Guys, slightly off topic but....
Test drove the F30 335i Sport today. Didn't even ask for it. My salesperson called me and asked if I wanted to go for a spin
Not the perfect weather but.... Who am I to complain.....
The F30 335i sport was red. Looks good. Salesperson indicated that the F30 looks better with bright colors where as the F10 looks more classy with colder colors. I tend to agree. The red looked stunning on the F30.
I am not going to comment much on the obvious but it is a 3 and not a 5. No comparison in terms of classiness. F10 wins hands down in terms of luxury feeling. Looking at the interior of the F30, feels very cheap. Too cheap for a HKD767K 335i. At that price point, any reasonable FAMILY or EXECUTIVE will go for a 535i instead...... So who's going to buy the F30 335i? Hardcore enthusiasts?
This is what my biggest disappointment lies. Given that it is a 3 series, I fully expect that the F30 handles like a sport car. The 335i sport line included M Sport suspension. But I can't help but feel that my F10 feels more sporty than the F30 335i! Something is just not right. Steering of the F30 is WAY TOO LIGHT. Coming from a series of AMGs, I thought that the F10 steering was light, but has grown to love it now. The F30 in sport mode feels barely the same steering responsiveness as my F10 in normal mode! That's just not right. Test drove back and forth on Stubbs road this morning. Disappointing.
But it handles well for a sedan. Just does not feel that it is a sports car. Feels more like the A7 in steering response now. Steering feedback is also light. Lighter than my F10.....
Power? Well, the F30 335i has an abundance of it. I didn't step on it due to the road conditions (wet road, foggy, light rain). Throttle response was within my expectation but didn't blow me away. My 135i with N54 has way more kick (I didn't mod the engine in any way) than the F30 335i. So it does leave me feeling a tad unsatisfied. My F10 550i have way better throttle response (after throttle resets) than the new 335i.
So what do I like about it? The rear seats! Legroom has definitely improved from last gen 3-series. I would say the rear legrooms are on par with E39s now. But the rear seats and the aircon outlets looked real cheap to me.
Gadgetries? On par with the F10. But just feels a lot cheaper. The iDrive looks like cheap remote controls. The screen looks better than the F10 but it doesn't flip close like the A6, so it looks more like an after thought with the way it is presented. Oh, Eco mode is there. And i concurred that the execution of the start-stop is worse than the CLS350 that i tried last year. Very noticeable, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. My salesperson can't figure out why either.
I wasn't particularly interested in the F30 4dr but I was interested in the convertible. But based on what my feeling about the F30 is right now, i think I will keep my 135i vert
PS. Salesperson said that 328i production are almost all sold out until fall. And that she's fielding inquiries for the 6GCs everyday after I told her what it was last year
