[Freefreefive]

Hi everyone

Been lurking for the past few weeks on the board and learned a lot. I thought I’d give something back and devote some time to writing a review of why I purchased my car and the buying process for those looking for a 335i coupe - from my point of view. The below are my opinions only...

The past:

I had owned my '97 E36 M3 for the past 4 years. It was a great car that i really enjoyed driving and has been absolutely reliable for approx 43,000kms with nothing more than oil changes.

Big grin when wringing it out and great handling and most of the time it drank no more that 10L/100kms which for the performance was wonderful.
Here’s what it looked like:





I’ve also owned a Suzuki Swift GTI (great fun!!),a 2005 WRX, a E39 528i, a bunch of E36s (318is, 320i, 325i), a Honda legend, a Honda Integra, Mazda 929 and also spent a bit of time driving a c180 Mercedes so I consider myself reasonably knowledgeable about cars in general and also bought and sold cars for a while to help pay for drinks while I was at uni

Requirements for next car:

Budget: Started off wanting to spend no more than $40K but ended up topping out at $55k after I decided on what I wanted.

My requirements were: Daily driven car, lot of time in traffic. Had to be 2 door, reasonably quick and auto/smg/dct – didn’t want a manual anymore as I was sick of shifting gear esp in heavy traffic

Size of the car:
I've got 2 kids (3yr old and 1 yr old) and so wanted something i could put the kids in on the weekend (wife drives an X5 during the week). One of my requirements (though not a must was having isofix points in the rear - wasn't a deal breaker but much wanted). Look isofix up if you don’t know what it is – you can buy seats from the uk and have them imported – they are awesome and you can swap a seat from one car to the other in 2 mins flat. Anyway….

Here were the contenders:

BMW E46 M3

I initially wanted an E46 M3 - was looking for a 2003+ coupe - ideally in Bronze Metallic SMG, but this was a long shot and would have most likely ended up with a gunmetal grey one with black interior. If you don’t know what bronze metallic looks like Google it – it will change your life!!! I was pretty much set on the M3 but they were hard to find in good shape. Most i saw were dogs and really neglected. I was also a bit annoyed by the fact that there were very few available at dealers - most were private and i wanted the 3 month statutory warranty...

Maserati 3200 GT / 4200

Flirted a bit with the Maser as they are getting cheap now – especially the UK imports where a reasonably clean 3200 can be had for $40k. Prob with 3200 is it had to be auto as I didn’t want a manual. 3200 manuals are the ones to go for as the auto can be troublesome from what I read.
Other option was 4200 which had a dual clutch type box which was ok except from my research looked like it would cost mega $$$ to replace the clutches and they needed to be done every 20,000kms so would be a job I needed to do every year. The overall reliability of them was questionable from my research so gave up on it in the end. Great looking car and quite good performance but build quality and fuel consumption were my main concerns.

Porsche 911 – 996 3.6L Carrera

Took a good look at the porker but only wanted a 2001+ model as the early 3.4L were a bit slow and I didn’t like the headlights. Most of the cars that were cheap were cabriolets and I wanted a coupe. If you’ve never sat in a Porsche (I never had before) do yourself a favour. They are TINY! The back seats are a joke. I’m not saying that compared to a two seater lambo or Ferrari they’re not practical – they are – but compared to a bmw coupe they are miles apart for everyday use. I wouldn’t mind one if I had the money and garage to keep several cars but as it would be my only car it just wasn’t big enough. Also, the auto box was wasn’t magical and I really wanted a 997 but just couldn’t afford it. So I killed that.

I also toyed with getting a Nissan 350z, Mercedes E55 AMG, Mercedes CLK55AMG and a Mercedes CL55 / CL600. All were written off due to a combination of either reliability, fuel consumption or size (too big) but all good value for money given what they’re worth these days and what they offer.

What I got in the end:

The car: Late 2007 build 335i Coupe Auto

Colour: Titanium Silver

Interior: Black leather w/ grey poplar wood

Why the 335i?

A few reasons:

It was a newer car. It had isofix. It was a decent size. It looked ok. Yes, only ok. It’s not an ugly car but I would call it – inoffensive – its there and looks good but it doesn’t make me go weak at the knees like the M3 would.

So why did I get one?

Because on blance for the performance, practicality, looks, reliability, tunability and overall pleasure of driving you can't get a better car new or used for the price.

What actually sold me on the 335i?

One day I picked up the phone and called a company.
Peter Fitzgerald from Evolve Technik answered the phone and I asked him straight out – what’s better an E46 M3 or 335i if I wanted to get around quickly with a daily driver etc.

He said 335i hands down – I was taken aback as I had pretty much made up my mind to get an E46. He asked if I was busy and luckily I wasn’t. He said come down and I’ll show you what I mean. So I went down and he took me for a spin in a tuned one he had just done for a customer. Wow, a couple of WOT runs and I was sold. This thing was brutal and all it had was a tune and exhaust. I was sold. Whilst i didn't get a tune through him, i would highly recommend his business. He knows what he's talking about and is just a great guy all round so if you're looking for a flash tune i recommend it.

The buying process:

I wanted to buy from a dealer but most that I saw were either unrealistically priced or very rough. There are a few that were there months ago and will still be there – people are just blind to the fact that you can’t overprice cars in this environment.

Anywho, I ended up buying privately off a really nice guy who had it serviced by BMW and this thing was really nice – the best I’d seen. The deal was done and I picked it up 2 weeks ago.

Impressions:

This thing is awesome. Goes hard, fantastic torque, love the gadgets and its quite comfortable even with 19 inch runflats.

What’s the performance like:

Let me put it this way – the M3 was a more rewarding car to drive. Because it was manual and liked the revs you were really connected to the car and it just felt great to drive and push. This thing has so much toque that you bury your foot and you loose your licence a few seconds later. It is AMAZING how quickly it gathers momentum. It is definitely a much faster car but not as involving. All things being equal I’m not disappointed, but I would say it the first car that I felt annoyed in because of our speed limits. You just can’t explore it on public roads so I want to track it one day just to see what it’s capable of.

The PROcede

So last night I got a procede fitted to it. Bought it off Adrian in Sydney and Stuart from BMR installed it. Big thanks to the guys for their help. Adrian is a top bloke who answered a million stupid questions and Stu installed my procede using torch light on flinders lane at 2am so customer service just stepped up - wow… these people are unreal and if you need anything they should be your first call.

Luster also coded some stuff for me which just was the cream – thanks esp for the TV in motion!!! Love it. Have no idea how to get the DVD in motion (or even stationary for that matter) working but that’s for another post…

So how does it drive with the procede?

WOW is all I can say. This thing is a monster. My personal view is that if you buy this car and you don’t have a tune you are only getting about 70% of your money’s worth.

Why procede?

I did a bit of research and it looked to me like the best value for money for what you get and was safer than the JB4. I don’t care to prove this and don’t want to hear comments from JB4 people – it’s just what I read and was more comfortable with it – you make up your own mind – plenty of JB4 people who are happy and have no issues – I just wanted to be super safe. Traction is such an issue now that having more power seems redundant if I can’t get it to the ground so more on that later….

If you’ve read this far congratualtions – you have more patience (or are bored more) than 99.995 of the population. As a reward, here are a few pics of the car (spent a bit of time detailing it today)

Look forward to being an active member and meeting up with some people soon…

[Freefreefive]

[Dec540]

Congrats on the purchase. I have the same dilemma that you faced, e46 m3 vs. 335i and have recently changed my mind to get the 335.

Is it possible to link to the threads / pages you read about JB4 Vs Procede?

[davidturnedge]

Beautiful car. And this is from me who doesn't like 3-Series coupes.

[Freefreefive]

Originally Posted by Dec540

Congrats on the purchase. I have the same dilemma that you faced, e46 m3 vs. 335i and have recently changed my mind to get the 335.

Is it possible to link to the threads / pages you read about JB4 Vs Procede?

Not really - i've read probably hundredes of posts / threads on it. Best things to look for are on n54tech.com and also here and on the usa sites. Just google procede vs JB3/JB4 and you'll see it all.

My concern centred around the timing and the fact that procede anticipateds and controls it whereas the JB4 listens for knock from the sensors and the acts accordingly.

Factually and from the number of people that run the JB4 it seems not to be an issue but i felt more comfortable with the procede knowing that it will do it a bit more safely. The extra $500 was worth it in my opinion and also i got the latest Rev3 so it's super customisable and will provide me with options should i mod the car further down the road

[Freefreefive]

Originally Posted by davidturnedge

Beautiful car. And this is from me who doesn't like 3-Series coupes.

thanks mate - sounds like my 4 hours of work today were well worth it!

[sbce90]

Fantastic write up! I read it all - no joke. Good meeting you the other night as well with stu and allen.

[RaihaX]

Congrats and don't forget about Cobb dec

I applaud Stuart for installing a procede at 2 am

[Stuart@BMRAutowerkes]

Had the pleasure of riding in this car on Friday evening, it's immaculate.

335i really is a great car. Smart looks, great performance, luxurious and minimal maintenance issues to worry about (HPFP excluded but that's not a big deal anyway).

Procede v JB4 really is a can of worms, you can't go wrong with either.

[pavo335]

nice car fella (you might want to tell the neighbour to keep the pintara in the garage or your property price will drop )

next you need some wheels. I don't know whether the non msport body kit looks a little plain jane or if you just need a set of decent exhaust tips

Don't get sucked into the vishnu marketing hype about knock its a load of BS imho. As for service from the two camps........ I'm seriously considering the corn cobb atm, just based on Rai's feedback and we all know he is a serial mod offender

[DosVerde]

Nice write up Fff, I think the modability of the 335 will keep away any buyers remorse.

I was in a similar position (although with a lower budget) and was about to drop my money on an early 2000 AMG, but was prepared to sacrifice power for a much more balanced ride once I test drove a couple of BMWs.

[Kiwi Peter]

Nice ride well done, if we can help just give us a call

[Freefreefive]

Ehehe thanks guys.

I don't think my neighbor would get it...

No tuning wars are to be entered into. When I was looking for my car and tune I read heaps of opinions which helped and confused me too. This is just another persons point of view.

I don't care who has what tune - its your car - go nuts!

Re wheels I'm happy with how these look but a bit concerned about them cracking. Prev owner already replaced one.

I may be willing to swap for some 18s plus cash....

Also, for those that are concerned - the auto box rocks!

[luster]

I dont mind the wheels, a big brake kit would be so much better though in my opinion!

[Freefreefive]

Thanks mate. Really appreciated your help the other night. As for brakes I'm pretty happy with stock at the moment but do want to paint the calipers red. Anyone with tips on this much appreciated.

[cruvon]

Congrats, cars a beauty!

[Jeef Beef]

Good choice. Can't go wrong with a PROcede and PROcede

Also post needs a tl;dr

[BMJOE]

welcome aboard mate, love the wheels but i am biased.

I am sure u will really enjoy the car!

cheers

Joe

[Freefreefive]

Thanks for the kind words and welcome folks.
Are there any meets planned the next few weeks? Would love to see what others are driving and have done with their cars

[BMJOE]

Originally Posted by Freefreefive

Thanks for the kind words and welcome folks.
Are there any meets planned the next few weeks? Would love to see what others are driving and have done with their cars

nice call, lets get a meet going.

this coming sat?

[Stuart@BMRAutowerkes]

Originally Posted by Jeef Beef

Good choice. Can't go wrong with a PROcede and PROcede

Also post needs a tl;dr

tl;dr:

- OP owned E36 M3
- OP bought E92 335i
- OP loves Procede

[lz419]

Congrats on your purchase and welcome!!!
a meeting sounds tempting