[elistan]

Originally Posted by Kayani_1

If you had driven BMW's like myself for more then a decade and had more experience behind a E9x or E46 models you might have understood what I am talking about a bit more.

You said you believe F30 owners' preference for their F30's feel is due to "purchase based bias blinders." With your more-than-a-decade experience driving BMWs other than the F30, can you admit to yourself that you too might have some purchase based bias blinders? All I can tell is that having never driven a BMW before, the E90 was dull and the F30 was exciting. There's no bias there, no preconceived notion of what a BMW should be. Who best to compare the two cars?

Some of the main issues come from it feeling a bit more soft core specially when it comes to steering feel and feed back.

I do understand that people prefer the E90 steering feel, but for me personally that's about 5% of what a car is worth - the engine, transmission and handling are a whole lot more important.

The inline-4 turbo sounds a bit more crude specially at start up and at idle. It is also not as free revving and silky smooth. The noises it makes leaves a bit to be desired. Also, I find the interior plastic a bit cheaper feeling.

The dang engine is so quiet that it's essentially silent to me in the cabin with the windows up at start up and at idle. The only people that hear it are people outside the car and frankly I don't care what they think of the sound. I also come from a long line of 4 cylinder sports cars (S2000, 944, Integra GSR, CBR600RR) so neither the 4 cylinder specific sound nor the NVH are a bother to me.

That's a case, I think, of the car being different but not inferior, however having decades of experience driving BMWs means that that difference is by default inferior to you.

Funny enough, if you find somebody with more than TWO decades of BMW experience, you might find somebody who used to own an E30 M3, last produced 21 years ago in 1992 as far as I know. Which incidentally had a four-cylinder engine - so go back far enough and we come full circle to the F30 328i's four-cylinder being more of a "true" BMW engine.

Regarding the interior, I was immediately put off by the E90 when I sat in it. It looked like a sea of cheap plastic to me - specifically the top and front of the dash. It looks plain and boring. I still get that feeling when I see pics of that interior.

However, I can understand why you would prefer the F30 328i over E90 328i. The power and overall performance of the inline-4 turbo makes a compelling argument for itself. The MPG improvement is another plus with improved transmission offering of 8-speed. A lil more room in rear.

Agreed.

However, you have to realize all those advantages are not found in the F30 335i except for a lil more room in the rear. Other then that lil room the E9x 335is is far superior in driving dynamics and performance compared to the F F30 335i M sport.

So when I am talking I am not just talking of 328i offering but rather talking about as a whole F30 328i/335i.

For what its worth I never considered a 335i. My budget was $40k, and while the CA had me drive a CPO E90 335i when I drove the F30 328i and I could certainly feel the extra horsepower of the 3.0 engine, it wasn't faster enough to overcome the advantages (to me) of a new car which is fast enough to be fun, plus handles really well and looks better inside and out.

Having taken the F30 canyon carving in the Colorado Rockies I can attest that it lives up to being a fun to drive car.