport or premium pkg (I choose sport) to get real leather. They also never include automatic trans, so for the 95% of would be BMW owners that will want real leather and auto trans, they can add $3000 to the base price before they even begin discussing real options. MSRP on a 3-series is typically $4000 to $7000 above the base price. That's one of the many things that drove me away from BMW and into Infiniti for my most recent purchase.

[Tim30250]

I've never cared for BMW's interior. My favorite German brand would be Audi, and they have one of the most beautiful interiors out there. The Audi S4 would be my choice. It beats the 335 in every way.

That's a little bit apples to oranges. The S4 is a direct competitor for the M3 and AMG C63, not the 335 or C350. I completely agree that the Audi interiors completely blow away those of BMW, but when it comes to overall performance, I feel that BMW still has the edge by a substantial margin.

[sniper27]

I agree, for the most part, BMW performs better than Audi. However, some models I disagree. Just went and test drove the Audi A6 3.0T supercharged today with my parents. That car blows away the 5 series IMO. Now the A4 compared to the 335, ok, 335 wins, but the 328 is nothing to write home about either. But the interior of the A6 was beautiful. This is for my parents who have a 08 M35 and they agree, the feel of the Audi is just overall more solid. From the thump of the door to the overall feel of the drive. Again, not saying Infiniti is bad, as obviously we have 2 of them...just totally different feel between Germans and Japanese.

[Poyzinous]

but 4 years down the road, one will be much less troublesome than the other. Its one of those things I see a lot in german cars. the post warranty issues and troubles.

[sniper27]

but 4 years down the road, one will be much less troublesome than the other. Its one of those things I see a lot in german cars. the post warranty issues and troubles.

absolutely true...which is why I sold the Audi and got my G37. I was looking further down the road this time.