[Alexander]

Originally Posted by mercury26

I heard the X Drive will cure ED.

Cheers,

Chuck

Fact!

[samchoi604]

With X drive, you get to deplete the planet's oil faster,,,

all jokes aside, my friend's 328xi e92 gas mileage is worse than my 335i e92.

[howiedds]

Ummm you drive a $50K+ LUXURY car...do you really care about gas mileage?!?!?!?

[Nikolas]

Originally Posted by howiedds

Ummm you drive a $50K+ LUXURY car...do you really care about gas mileage?!?!?!?

What the heck does the price of the car have to do with being environmentally friendly?

[Willizm]

I'd rather be environmentally unfriendly .

If you were worried about the environment then go get a prius or 335d. Considering the OP is debating a 335xi vs 335i I doubt environment friendliness has anything to do with his decision making.

[markinva]

Originally Posted by TJDiCandido

I live in New England and own three RWD BMWs. A good set of snow tires is all I need during the few days of poor driving conditions each winter. RWD is clearly superior the other 350 days of the year...

So you'll only have snow tires on for a couple weeks? Snow tires are very detrimental to handling- much more so than xdrive vs rwd... and you'll have them on for months.

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

No offense, but i find what you are writing here to be about as extreme as the stuff above about the "truck like suspension." AWD makes absolutely no difference in whether a car is "twitchier" and it has little impact overall in the rain. What AWD does is improve acceleration (acceleration defined broadly as any circumstance in which you are trying to get power to the road) in conditions of low traction - that's all. If you are pulling away from a curb or trying to get up a hill, AWD can make a huge difference. Otherwise, it contributes absolutely nothing to traction or handling, and tires are far more important.

In situations of hard acceleration, an AWD car with sufficient torque will be faster than RWD car because it gets the power the road better. With the N52, the torque is not sufficient for that to be an issue so you simply loose performance with the higher weight. With the N54, I would expect Xdrive to improve acceleration slightly.

Having driven both xdrive and RWD N52 vehicles, I can't honestly tell much of a difference. the Xdrive is vaguely less quick (particularly in the mid range) but the loss in performance is no greater than what I've felt switching from a loaner sedan to my wagon. I basically see 0-60 as a non-issue. In fact, the only real disadvantages I see to Xdrive are loss in MPG, arguably greater mechanical complexity, and lack of availability of the ZSP suspension. None of these issues would stop me if I felt like Xdrive fit my needs.

I agree with the poster above who observed it is all about need. If I lived in an area with lots of snow, I'd personally have Xdrive and a good set of snow tires. But, for anybody outside the snowbelt (including most people living in Virginia) I seriously doubt AWD would offer any real advantages.

you seriously doubt AWD would offer any real advantages because you are a huge proponent of RWD. I am a huge proponent of AWD. You and I will never agree on this... I've taken a bumpy on-ramp with much more confidence in my 335i xdrive than I did in my loaner rwd 328i... the rear axle on the 328i was certainly twitchy when accelerating in a turn on bumpy pavement. The fact that xdrive has power going to the front as well in those situation does help. If it NEVER snowed there would still be an argument for xDrive... but at is stands now, here in Virginia we've gotten more snow than Buffalo, NY has.

[howiedds]

Originally Posted by Willizm

I'd rather be environmentally unfriendly .

If you were worried about the environment then go get a prius or 335d. Considering the OP is debating a 335xi vs 335i I doubt environment friendliness has anything to do with his decision making.

That's what I'm saying....if you want to have more MPG, and be environmentally friendly..you shouldn't have bought a luxury sports coupe/sedan..go for a hybrid and stop comparing rwd and awd....

[reprod]

Originally Posted by Silent&Humble

Hahahaha wow! So does it pull good in the snow? did you put winters on the 18"?

I have all-seasons on the Yokohama Advan S4 A/S tires on the 18's right now. Still pulls but nothing like some winters would pull...

If I decide to keep the e92 I will be getting 19" dedicated summers and place winters on the 18's...

[Derek Zoolander]

Originally Posted by mercury26

I heard the X Drive will cure ED.

Cheers,

Chuck

Flawless victory.

[Drakos]

I definately think that snow and climate is a huge factor in choosing the XI. I don't care what anyone says but AWD with snows will kill RWD anytime of the day. If I lived somewhere like FL or SOC, RWD would be in serious consideration. Ride height seems to be commented very frequently and that xi's look like 4x4's. I have an XI and I really don't think it is that bad. 19's thrown on will reduce the wheelwell gap and if it is really concerning, you can always do K1's. When Calgary got close to 2ft of snow in 1 day this winter, any lowered car would have been screwed.

[Derek Zoolander]

xDrive on coilovers > i

[tgb1974]

Originally Posted by mercury26

I heard the X Drive will cure ED.

Cheers,

Chuck

Has that statement been evaluated by the FDA?

[mercury26]

Originally Posted by tgb1974

Has that statement been evaluated by the FDA?

Not sure, but I have a written prescription for xDrive.

Cheers,

Chuck

[Tescoolman]

guys reading you...
I have the manual version of the 330xd Touring... 6.4 liters/100km of diesel driving 130 Km/h ... and about 7.2 liters if I drive like crazy bitting all 3.0 Mercedes or Audi on this planet.. and so what I have 4x wheel drive and I can tell I drive in mountains quite a bit and no need of snow chains.
What hell are you guys needing else?!
Cheers

[BRAISKI]

I am a big fan of AWD cars, esp during the winter months plus I go snowboarding so its useful when driving to the mountains...

[adr1974]

I was a big fan of AWD, too, until I drove a 335i with M-Sport. Some people will say the difference isn't extreme, others will say that it is, so it seems like a highly subjective process. My $.02 would be go out, test drive both cars, and if you don't mind the drive of AWD and feel you could benefit, go for it. Otherwise, get RWD.

[PKumarM3]

its the ultimate daily driver.

[Kilgore Trout]

Originally Posted by markinva

you seriously doubt AWD would offer any real advantages because you are a huge proponent of RWD. I am a huge proponent of AWD. You and I will never agree on this... I've taken a bumpy on-ramp with much more confidence in my 335i xdrive than I did in my loaner rwd 328i... the rear axle on the 328i was certainly twitchy when accelerating in a turn on bumpy pavement. The fact that xdrive has power going to the front as well in those situation does help. If it NEVER snowed there would still be an argument for xDrive... but at is stands now, here in Virginia we've gotten more snow than Buffalo, NY has.

I never said it wouldn't offer advantages. I said the advantages were very specific - namely getting the power to the road in conditions of low traction. If you are trying to climb up a snow covered hill, or pull away from the curve in snow, AWD will trump RWD each time.

I don't really know what you by "twitchy" but the idea that AWD improves traction in general (i.e., when not trying to get power to the road, normal handling circumstances) is a myth.

I also doubt AWD would add anything whatsoever in a bumpy turn. In fact, I'm sure it wouldn't. Essentially, AWD adds almost nothing to dry pavement performance - unless you have an engine that has so much torque that traction becomes a limiting factor at launch (as in the case of the N54 engine). Where you and constantly disagree is in your attempts to portray AWD as something that helps in a wide variety of circumstances - it isn't.

All that said, I didn't mean to be critical of your own choice to go with AWD in Virginia. Obviously, you know your needs better than me, and I'm sure you evaluated the pros and cons carefully. Besides, its none of my damn business anyway.

Just my way of apologizing because I think I was coming across as critical of your purchasing choice, which was out of line.

[Nikolas]

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

I never said it wouldn't offer advantages. I said the advantages were very specific - namely getting the power to the road in conditions of low traction. If you are trying to climb up a snow covered hill, or pull away from the curve in snow, AWD will trump RWD each time.

I don't really know what you by "twitchy" but the idea that AWD improves traction in general (i.e., when not trying to get power to the road, normal handling circumstances) is a myth.

I also doubt AWD would add anything whatsoever in a bumpy turn. In fact, I'm sure it wouldn't. Essentially, AWD adds almost nothing to dry pavement performance - unless you have an engine that has so much torque that traction becomes a limiting factor at launch (as in the case of the N54 engine). Where you and constantly disagree is in your attempts to portray AWD as something that helps in a wide variety of circumstances - it isn't.

All that said, I didn't mean to be critical of your own choice to go with AWD in Virginia. Obviously, you know your needs better than me, and I'm sure you evaluated the pros and cons carefully. Besides, its none of my damn business anyway.

The folks involved with Audi road racing would not agree with your statements in regards to dry traction:

There are many cases that can prove AWD traction on dry pavement. There are always exceptions to the case, but it is a crazy thought that power to all 4 wheels does not help when you are on the gas.

BTW - awesome examples of slow motion performance on dry showing why on an uneven surface the performace of AWD is improved.

[Kilgore Trout]

Originally Posted by Nikolas

The folks involved with Audi road racing would not agree with your statements in regards to dry traction:

There are many cases that can prove AWD traction on dry pavement. There are always exceptions to the case, but it is a crazy thought that power to all 4 wheels does not help when you are on the gas.

BTW - awesome examples of slow motion performance on dry showing why on an uneven surface the performace of AWD is improved.

I actually acknowledge the Audi situation in my post:

In situations of hard acceleration, an AWD car with sufficient torque will be faster than RWD car because it gets the power the road better.

I don't know much about Audi race vehicles, but my guess is that you're dealing with very high torque engines, so that traction becomes the limiting issues. That isn't going to be a concern with the N52 (or even the N54).

[BobVader]

See my signature for my mod. My car is on H&R coilovers.

I had instal 8-9 JB3 this year ...1 other e90 xi, one e93 and 5-6 335 i and 135i.

And never never I will buy a rwd car. I test the car after each install, and is incredible the bad traction these car have. . Maybe on the highway the i is a bit better but for daily driver...never for me. The i spin all time in 1-2 gear.

Here in Quebec we have lot of snow...and you know what...my car is store for all winter (I drive Subaru Legacy for winter) I drive my XI only in summer and I love it...

But like other people say...put coilovers on the XI

[Nikolas]

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

I actually acknowledge the Audi situation in my post:

In situations of hard acceleration, an AWD car with sufficient torque will be faster than RWD car because it gets the power the road better.

I don't know much about Audi race vehicles, but my guess is that you're dealing with very high torque engines, so that traction becomes the limiting issues. That isn't going to be a concern with the N52 (or even the N54).

Did you watch the video? Most of the comments from the drivers was not about accelerating from a stop. They were talking about being able to accelerate out of turns, handle bumps in the road and have an overall more stable platform. These were comments in the dry. In the wet the advantage became ridiculous. Traction is a concern on all vehicles, not just race cars.