[itsjappo]

I have been debating whether doing this for a while now. I just need some opinions. Here's the current scenario:

Trading in my 01 m3 6spd w/ 68k miles for a 07 335i 6spd CPO w/ 38k miles.

I'm getting $15233 for my m3 and the 335i is on sale for $27500. 2.9% for 60 months with payment of $575 due to $3000 carry over balance from current loan.

Question 1: You think this is a good deal? YES or NO?

I love the m3 very much but I don't ever track my car. I just do spirited driving around town. I use it as my daily and my work is only around 10 miles away. I thought of getting the 335i because it has good power out of the box (comparable to the m3) but also adds the comfort and luxury of a daily driver. The power gains are also very easily achievable with the car for less money than the m3. All in all, after very much research and comparison, it seems that the 335i would be a better fit for my use but at the same time, I don't want to make a mistake of getting the 335i and missing the fun factor of the m3.

Question 2:Anyone had any experience driving both car and how does the suspension compare? I have read some people stating that the 335i handles very well and almost as good as the m3, maybe even better stock vs stock. Is this true? If so, then my concern is resolved. Anyone care to chime in?

My main goal is the warranty. The m3 is out of warranty and the 335i will have warranty until 100k. Even though I am very meticulous with my cars and always do preventive maintenance before its scheduled, you just never know what might come up.

Question 3: Would you rather keep the m3 and save the $200/month towards maintenance for the car OR would you pay the $200 extra monthly for the 335i for a newer car and has warranty till 100k?

I like to modify my cars lightly. My m3 has some mods which I am planning on removing before trade in. I had no problem doing this b/c no warranty. The 335i will have warranty and I would want to do atleast the following: JB3, wheels, front lip, rear spoiler.

Question 4: Is the JB3 for the 335i really untraceable with the dealer? All you guys with it have any problems bringing your car back in the dealer just in case the common problems with the 335i arises? Would wheels and add on aero affect warranty?

I'm still on the fence but I have 2 days to make up my final decision. Sorry for the long post but I figured I get more insight before I make a big decision. Thanks for any inputs you guys might have.

[Willizm]

This Is Blasphemy!!!!!!

as for the JB3, pick up a BT cable and before you bring in the car for service switch it to map 0(there is a pedel press process to get it) and wipe any codes using the cable hooked up to your laptop. Undetectable

I don't know what is best. I traded in my G37 coupe to get a 335i sedan, but I only owed 5K on the G so I didn't have to be upside down. my monthly payment thanked me. Also, if you roll over your loan because you were upside down, most likely you won't qualify for the 2.9% financing as you are at higher risk. Not that you are not going to make your payments, but because if the bank has to repo your car they are not going to get as much money out of your car as your loan was.

[GREGS335]

I made the jump from a E46 M3 to a E92 335i. I miss my M3 everyday, but the two places the 335i shines in is comfort and torque. My M3 was definitely more fun to drive on those sunday mornings, but I needed something more comfortable and daily driver friendly. Having to rev the M3 to 4k everyday was getting old...

It sounds like you need a 335i based on your worries about a warranty, owning a M3 out of warranty is downright scary (but so is any BMW). If you are ok about losing some fun factor with the 335i, pay the extra $200 and put your mind at ease.

[itsjappo]

Originally Posted by Willizm

This Is Blasphemy!!!!!!

as for the JB3, pick up a BT cable and before you bring in the car for service switch it to map 0(there is a pedel press process to get it) and wipe any codes using the cable hooked up to your laptop. Undetectable

I don't know what is best. I traded in my G37 coupe to get a 335i sedan, but I only owed 5K on the G so I didn't have to be upside down. my monthly payment thanked me. Also, if you roll over your loan because you were upside down, most likely you won't qualify for the 2.9% financing as you are at higher risk. Not that you are not going to make your payments, but because if the bank has to repo your car they are not going to get as much money out of your car as your loan was.

The deal is done with BMWFinancial. Loan is not the problem and those numbers are solid. I just gotta go through with the deal this weekend when I make up my mind.

Originally Posted by GREGS335

I made the jump from a E46 M3 to a E92 335i. I miss my M3 everyday, but the two places the 335i shines in is comfort and torque. My M3 was definitely more fun to drive on those sunday mornings, but I needed something more comfortable and daily driver friendly. Having to rev the M3 to 4k everyday was getting old...

It sounds like you need a 335i based on your worries about a warranty, owning a M3 out of warranty is downright scary (but so is any BMW). If you are ok about losing some fun factor with the 335i, pay the extra $200 and put your mind at ease.

Thanks for your input. That's how I felt that I have to always scream to get the car moving kinda gets old. Specially if I have to drive it everyday. It has its fun times. What do you notice with the suspension comparison between your m3 and your 335i? Just to give me a better insight on what to expect if I get the 335i.

[cotmfk]

I don't know what I would do in your shoes. I guess just make sure the 335 is optioned out how you want it exactly. In a situation where you are going from one nice car to another, you want to make sure you don't make compromises. Good luck with your decision!

[Trauma Junkie]

335

[F32Fleet]

Keep the M3. Infact take great care of that car. The weakness of the N54 engine (335i, 135i, 535i) is the high pressure fuel pump (HPFP). Search, search, search.


The 335i is an easier daily driver.

[Manboy]

E46 M3 is a modern classic. You should take care of it, and get a cheap DD.

[quattr0]

I would keep the M3 also.

If you will get the 335i. Please get at least 08 MY if you could. Does the 07 you're looking at have oil cooler? Search if you dunno what it means.

No tune is undectable. Don't rely on this and you might find yourself upset if you're caught. Search this forum. There was a post about it recently.

[noro]

Generally speaking, carrying over a loan balance from one vehicle to another is not a good idea, it means you went somewhere wrong with your finances (in another words didn't hang on to the car as long as you needed it). I think 200 less a mo is a significant difference. I would keep the M3 at least for as long as you need to not have a carryover balance. In the interim the 335i prices will drop as well. So a little time buys you a lot of money.

[mmm def]

keep the M3

[BRAISKI]

I still like the E46 M3

[grieverr]

Sounds to me like you're just "itching" to get a new car. It doesn't seem like there's really a need to sell yours. It sounds like it's in good shape, and has low miles. I wish I were in the market to buy a car, I'd take yours right away.

Financially, it's not a good idea. Saving $200 a month can come in handy, especially these days.

In my opinion, there's something special about having an "M" car. Granted, I've never had one so maybe that feeling goes away when you've had one for a while. But the E46 is a car that still looks great.

I have a fully loaded 2009 335 coupe, and every time I see an E46 M, I feel a bit of regret knowing I could have easily bought one.

[SIEN]

I did the reverse and went from 335i to M3. At the time I felt I needed something more hardcore in my life, however much I loved the 335.

I would say you would definately need to get the suspension replaced on a standard 335, its just too soft after coming from an M3, but you will really enjoy it. It's what your looking for... the power and thrill but with more of a relaxed nature when you need it (and of course there's a lot to be said for all the latest gadgets and feeling generally newer).

Throw on a tune and it's a completely different experience. I'd recommend it purely based on the fact the cars aren't a million miles away, they are both 3 series BMW after all but with slightly different personalities that you can only fully learn over time.

[mileydog]

Having driven both I feel that....The 335i is a luxury car that IS fast. Whereas, the e46 M3 is a sports car that FEELS fast. Slightly different cars that DRIVE totally different. As a side note I have the comfortably fast e92 335i...but miss the race car feel of the M3.

[SIEN]

Actually one more point, and I'm not sure if it was just my particular cars... but I found warming up the M3 was so much easier than the 335. I'd have to wait literally 15 minutes minimum before oil temperature was up in the 335, but half that in the M3. Made normal short trips much more enjoyable as you had more opportunity to floor it in the M3.

[JayReplay]

Stick with your M3. Much more fun and the driving feel is not the same as the e9x 335!

[chromisdesigns]

I traded my E36 M3 for a 335i sedan with the sport package, and have no regrets. If anything, it drives and handles better. It's certainly quicker. It does feel heavier than the E36, but that's because it IS heavier, as are the newer M3's. It's not as "tossable", in my opinion, but that's just a feeling, not a comment on how it corners, which is at least as good as my old car.

We looked at low-miles E46 M3's and the new one, as well. New one was too much $$$, and we felt it was a tossup between the 335 and the E46 M3. As you know, the M3 will be much more expensive to maintain. Factoring that in, we went with a low-miles '08 335i sedan. A big factor as we tend to keep our cars a long time, and keep them up.

It's a hard choice, but if you wind up with the 335i, I don't think you'll regret it. Wish it didn't have the HPFP issues, but it's covered under warranty anyway. Ours hasn't had any problems (yet?) with 24K miles on it now. If you want more power, it's pretty easy to get 400hp out of the N54 engine with moderate tuning. I personally don't think it needs it.

You'll probably want to ditch the stock run-flats, though -- we're going to as soon as the next one wears out!

Oh, yeah -- re warming up -- remember, the 335 has an OIL temp gauge, not a coolant temp gauge. Unless you had oil temp in your E46, it's comparing apples and oranges. Coolant comes up to operating temperature MUCH faster than the oil does.

[Nisei2ndgen]

I went from a 02 E46 M3 vert to an 09 E93 335i and the one thing I really miss is the "M" metallic, raspy exhaust note and that engine! 335i is nice but it's just a burble and I really miss shifting. Suspension is softer but tuned so it's a comfortable DD.

So my vote is KEEP your M3 and get a cheap DD. The E46 will be a classic. I'm actually looking for a relatively unmolested low mileage E46 M3 as I believe it's a keeper. Also, you might want to check on warranty as your engine and trans, if I recall correctly, heard my SA telling me BMW extended the warranty on early examples till 100k.

[itsjappo]

Thanks for a lot of good useful information and inputs guys. Seems like still a good tie between both so I'm still stuck with a decision to make. I do like the comments when people has first hand experience on going from a e46 m3 to a 335i and vice versa.

As far as the 335i, I am not sure if they have oil cooler. I know they were offering oil cooler upgrade but is that for STEP only? If not, is that cover under warranty or something that BMW had to add it to fix issues? I have researched on their common weak points such as HPFP, overheating due to oil cooler, etc. It will have warranty which is a good thing but I would want to JB3 it. I'm wondering if anyone had any problems with getting caught with it since it seems to work well from prevention. Also, at the same time, $200 a month can go towards saving which can go towards maintenance of the m3. Also, what if the car never gives me problems, then that's $200 a month I can be saving.

Argghhh this is tough and I need to make up my mind by this weekend because thats my only time off and things are already lined up with the BMW dealership. All is left is for me to go there and do it. Any other inputs someone can contribute to help me make mind up? Thanks guys.

[itsjappo]

Originally Posted by Nisei2ndgen

I went from a 02 E46 M3 vert to an 09 E93 335i and the one thing I really miss is the "M" metallic, raspy exhaust note and that engine! 335i is nice but it's just a burble and I really miss shifting. Suspension is softer but tuned so it's a comfortable DD.

So my vote is KEEP your M3 and get a cheap DD. The E46 will be a classic. I'm actually looking for a relatively unmolested low mileage E46 M3 as I believe it's a keeper. Also, you might want to check on warranty as your engine and trans, if I recall correctly, heard my SA telling me BMW extended the warranty on early examples till 100k.

They extended warranty on an 01 m3? I know of all the recalls which my call has already gone in for and serviced but where did you here this from? Any info? Thanks

[Outlaw 06]

I drive an 04 M3 Coupe with 6MT (and 24,000 miles) and a CPO’d 07 335i ZSP Sedan with 6MT. I’ve only had the 335i for three weeks, but I appreciate the differences pretty well.

The 335i is a very nice car for a daily driver and it’s a lot of fun to drive with the 6MT and ZSP, but it’s not an M car. The turbocharged E90 335i isn’t anywhere near the same league as the E46 M3.

The naturally aspirated S54B32 (333hp) 3.2 liter, I-6 engine in the E46 M3 is a masterpieces of German engineering. The 335i has a turbocharged 300hp 3.0 liter I-6 engine (N54B30). The 335i engine is powerful and "torquey" with barely discernable turbo lag. However, (in my humble opinion) it’s simply no great engineering feat to output 100hp/liter from a turbocharged engine, just about every other car company on the planet can do that (the stock 4G63T 2.0 L turbocharged I-4 engine in my 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX output 98hp/liter, and that was 20 years ago).

The M3 performs phenomenally and does almost anything a driver demands of it: smooth and responsive power delivery, snap-oversteer, power on oversteer, trail braking… The car does it all well and seats 5 in a pinch too! It’s predictable, forgiving, and a real joy to drive, even more so at triple-digit speeds. The M3 wants to run fast and it feels safe and stable at all speeds.

The 335i is inferior to the E46 M3 in almost every aspect; power delivery, chassis dynamics, handling (probably due to the run-flat tires), braking, etc. It’s very close in some respects, but anyone who claims that the E9x 335i is as good as the E46 M3 has probably never driven an E46 M3. The E90 335i does have a better ride quality than my M3, especially as a daily driver. That said, I really like my 335i, but it's a completely different car than the E46 M3.

Your 01 M3 is getting older now and you should expect some pretty big repair bills in your near future. It's definitely not an inexpensive car to maintain.

Is it an option for you to keep both cars? If so, then I’d recommend buying the 335i as your new daily driver, and keeping the M3 as your fun weekend car.