[Newbie 4]

Dont do it.......

[rup]

Gota agree, the 3 coupe is a great looking car, the 1 coupe isn't.

[dxb335d]

There not really any faster than a 335, and they look so much uglier.

[TMP]

Clarkson did give the 135i 5* in the Times- IIRC said it was back to how an BM should be - all about the driving/handling.

[squeezebm]

135's are fantastic and go like STINK

[SiKkBaSs]

[lolololol]

Dont Do It !

[edowen]

Pointless.

Check out the weights - hardly anything in it.

If you want more performance, trade for an M3. Oh and dont trade it. Sell the 335i privately.

[poggy]

please please please don't trade for a 1 series.

I have 'ended up' with a 1 series after having an E90 last year (a long and complex story).

Great though the car is - it's no 3 series; more engine noise, doors with less of a thunk, poorer quality interior, less space, not as good-a-ride and basically not as good looking, especially not as good looking as a coupe.

Just my two-penneth worth.

[mrpickle]

1 series are kinda for the female variety There are exceptions of course. In this case stick with the 3er!

However if u intend to mod the 135 then thats a different story. go for it!

[Snooky]

I have the same 335i asyou Yahoo (SG, no Nav, Manual) so interested to hear the difficulties in part-ex discussions.

My tuppenth, good though the 135i is, don't do it!

[Yahoo]

Originally Posted by Snooky

I have the same 335i asyou Yahoo (SG, no Nav, Manual) so interested to hear the difficulties in part-ex discussions.

I have enquired about part-ex with several dealers - just out of interest as much as anything. An Audi dealer (against an S3 Sportback) and a VW dealer (against a Scirocco) couldn't find a BMW dealer prepared to take the car due to its spec. One BMW dealership offered 19.5k (a 50% drop over 1.5 years ). The dealership with this 135i is the only one to really offer anything remotely acceptable.

I can see why this is the case though. Clearly dealerships need a quick turnaround on their second hand stock and a manual, non-nav 335i just won't sell quickly enough for them unless well discounted - hence the crappy offers.

I am confident that if I went private with the sale that it would fare better. There must be people out there not prepared to pay an extra 1.5k on a second hand motor for the sake of i-drive, and there is definately a market out there for manual 335i's.

To be fair, it is a cracking motor and I will keep hold of it for the foreseeable future I think. I may hold on for a year or so and see how new S4's are holding up.

[Gibbo]

I think most people expect a 335i or 335d to have the following items on them.

19's
Nav
Auto Gear box

Your car looks fantastic but 'only' ticks 1 of the 3 boxes above and hence for some dealers they see it as a potential car that could stick say for 90 days. Hence offer say £2,000 below real book to build in a margin for how long it may stay in stock. This is also a refelection of the BMW marketing machine getting people to buy high spec on the bigger engined cars. I agree with you and a manual non nav 335i is a fantastic car and should not be looked down on by the trade. Some dealers will offer proper money and you just need to look around.

This brings me to the point of your orginal posted question. The 3 series has grown up and is the size of an E39 5 series. This is where the 1 series comes in half way between the size of the E30 & E36 generation 3 series. Smaller more nible, less spec required and the 135i is all about driving. Cooling vents instead of fog lights, stronger stock brakes, specially tuned suspension, smaller and more nible it's going to be fun to drive. No it won't have the 3 series big car feel and it does not look as pretty - especially compared to yours being a M Sport on 19's - But it does have a nice BMW old School look to it. It is a heavy car but all modern cars are with all the drivers aids and you want some weight for that BMW solid feel, safety and having that planted feeling on the road.

Go and have a drive in 'one' and see how you feel. It's your cash and only you can make the decision. Good luck.

[Yahoo]

Originally Posted by Gibbo

This is also a refelection of the BMW marketing machine getting people to buy high spec on the bigger engined cars.

Thanks Gibbo - some good points. I think the above is very true.

I think that many people spec i-drive for resale purposes rather than genuinely regarding as being good value for money. It is crazy that people will spend circa £2k on kit for which 80% of its functionality can be achieved for £300.

For BMW this is a win win situation. Either they get to sell an additional 2k of kit on each car or get to shaft people on resale if they haven't spec'd it.

Little short of exploitation IMO.