My mate Advevo testdrove a 335i yesterday at the Dutch distributor for driving-fun.com
We were talking about the engine and he stated that the car is 'more or less just as fast' as his stock 1M(he has two of them) in a straight line. And cornering was more than alright he said(adaptive suspension, 19"alloys 401 style). More info plus vid will follow.
I drove his 1M a few months ago and found that car very powerful(compared to my ex E90 M3) and a joy to drive(best M car in years imo, but that's off topic) so I have no doubt the N55 335i won't let me down.
His info (we know each other for 30 years or so) about the finesse of driving a car and the feel to me is more valuable than ANY carmag/journalist(except maybe for Chris Harris, Tiff and Jason, but they're all more or less professional racecardrivers) AND off course driving it MYSELF, to judge the whole thing.
I posted this already in the F10 M5 part of this forum, but it's great to repost it
Advevo driving the M5:
He also stated that electric powersteering doesn't suck in the F30. He was racing a E46 M3 V8'GTR' in some endurance races at Spa/Zandvoort etc a few years ago and that car already had an electric steering pump. 'You just have to get used to it' he said.