[rjc32000]

Traded in my 2013 Glacier Silver 328 for a 2014 Black Sapphire Metallic 335 last week, here are a few pics from today. Most pictures were taken a few miles south of Anchorage, Alaska along Turnagain Arm on the Seward Highway.

2014 335 X Drive
M Sport
Black Sapphire Metallic
Black leather/Alum Hex trim
Manual Transmission
Premium
Technology
Cold Weather
HK Drivers Assist

[cracing]

Beautiful Scenery & Beautiful Car!

[64-bit]

Nice! Please tell us why did you move to a 335i?

I yet to see someone to move from 335i to a 328i and call it an upgrade.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do

[rjc32000]

Honestly, I was probably going to stick with the 328, and had even contemplated going down to a 320 or a diesel. The N20 engine is just brilliant in my opinion, and I never felt it lacked for power, torque or smoothness. And I believe the lighter weight of the N20 was better suited to the F30 chassis. I moved up to the 335 because I got a really good deal on the last 2014 on my dealer's lot, which happened to be a 335 with manual transmission.

I'm very happy with it, but without a real financial incentive from my dealer (my lease payments are considerably lower in the 335 than they were on my 328), I probably wouldn't have "upgraded" to the 335.

Originally Posted by 64-bit

Nice! Please tell us why did you move to a 335i?

I yet to see someone to move from 335i to a 328i and call it an upgrade.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do

[psuibmw]

Originally Posted by rjc32000

Honestly, I was probably going to stick with the 328, and had even contemplated going down to a 320 or a diesel. The N20 engine is just brilliant in my opinion, and I never felt it lacked for power, torque or smoothness. And I believe the lighter weight of the N20 was better suited to the F30 chassis. I moved up to the 335 because I got a really good deal on the last 2014 on my dealer's lot, which happened to be a 335 with manual transmission.

I'm very happy with it, but without a real financial incentive from my dealer (my lease payments are considerably lower in the 335 than they were on my 328), I probably wouldn't have "upgraded" to the 335.

Moving up and lowering payments that's what's called good deal

[bahasad]

Beautiful car, beautiful scenery.

Are there a lot of BMWs up there in Alaska? I think one of my bucket list items will be to drive my car up there.

[rjc32000]

Originally Posted by bahasad

Beautiful car, beautiful scenery.

Are there a lot of BMWs up there in Alaska? I think one of my bucket list items will be to drive my car up there.

There are a surprising number of Bimmers in the 49th state. BMW is always well-represented at local autocross and track events, and you see them all over on the roads, at least in the Anchorage area.

You probably don't want to drive a nice car up the Alaska-Canada highway, unless you are willing to shell out lots of money to repair paint chips, windshield replacement, fog light replacement, etc. Too many trucks, RVs and other vehicles throwing up gravel to make it through unscathed. I've made the drive over a half-dozen times myself (in various Subarus and Hondas, never in a Bimmer), and it is always pretty spectacular.

But you can skip a good portion of the drive by taking the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system up the Inside Passage from Bellingham/Anacortes (Washington state) to Haines. It is a 3 day, 3 night ferry trip that cuts a lot of the driving out, but you still must drive out of Alaska, into Canada and back into Alaska, so it is a pretty good trip. Seeing SE Alaska from the deck of a ferry is pretty spectacular, and a good deal cheaper than a cruise ship.

[romanonj]

Beautiful!! Guess there aren't many m3/4s in Alaska??

[rjc32000]

Originally Posted by romanonj

Beautiful!! Guess there aren't many m3/4s in Alaska??

Actually quite a few. I've seen two E30 M3s, many, many E36 M3s (especially at autocross), a good number of E46 M3s (including the one on my garage!), a handful of E90/92s, and one F80 M4 around town. With winter tires, they do just fine in the winter (although my garage queen M3 has never and will never be driven in snow!).

Even more surprising is that there seem to be quite a few E46 M3 convertibles around. There really aren't that many days where conditions permit you to put the top down up here, so I'm always a bit puzzled by how many people opt for the 'vert.

[aksi]

Beautiful! Always be careful of sleepy drivers on the seward highway!!

[smithf80]

Looking beautiful! Love the scenery.

[RM7]

Originally Posted by rjc32000

There are a surprising number of Bimmers in the 49th state. BMW is always well-represented at local autocross and track events, and you see them all over on the roads, at least in the Anchorage area.

Just looking through old threads here:

Behind subarus, it seems MB, BMWs and Audis are the next most common car types, due to offering a significant amount of their line with AWD, something that most of the US and Japanese manufacturers have not done, with the exception of the Chrysler 300 platform, which is also pretty numerous. That said, there are still a good percentage of RWD MB and BMWs here too. Lots of people have "summer only" cars too. Decent number of all types of porsche's running around, seen an R8 or two, few Italian exotics, few teslas, and so on.

[.BMW.]

Beautiful photos!