Originally Posted by Jamesons Viggen
This will be my definitive 328 vs 335 post after collecting articles here and there.
So, there are two perspectives.
One, the general public who are wowed by the additional power on a test drive of the 335. Let's be honest, the difference in power is easily felt, and it's easily noticed by most people and rather quickly.
But I did want to share notes from professional testing, people who drive these cars for days, on the roads, road trips, the track and drove BOTH 335 and 328. This isn't one of those, well I had a loaner for an hour kind of crap.
Here are some excerpts that describe that scenario:
"As for the BMW, well, since we first drove the new 335i, no one on staff has been particularly smitten. The consensus is that the 328i is a better-driving car."
"Part of the problem is that, while the 328i's suspension feels properly tuned, the 335i's feels as if BMW just dropped in a heavier, more powerful engine and didn't bother recalibrating anything"
"3rd Place: BMW 335i Sport
Expensive, though the underrated engine does give you loads of power. Damping rates too soft for a car with so much grunt."
-MotorTrend 2/13
Notes: They mentioned how the 328 dominated the 8 car test:
"When we did that eight-car comparison the 328i won, I remember getting out of the other cars, climbing into the BMW, and thinking, 'This is it. This is how you do it.' I had the same feeling today driving the Cadillac ATS."
The writers go a bit overboard in the declaration again on the Motor Trend blog:
"The 328i is a better car than its sibling, the more powerful, more expensive 2012 BMW 335i."
"The engine is just one more part that makes the 328i feel like the better product. Put another way, the three editors on staff that spent considerable time in each, all preferred the slower, cheaper 328i."
-Motor Trend Written by: Jonny Lieberman on March 7 2012 12:00 PM
Honestly, MotorTrend sounds a bit more neutral with this blurb from their first test of the 335:
"The 335i seems portly -- the scales show 3586 pounds and a front/rear distribution of 51/49 percent -- but that weight actually matches that of the last 335i coupe we tested. Versus the four-cylinder 328i, it carries 100 extra pounds. Where do you think that weight comes from? A hundred points if you guessed the front axle. The added weight is noticeable after back-to-back drives with the 328i, but equally noticeable is the extra forward thrust the 335i so readily supplies. A slightly heavier nose or more power? Decisions, decisions."
-MotorTrend By Carlos Lago | February 28, 2012
So now, we have the added power of the 335, and it loses to it's competition(Lexus IS350, the S4, the ATS 3.6) and they clearly state the suspension tuning is not well calibrated to the car. This mind set that more power=better, I am sorry is a fallacy. If people say I enjoy the extra power of the 335, I am all for it. I would often make the same choice. But the idea that more power makes the 335 better than the 328 by default-eh, that I don't know about. Fact is, the 328 does a better job of slaying the competition than the 335. Only when it gets on these forums are we pitting them against each other and playing up the power of the 335 and downplaying the 328. In the E90 days, it was much easier to differentiate camps.
You can flame all you want. But that is the feedback from professionals that spent time in both cars. I had a week in a 335 about a week after I owned my 328. Honestly, the power is clearly there, and for many it's a no brainer, combine that with the better engine/intake note. But there is a idea that the 328 only handles better on a race track. I did not fine that to be true as did professional writers.
So to me, there is no winner or loser when we pit the two cars against each other. Neither owner got it WRONG. The statements that someone only buys a 328 because they are too poor to afford a 335 is just as silly as saying there is no power advantage felt by the 335 or no handling advantage to the 328.
/my 328 vs 335 debate.
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