BMW 335i Reviews

Whack the 3.0-litre twin-turbo powerplant under the serious-looking snout and the exec-express sedan is an A-grade Q-car. With 225kW and 400Nm on offer there's fun to be had, but while it can outpace the rest of the field here there's a piper to be paid. The engine is lagless and muscular, with a feral howl and torque to satisfy most demands.BMW has a habit of optioning up the test cars and this sedan is no exception - a $2750 electric sunroof, metallic paint for $1600 and the $4500 M-Pack which brings sports wheels, sports suspension and a host of M-stamped bits and pieces.It was the M suspension which brought the 335i back to the field everywhere but the racetrack. There is a reason why BMW's lauded M Division does not pair run-flat tyres with its M suspension. On the 335i the combination manifested with skittish behaviour over mid-corner bumps that failed to fluster most others and a ride quality away from the track that was difficult to excuse.Check out the video below and let us know if you think this is a worthy Car of the Year nominee.Click here for all the latest on the carsguide Car Of The Year

The twin-turbo, three-litre, six-cylinder BMW 335i Coupe was created to go fast in comfort. Its top speed of 250km/h must be an awesome experience on the Euro speedways where the car gets to prove its ultimate performance.Crawling down Parramatta Rd in Sydney's peak-hour chaos is not quite the same.But at least it's comfortable.From its standout 18-inch wheels with the iconic BMW badge in the centre to the sharp lines of the body back to the twin exhausts, this is a modern sports saloon.It's BMW's return to turbocharging and they have done it in style. The burble of the engine note alone is enough to know this is something special. BMW states that the innovative low-inertia turbos are designed to fire up quickly eliminating turbo lag.However, particularly at low speeds there is a slight, but noticeable pause between depressing the accelerator and when the turbos kicking in to fire up this beast.But, aaah, when it kicks in, you are travelling in style. BMW quotes acceleration from 0-100km/h in 5.5 seconds, outputs of 225kW of power and a bitey 400Nm of torque that is available across a wide band of revs. The test car came with a six-speed automatic gear box with delicious F1-style shift paddles on the steering wheel.The paddles are good fun to play with but the auto will shift intelligently between the gears without them.The gear knob itself is a piece of modern auto styling with sharp edges for a sure grip.Standard equipment includes Bi-Xenon headlights, leather trim, sports suspension and an impressive distance control function that beeps loudly when you get too close to anything. Satellite navigation, through a colour screen, is an option.BMW's unique i-Drive control system, one control knob to operate everything from the radio to the navigation system, is on board. However, despite a briefing on how to operate it, the system is still confusing.Even allowing that this operator struggles with VCR timers, this system of one button controlling a separate screen through a mix of taps, pushes, turns and slides isn't as simple as a touchscreen operation.Meanwhile, the seating up front is all luxury with all-electronic movement.In the back, the two seats (there's a console between them where a middle seat would normally go) are also comfortable but accessing them can be awkward for larger passengers. Being a coupe the doors are larger than a sedan so you have to becareful where you park it to ensure there is enough room to open them to get in and out. This is particularly so for rear passengers who have to get in and out after the front seats are tilted forward.But this really is a driver's car.From the moment you insert the keyfob into the slot and press the start button it has a feel of solid luxury. Its technical marvels includes a robot-like arm that presents the front seat travellers with their seat belts before sliding back into its slot.This was a smooth operation on the 335i. However, the driver's side on the other member of the BMW 3 Series Coupe family tested separately, the 325i, did not always return to its correct slot in the B-pillar.But back to Sydney's ordinary roads. Thecar's 18-inch run-flat tyres seem to pick up every major bump and you certainly feel the road surface when crossing over motorway joints and rough surfaces. On potholed roads it is far worse. Where you do most of your driving could be a key factor in what sortof rubber you put on this car.Despite the twin-turbocharger and enormous power, claimed fuel economy of the car is good. Getting 9.5 litres per 100km out of such a beast is comparable with some large four-cylinder cars. However, as most of my mileage was around town figures were higher.The 335i arrived on the scene too late to be considered for CARSguide Car of the Year.Had things been different it could have been a serious threat to our 10 finalists. But it looks set to collect its share of awards in Europe.

WISER heads than mine sagely say that a car ought not -indeed cannot -be judged by the cossetted drive that is typical of media launches.No, they continue - usually unbidden and often at considerable length - you must take the newcomer in question and spend days comparing it with other cars of questionable relevance, prevailing upon them in a manner that the generality would not so much as contemplate in a month of Bathurst 1000s.Well, it's impossible not to be overcome by the immediate impression made by BMW's new 335i Coupe.Yes, our behind the wheel exposure was of but 100km with another 70 as passenger. Yet only a knave or a fool could deny that here, at last, is a new BMW that ceases to be merely monotonously class-leading and ascends to a class of its own.With the lesser but nevertheless impressive variant of the E92 series (as the coupe derivative of the E90 sedan is known to trainspotters), it is easier to suggest that these are simply two-door sedans. This taunt has long been levelled at 3 Series Coupes and if it's a lazy liable, then it hasn't always been without substance.But the bi-turbocharged bombast of the top of the range 335i sets it far apart from the metallic-coloured pack.After decades of plausibly denying that they would ever again blow one of their iconic inline six cylinder petrol engines, those barmy Bavarians have done just that. Power is 225kW, torque 400Nm, appreciable increases on the seemingly too soft atmo 3.0-litre six that fills the 330i sedan's engine bay.This translates to a claimed 0-100kmh sprint figure of 5.7 seconds (5.5 in the manual) and a feeling of performance that transcends both these numbers and the car's 1525kg kerb weight.That's apt really, because the 335i transcends its 3 Series cousins much as the first jet fighter did those driven by propeller.With high precision direct fuel injection and twin blowers each assigned to force feed three cylinders of the all aluminium six potter, maximum torque is tapped at only 1300rpm and it stays on tap all the way to 5000.The claimed fuel consumption figure is an impressive and wholly credible 9.5 litres per 100km.Coupes, it is acknowledged, are emotional purchase decisions, so it helps not a little that the new 3 Series range has escaped the dreaded set square of BMW design chief, Chris Bangle. They are, by some degrees of magnitude, the most becoming of the current Bimmers. Nary a panel is shared with the sedan - two at the front are made from tough synthetics to save weight. Even the trademark twin kidney grille has been purpose refined.Aside these are twin headlight clusters that, when seen in a rearview mirror, have the aspect of a stalking predator. The coupe's smooth, flowing lines are seen to best advantage from the rear three quarters.Within it's typically BMW, though with embellishments that include robotised arms which extend the front seat belts to hand when the doors are shut. Standard equipment far exceeds the company's notoriously spartan norm.Options are few and largely superfluous. Steering wheel mounted gear changing paddles are a $200 option, but given that each performs the same function (either can be manipulated for down or up gearchanges as opposed to the more usual left flap for down/ right for up), why not just one for $100?Or none for nothing? The lightening quick 100 millisecond shifts can also be accessed via the good old gear stick.So while we had no opportunity to sample the manual, we scarcely felt hard done by. The auto 335i holds a gear past redline, allowing for power spurts and engine braking with almost alarming adroitness.The Active Steering system is ultra-responsive and dramatically direct at 1.9 turn lock-to-lock in tight conditions. At pace, your hands never need leave the correct nine-to-three position.Although afflicted by runflat tyres (the rear pair are of a slightly lower profile) ride is compliant.The stiff sports suspension makes the coupe an avid devourer of bends, the DTC control allowing quite some leeway and kicking in deftly when cornering envelopes threaten to tear.It's one thing to boast of rear-wheel-drive dynamics and perfect 50/50 weight distribution, it's quite another to match them to car that is so exhilarating yet so easily controlled.Yes, our exposure was all too brief, but the 335i convinces as quickly as it accelerates.