[Cozy]

It's back, the want for another N54 335i...what is it about that car?

I got rid of my last one (convertible) and TBH I'd not have another E93, the folding top was fine but it caused more problems than it was worth including a leak into the boot from the roof which BMW couldn't cure at all...basically I could see it being a money pit out of warranty so goodbye and off it went. I'm really glad actually as the price of the E93 appears to have dropped like a stone in the last couple of months, I would get around £1.5k less than I did if I sold it today. But, aside from that and the truck-like weight of the thing, it was such a superb car to drive, comfortable, sporty when you need, sounded lovely (OE exhaust w/golf tee was still impressive) and it was gorgeous to look at.

I downsized in terms of model but upsized in terms of performance with my current car, a N54 135i. Driving the two is chalk and cheese honestly, it's remapped and very scary just how quickly it eats up the road, I'm not sure how much performance it has but I am running the same COBB tune as on my 335i, circa 380bhp and it feels it. Turn in is shaper, it corners flatter and at brakes hugely better with those 6-Piston brakes. The interior is nice, it feels a lot smaller though and maybe a little less well built but still oozes BMW quality, the Boston leather is nice stuff but not as nice as Dakota although it is harder wearing than the Dakota for sure. Definitely not as pretty as the 335i but for the performance difference I really can't argue.

So why am I wanting to trade in what is an absolutely fantastic performance car? I'd be looking at an E92 this time around which in terms of everything other than comfort & style would fall short. I just need to scratch the itch though, perhaps a cheaper example of the E92 and plough a few £k in mods, then again do I risk an N54 out of warranty? If I am to keep the E82 then BMW PE for sure with N55 mid-pipes & Wagner FMIC which will net it 400bhp and that's plenty for a little car, wider tyres thereafter.

What do you think? Stick with it or rejoin you all?

My 135i:

[shrink]

keep the 135i

if you get an E92, i think it'll end up feeling softer, wallowy and a bit numb compared to the nippy little 1. Thats not to say the 3 isnt superb, as it is. But coming from something like the 135i, the extra weight, bigger body etc are likely to leave you hankering after the agility of the smaller car.

[edowen]

keep the 135i

[chris_s1]

I read your post whilst looking at the photo of the rear of the car and the whole time I was thinking 'keep it, keep it'. Then I scrolled down to the photo of the front....now I'm thinking sell it!

[doughboy]

Jamjay,

I think I said this before, but despite being much smaller inside, and lower quality interior, the 135i is only a few cm smaller and 60kg lighter than a 335i (about a full tank of fuel in weight difference)

Even stranger, it is actually TALLER by a few cm than a 335i, so in theory has a worse C of G.

I can see your issues with the bendy, tank-heavy E93, but an E92 is a whole different thing.

A nice modded E92 335i will be a better ownership prospect IMO.

[Boz335i]

Go for the E92.
You won't really notice the difference in weight so much as you did in the E93.

E92 = +70kg
E93 = +280kg

E93 in comparison is like driving everywhere with a car full of fat blokes.

[shrink]

havng driven a 1 series lately (before i bought my e90) i quite liked it. Felt very similar inside to my old E46 in terms of size. I had no issue with the quality of the interior, but it is a tad more spartan than an E90.

But then in something like a 135i, i'm not sure how luxurious I want it to be

[creepy coupe]

I went from a 135i to a 335i. So I know where you're coming from.

335i + points.

Comfort
Equipment
Ride quality
Looks

135i + points

Better brake performance
Lighter
Better turn in.

If I were going to buy again, I'd go 335i.

[SCN_Saul]

whatever you end up doing, i think with nigh on 400bhp id be looking at a diff for the cost of the wider (wheels) tyres

i struggle with the stock 300bhp, especially in the wet i just dont bother going above 4k

[zltm089]

same engine...ok the 1 series might feel a bit lighter....and sharper handling wise...

but i don't think theres a massive difference in terms of performance...

maybe an e92 M3 will ease the itch for a change...

ohhh sorry...why do you want to change from a 135i to a 335i again?....

[creepy coupe]

Originally Posted by zltm089

same engine...ok the 1 series might feel a bit lighter....and sharper handling wise...

but i don't think theres a massive difference in terms of performance...
.

There is enough to be a + point.

[edowen]

If you are going to change, change for something that feels faster.

How much do you want to spend in changing?

Problem is you wont get back all the money you have spent tuning your 1.

[DarkAnt335i]

Go for an slightly older e92 335i and mod it.

As a few have said its actually only about 70-100KGS lighter e82 - e92 obviously the e93 is massively heavier.

It is surprising how much smaller the 1 feels inside compared to the 3. Not actually a bad thing IMO, feels like the car is a little more wrapped around you.

I have to say and no offence the 1 series feels like a much cheaper car IMO. I find our e92, other than the standard m sport suspension and SHITTY standard brakes, is a much more sorted piece of kit.

Get an e92
Map it
Get some Coil-over
Get stiffer ARB's
Decent 235/245 fronts and 265 rears
Sort the brakes
Be happy for 6-12months
Trade it in
Get e92 M3

[DarkAnt335i]

Should read
Get new 'Frozen Blue Paint' M3

[lolololol]

Have a look in classifieds there is a guy selling a nice manual 335i for cheap monmey £14k'sih with only 30,000 on it.

My mates got a 135i whilst i like it I cant help thinking its a birds car !

[NavG]

Originally Posted by omaragha

My mates got a 135i whilst i like it I cant help thinking its a birds car !

x2

[Cozy]

Originally Posted by chris_s1

I read your post whilst looking at the photo of the rear of the car and the whole time I was thinking 'keep it, keep it'. Then I scrolled down to the photo of the front....now I'm thinking sell it!

It's not the prettiest car I grant that but I'm hoping some black kidney's will make it look a little more angry. It could be worse, the X1 .

Originally Posted by shrink

havng driven a 1 series lately (before i bought my e90) i quite liked it. Felt very similar inside to my old E46 in terms of size. I had no issue with the quality of the interior, but it is a tad more spartan than an E90.

But then in something like a 135i, i'm not sure how luxurious I want it to be

It's definitely not as nice inside as the 335i but but no means bad. I could live with it but I like the extra space in the 335i.

Originally Posted by creepy coupe

I went from a 135i to a 335i. So I know where you're coming from.

335i + points.

Comfort
Equipment
Ride quality
Looks

135i + points

Better brake performance
Lighter
Better turn in.

If I were going to buy again, I'd go 335i.

I just wanted to try the 135i and as I had the cash and stand to loose very little on a rather rare car, I thought why not. Driving it is a hoot, just not as fun to look at or be inside when compared to the 335i.

Originally Posted by zltm089

same engine...ok the 1 series might feel a bit lighter....and sharper handling wise...

but i don't think theres a massive difference in terms of performance...

maybe an e92 M3 will ease the itch for a change...

ohhh sorry...why do you want to change from a 135i to a 335i again?....

I just like the look of it better and the image, 3-Series is suited me better I think.

M3 would be lovely but I'm not up for the running costs.

Originally Posted by edowen

If you are going to change, change for something that feels faster.

How much do you want to spend in changing?

Problem is you wont get back all the money you have spent tuning your 1.

All the 1-er has is a remap, COBB tune which is reversible and changeable between N54 cars. Budget is around £18k but if I want to mod right away then I'd say £16k is more realistic. If 335i then it would have to be 08 onwards as I want efficient dynamics i.e. cheaper road tax...that's one thing i don't mis about my E92, £470 a year to tax!

Originally Posted by DarkAnt335i

Go for an slightly older e92 335i and mod it.

As a few have said its actually only about 70-100KGS lighter e82 - e92 obviously the e93 is massively heavier.

It is surprising how much smaller the 1 feels inside compared to the 3. Not actually a bad thing IMO, feels like the car is a little more wrapped around you.

I have to say and no offence the 1 series feels like a much cheaper car IMO. I find our e92, other than the standard m sport suspension and SHITTY standard brakes, is a much more sorted piece of kit.

Get an e92
Map it
Get some Coil-over
Get stiffer ARB's
Decent 235/245 fronts and 265 rears
Sort the brakes
Be happy for 6-12months
Trade it in
Get e92 M3

Definitely the cheaper car but then that's reflected in the price.

Originally Posted by DarkAnt335i

Should read
Get new 'Frozen Blue Paint' M3

If budget went that far then definitely

Originally Posted by omaragha

Have a look in classifieds there is a guy selling a nice manual 335i for cheap monmey £14k'sih with only 30,000 on it.

My mates got a 135i whilst i like it I cant help thinking its a birds car !

Originally Posted by NavG

x2

I agree it's probably more femenine however, spanking it around soon puts that to bed. I find no-one knows what a 135i is, until they get destroyed then all they want to do is chat about it and the usual comment is, "oh, how the hell did they get that engine in there?!".

Ultimately the 335i felt more me, more luxurious, better looking (like me haha), better image but by no means is it a sorted car from the factory, it needs work to be a drivers car where as the 135i is a good drivers car out of the box.

[CD]

keep the 135, youve got a gorgeous car.

Like has has been said above the 335 will feel more heavy and less prescise than yours.

You are right there is something addictive about BMW 6potts. Looking to buy one myself if i find the right one, trade the smart roadster in for something a little more *cough* masculine

[Business edition]

Looks awesome mate. I beta it's really fun to drive

[Guvernator]

I'm going to go against the majority here and say go for the 335i. While I am sure the 135i is a lovely car to drive, sorry but I just get on with those looks at all. The proportions are all wrong and it just ends up looking odd. The only halfway decent looking 1'er is the 1M, all IMO of course.

In fact I've been thinking along similiar lines to you. I also have an E93 at the moment and while dropping the roof and hearing that six wail will always stay with me, the chances to drop the roof on it this year have been very few and far between indeed. It's really made me think why am I carrying around all that extra weight and putting up with the extra creaks and groans of the convertible roof when I can't make use of it 95% of the time.

This started me thinking about what I might replace it with, I love the 3 series coupe shape so I started thinking about M3's as they have come down massively in price now and very decent one's can be had for £25k, however the extra money for fuel, insurance, tyres, servicing etc does add up and at the end of the day, is it really that much better than a 335i?

So I've started thinking about a newer LCI E92 in either manual or DCT guise. With a few choice mods, I reckon it could be made into a right weapon.

[RagingKileak]

I had a 135i and now have an E92 335i.

I'd say that although I certainly loved my 135i, I do think the 335 is a better car.

What I can say is that I thought the 135 was fantastic compared to the E90 335d that I had before it. The E92 and the E90 are very different cars in terms of feel, not to mention when comparing 335d with 335i.

In summary, I suspect you might find the E92 feels even better to drive than you think it will, when compared to your E93.

Matt

[gangzoom]

Why not stick a LSD, intercooler, and downpipes on the 135i....your have something pretty close a 1M?