The BMW 335i thread

[Mordith]

The purpose of this thread is to discuss the BMW 335i and pass along my experiences as I continue to mod and push my car to max.

I have a 07 full bolt-on (upgraded intercooler, and catless downpipes), coupe running Cobb Stage 2+.

A couple of weeks ago I had a Quaife LSD installed and this may be the best purchase I have made thus far. The ability to put power down quickly without the rear end getting squirrely makes the car so much more predictable. With the Quaife I can completely drive around with traction control off so I can use the full power of the car at all times without traction control interfering.




I finally was able to have my Cobb Protuned today. I was previously running a Cobb 2+ E30 (30% ethanol) of the shelf map making approx 400 whp/420 wtq. My Protune was for an E40 map and I am now putting down ~420whp/~450 wtq. I would say that my current map is about 90% dialed in to my car and we will be finishing up on the dyno within the next week or two.

 

[posterchild336]

love the 335 because it looks nice and the ease of tuning the ecu with the little turbos..This makes me so excited about the next generation cars, especially the M editions. The only complaints that I have is it such a straight line car, not linear and lacks up the up top power. The N54 was definitely a breakthrough engine though, good luck with your tune.

 

[Mordith]

love the 335 because it looks nice and the ease of tuning the ecu with the little turbos..This makes me so excited about the next generation cars, especially the M editions. The only complaints that I have is it such a straight line car, not linear and lacks up the up top power. The N54 was definitely a breakthrough engine though, good luck with your tune.

You have some major misconceptions of modified 335i's, while it's a no brainer that stock for stock the M3 is superior to the 335i. Once modded it's no comparison. Almost all of the M3 suspension parts fit the 335 without modification, and you can retro fit a 335 with m3 bits and lsd for under 4 grand. You are also misinformed about the power up top because there is not a non-supercharged M3 that my car wouldn't walk at any speed.. The only stock BMW that can hang with maxed out stock turbo 335 is the M5/M6 and the M5/M6 doesn't begin to pull until around 130 mph.

And when you factoring in that for 4 grand installed you can upgrade to stage 2 twins that put put 500 hp to redline... You begin to understand why the 335i is BMW's Supra....

 

[posterchild336]

You have some major misconceptions of modified 335i's, while it's a no brainer that stock for stock the M3 is superior to the 335i. Once modded it's no comparison. Almost all of the M3 suspension parts fit the 335 without modification, and you can retro fit a 335 with m3 bits and lsd for under 4 grand. You are also misinformed about the power up top because there is not a non-supercharged M3 that my car wouldn't walk at any speed.. The only stock BMW that can hang with maxed out stock turbo 335 is the M5/M6 and the M5/M6 doesn't begin to pull until around 130 mph.

And when you factoring in that for 4 grand installed you can upgrade to stage 2 twins that put put 500 hp to redline... You begin to understand why the 335i is BMW's Supra....

I do not have any major misconceptions my friend...I have owned multiple bmw's including 2 335i's I have been tuning since it first came out with the 07 model..I am die hard bmw enthusiasts and pretty much on top of my game in pretty much every major forum and south Florida bimmer car clubs...the 335 is a total straight line car like I said..even if you put the bolt ons and try to add lsd and suspension, the 335i engine cannot handle a full out race on a track there is too much stress on these little turbos and heat soaking would kill the engine even if you try and upgrade the intercooler and run a meth kit etc...

Why do you think they run m3's instead of 335's in major races now and have been successful? I am not saying the 335 is a bad car I am just saying it is a straight line car, I have raced so many cars in my tuned 335 on a drag and thats all it has...and it dies on the top end, as a matter a fact after you hit 120 thats it any high hp car is going to pull onwards..this is a fact, on top of that the 335 coupe handling diminishes at higher speeds making it that much harder to be a track car.

To summarize what I said the 335 is a nice quick street car...definitely not a track car..


Think about it besides the lack of handling, the car only shines at lower rpm, by the time you get to 5k rpm the torque is shot, while using a high reving M engine you keep revs high above 5k and the car shines.

I love the 335 its fun because of the torque, cheap price to mod and its a sleeper to many people that dont know of the capabilities but thats pretty much where it ends...hpfp failure is another issue that has me frustrated with the car and I feel the mods contributed to the amount of times I had to replace and get stuck on the road from the car breaking down which adds to my frustration.

 

[Mordith]

Bmw figured out the HPFP issues a couple of years ago. When's the last time you drove a 335I? What tune and mods were you running?

 

[MoneyTron]

I've got 57K on mine. Might throw a JB4 on it in December as a birthday gift to myself.

So far so good.

Probably wouldn't buy another though. I'm going to an ATS-V or C7 next.

 

[posterchild336]

Bmw figured out the HPFP issues a couple of years ago. When's the last time you drove a 335I? What tune and mods were you running?

Even after they claimed they had fail proof hpfps I still had to change, I have tried Vishnu tune back in the day every jb from 1 to 4 and ran meth for about a month before I got rid of my last 335 last year...I still drive one now but just leave it in map 5 of my jb4 ...

 

[Mordith]

Ok so maybe you just personally prefer M cars but the numbers definitely favor the 335i.

But as the saying goes....Men lie woman lie, but numbers don't.

Dinan Stage 3 which is a very conservative tune-

408 crank horsepower and a bombastic 440 pound-feet of torque crank horsepower

Dinan S3 BMW 335i - Specialty File - Car Reviews - Car and Driver


Dinan Stg3 vs M3


Both cars were driven by professional drivers on a road course and at the drag strip.

The Dinan has less horsepower than an M3 and much less than my car.

Finished 1/10 of a second behind the M3 on the drag strip and 3/10's of a second behind on the road course with a professional driver behind the wheel.

 

[Jayson_bourn]

I am brand new to the euro scene. Just copped my 335 about a month back. Loving it so far. Already did the DCI (which has great sound but doesn't appear to add anything else...maybe i'll see more results after a stg3 tune?)


As for it being a straight line car. I'm not sure what you mean. The car seems balanced and nimble enough to be considered a well handling vehicle. If you meant the power band needs some work then maybe so but I can feel it pulling strong all the way up to a little past 6k...You shouldn't be revving more than that anyways.


Like I said I'm new to this scene and could absolutely be wrong about this. The only reason I went with the 335i is because it seemed like a lot of bang for my buck (with the option of tuning etc) plus I just didn't want another V8 right now. Other than that I would've bought an M3

Hey JK,

Why not go CTS-V coupe? Had a chance to ride in one recently. Power band is excellent.

 

[NuclearBomb]

tempted to get a 335 in the future but the well known issues are putting me off. either this or a 330i

 

[Mordith]

I am brand new to the euro scene. Just copped my 335 about a month back. Loving it so far. Already did the DCI (which has great sound but doesn't appear to add anything else...maybe i'll see more results after a stg3 tune?)


As for it being a straight line car. I'm not sure what you mean. The car seems balanced and nimble enough to be considered a well handling vehicle. If you meant the power band needs some work then maybe so but I can feel it pulling strong all the way up to a little past 6k...You shouldn't be revving more than that anyways.


Like I said I'm new to this scene and could absolutely be wrong about this. The only reason I went with the 335i is because it seemed like a lot of bang for my buck (with the option of tuning etc) plus I just didn't want another V8 right now. Other than that I would've bought an M3

For the 1st time ever, BMW made a 3 series car that can be easily modified to perform better than the M car of the same "generation". To cope with the humilitation of this, M3 owners have resorted to saying the 335i is a straight line car only.

I will admit the stock 335i suspension is nowhere near the M3, but thankfully there are alot of upgrade options available. I don't see how anyone would max out their 335 and stick with the stock suspension.

 

[MoneyTron]

Hey JK,

Why not go CTS-V coupe? Had a chance to ride in one recently. Power band is excellent.

I've driven a couple. They are really good cars. The next CTS-V is gonna be $80+K and I def won't have that type of money. I really want to get back to a 'Vette in 2-3 years.

 

[Jayson_bourn]

For the 1st time ever, BMW made a 3 series car that can be easily modified to perform better than the M car of the same "generation". To cope with the humilitation of this, M3 owners have resorted to saying the 335i is a straight line car only.

Its funny you say that because most guys that I talk to about these cars say that the car is severely underrated and the only reason they do so is because they wanted to establish some distance between it and the M3.

This being both my first turbo car and my first euro car. Part of me is extremely cautious about doing this tune. I feel like I just don't know the car well enough yet.

I'll be going JB4 within the next month I'm thinkin

 

[posterchild336]

For the 1st time ever, BMW made a 3 series car that can be easily modified to perform better than the M car of the same "generation". To cope with the humilitation of this, M3 owners have resorted to saying the 335i is a straight line car only.

I will admit the stock 335i suspension is nowhere near the M3, but thankfully there are alot of upgrade options available. I don't see how anyone would max out their 335 and stick with the stock suspension.

To cope with humiliation? c'mon I have both cars, many M owners have had 335i's before, I was having a hard time purchasing and M because I knew the capabilities of the 335, but after going to M3posts.com ALL of the people that made the jump said I wouldnt regret it and would never look back, and they are right, the M is a superior car hands down, if you want a great car add a supercharger ( you are comparing a M stock to heavily modified 335) I have seen a stage 2 M3 pushing 700+ hp, I would like to see a 335i touch that. Like I said its a straight line car and please dont compare it to a Supra on a drag because a supra modified would kill this car on a straightline.

 

[Mordith]

You can't tell me nothing about bimmerpost my dude I spend more than enough time there to know to know how deep M3 fanboyism runs. The time I spent researching the 335i is how I became familar with the level of envy M3 owner's have.


Are people supercharging there M3's for the track or to go fast in a straightline?

Also you continue to show your ignorance by not acknowledging the fact that N54 development is still in it's infancy. Next month at Shift S3ctor we will see how Supercharged M3's and other high HP cars fair against Vishnu's Single turbo 335i's. 700 Hp from a built S65 engine isn't all that impressive. When single turbo N54s have already reached over 650 whp on stock engine components! The fact that BMW overbuilt the N54 is what's going to allow this platform to continue to grow and evolve long after E92 M3 fanboys jump ship to the F80, which looks like it will be the car the E92 should have been!