Ride Quaity M3 vs. 335i with Sport Package

[gbelton]

One additional thought. There is always room for improvement but this is subjective to the design and characteristic of The Ultimate Driving Machine. In the case of the 335i, it's a sports coupe/cabrio, and meant to be high strung and close to its bigger brother, the M3.

[gemini330zhp]

On another note if you do get a m3 go for the 18 inch wheel package then the 19s. Better performance and comfort than the 19s.

[captainaudio]

Originally Posted by gbelton

CA, when you buy into BMW's M division, you buy the Ultimate in Performance. What you get is the best balance of BMW Motorsports engineering. What does that mean? Performance first and a good blend of luxury. You seem like an astute person, so I think you understand my response.

But don't take my word for it, go drive it and make sure you drive it where you experience the harshness you refer to in your post.



What you are asking about it the EDC (Electronic Damping Control). The 335i is softer than the M3 (E92) but again, your butt maybe more sensitive than mine and if so, you will revel the day you bought the M3 (E92). If you want soft, buy the 328i, 535i, 650i, or the 750Li.



You'd be hard press to sell me on that analysis. I would take a RFT on the locations you drive any day. Beats a blown tire and you're stranded on the side of the road whereas the RFT can get you to a safe place.




Don't waste your time, honestly...



Good!



Good luck on that one. I test drove the Maserati GT for several months. Nice car, design is near flawless but the driving experience and feel is lacking in comparison to the BMW. The M-GT is all about the design (External, Internal) and distance driving. Is it more comfy than the 335i, and the M3, YOU BETCHA!



I would have to disagree with you on your statement of poor engineering. You bought the wrong car is you preference is 80% damping in a High Performance car. You might have made a better choice with Mercedes, Audi, or Lexus.



Love'em or hate'em, what started out in your post as a RFT thing, it's clear you don't like them, so you changed them and now you blame BMW engineering. You say it's a poorly designed suspension... I say, it was designed just right. Most mods go for harder and stiffer but in your case you want softer, hmm... I would go with 18" on your 335i F 225/50, R 255/45.

I would venture to say that the majority of the people moding their cars for harder and striffer are not hightly experienced with chassis dymanics. Suspensions setup is a complex process. I do not accept the premise that in order for a car to handle it has to have a jarring ride, It is the job of a suspension to keep the tires in contact with the road, If the ultimate suspension was the stiffest suspension then you would not need a suspension at all. You could just weld the shocks together. It is also my impression that most of the people going for 19" wheels seem more concerned with style than performance.
"Poorly Desiged Suspension" is an exageration but no more so than "designed just right". There is a lot of room for improvement in BMWs suspension design, at least on the 335i with sport package. They got it right in some areas, the car is a pleasure to drove on the back roads of Connecticutt where I spend a lot of my time but the performance on bad road surfaces leaves a lot of room for improvement. As I have posted numerous times I purchased my 335i in Palm Beach Florida. It was fine on South Florida roads. I can understand the Florida posters here that can't understand why anyone complains about the RFTs. All I can say to them is come up to the Northeast and see if you still fell that way,

I think my objections to the 335i suspension would easily be solved with some form of variable damping. I really don't want ot give up any performance on the twisties but that performance is not going to be utilized on the FDR drive and I would have no problem turning it down a bit to get less violent ride.



CA

[captainaudio]

Originally Posted by gemini330zhp

On another note if you do get a m3 go for the 18 inch wheel package then the 19s. Better performance and comfort than the 19s.

I already came to that conclusion.
I really don't understand the appeal of 19's except that perhaps some people like the way they look which is of course subjective.

CA

[Herms]

Originally Posted by captainaudio

I bought a 2007 335i (E92) last May. I was interesdted in an M3 but they were not available at the time. I am considering trading if for an M3. I live in NYC and feel that the 335i with Sport Package and RFTs is just too hard a ride for NYC streets ( I replaced the RFTs with Pirelli P_Zero Nero M&S which helped a lot).
If I order an M3 I will probably check off all of the options including MDrive and DCT. My 335i has everythig except active steering and active cruise control.

My question is how effective is the variable damping in the M3?

CA

comfort mode in the m3 is very livable. the ride is definitely stiffer than the 335, but not having rft's makes a big difference in terms of evening things out. you may feel road imperfections a bit more with the m3, but it won't feel like you smashed into the curb should you go over a smallish pothole.

[daltonnnn]

Originally Posted by ACZakka325i

I cam from a e90 325i with sports package and runflats.

The 325i was rock hard, absolutley uncomfortable. The M3 is tight but not in the sense that it transmits all of the poor surfaces onto the driver. I have the 18s and with the EDC set to sportiest, it is better than the sport package, but in a more refined way. The rebound is very tight, tighter than the sports package, but it doesn't beat you up.

I think you'll be all set in NYC with the 18s, but you may want to leave your EDC set to comfort or the middle setting unless you get out of the city.

My experience was like his. I had a 328 rental this past Saturday, and man, I love my M. The 328 is the worst ever. If I was in the market for a non M, it wouldn't be the 328. It was so rough, I couldn't wait to give it back.

[captainaudio]

Originally Posted by daltonnnn

My experience was like his. I had a 328 rental this past Saturday, and man, I love my M. The 328 is the worst ever. If I was in the market for a non M, it wouldn't be the 328. It was so rough, I couldn't wait to give it back.

Did the 328 have sport package? I assume it had RFTs

CA

[Herms]

sport package w/ rfts sucks, but it's because the tires transmit imperfections. in the M, the suspension is stiff and this makes the ride harsher. say, for example, a slight dip in the freeway, you can gun it in the sport pkg, but in the M those types of imperfections can be harsh and the car will be jumpy if you're too much on the gas. if you get the spt pkg and get rid of the rfts the ride will be much more compliant than the M3.

[captainaudio]

Wide variety of opinions here.


CA

[footie]

If I took a picture of the road I drive every day to work you would know that the M3 with EDC and 18" is better than most cars, never mind other sportscars. The ride quality on comfort is truly amazing, while on normal road like you get in the city or on motorways the normal setting is equally as good as any other car I care to think of. I am personally not a fan of the sport setting, on anything other than pool table smooth it's a bit crashy for my liking.

I would personally stick with the stock 18" and spend the money on an option which makes the ownership that bit more enjoyable. The stock rims give the car a more aggressive/street racer look than the 19" and brake dust doesn't show as quickly.

Hope this helps with your decision.

[s4awd]

I drive into Manhattan at least twice a week. With the 18's its perfect. Came from a 550i sport pkg and it's a fraction stiffer but barely noticable and the 550i was comfortable even with the RFTs. I'm older so I like the classier look of the 19's vs the boy racer look of the 18's but given the ride, I went with the 18's just because of my commute