Quote:
Originally Posted by zltm089
Owners please comment on the engine.
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I am on my third 3 litre diesel (2 530d Sport and my 355d Sport) , and my missus has a Golf 2.0 tdi (manual) having come from a lifetime of petrol (m3 and m3 csl plus many more) so here are my thoughts...
its all about the 'torques' , as Clarkson would say - and lots of them. Initially it takes a bit of getting used to - i think that the immediacy of the petrol 'urge' sometimes seems to be missing, but i think that is often the gearbox more than anything, and of course the rev limit is pretty low. There never seem much point going above about 5500 rpm.
But of course they just pull and pull from about 1200 rpm and the engine characteristics (imho) are better suited to an auto box so its basically just plant right foot and keep it there
. And if you are not in the mood for frantic driving it can be lazy and economical.
I had a sport gearbox on my last 530d, with paddles, and that was programmed a bit more for the hooligan (me) , and the one in my 09 335d is quite sporty too (also with paddles) and love that too.
Dont get me wrong - the 335d will never be an M3, but then an M3 won't give close to 40mpg on the motorway and 26mpg around town. It's a compromise i guess but it really does shift when asked.
My problem is that I do actually miss having the sound of a petrol. I have never heard a diesel that doesnt sound like a taxi at some point in its life - especially on cold mornings - although its not as bad as some make out - and a sports exhaust doesnt really improve the situation much?
I cant really comment on any issues with the engines - mine have always been sort of 3 years old and less than 60k miles
Of course now i have halved my annual mileage I am thinking i will end up back with an M3 .. but thats another story
Forgot to mention - if you are lacking performance in a 335d a remap is [relatively] inexpensive and achieves monster improvements. A friend ran a 335d with nearly 700nM and that was faster than the CSL's we used to own