So I'm in Toronto this weekend visiting my brother and since I think I want a 335i for my next car I figured it would be a good opportunity to drive a couple to see if I actually like them. So I made arrangements to look at two of them yesterday morning before we met up with friends in the afternoon.
First stop was at BMW Toronto which is an incredible facility. There we took out a white on black 2014 335i xDrive, manual and fairly loaded with the premium package, both M Performance packages, and the ConnectedDrive services pack. Only package it didn't have is executive (heads up display, auto high beams, heated rear seats, sunshades, etc). It had just under 50k on it and they were asking $42k. The M Performance II package gives you the M power kit and exhaust so it has 326 hp vs 300 for the normal 335i.
We took it for a spin up and down the DVP and on some surface streets. Luckily the DVP was moving quickly so I could get a good feel for the car. Obviously it's quite quick, as expected. The ride and handling were also great. The car was very composed even on bumpy downtown streets despite the fairly large 19" wheels. The sport seats were very comfortable as well, and I really liked the seating position. The interior is fairly simple and I like it better than most modern interiors. The very large (8.8") display sits high on the dash, angled slightly towards the driver. The M Performance exhaust has a nice growl to it; slightly aggressive without being too loud. I was very impressed with all aspects of the car and this particular example was very, very clean as well.
One disappointment was with the CPO warranty. BMW has recently changed the warranty from 6/160 to 5/160. This particular car had a fairly late in-service date so it still had a full two years remaining on the warranty. Honestly, if I wanted a white one, this would be an excellent buy.
Next stop was at a Subaru dealer to check out what was advertised as a 335i M Performance Edition. I knew it wasn't a true MPE because it lacked the piano black interior trim that all the MPEs have, but it did seem to have all the M Performance bits that those cars have. So obviously someone had spent quite a bit of money for those parts. The car was black with a red interior which is a great combo. Looking it over it wasn't nearly as clean as the first one I drove but it was also priced at just $36k with 60k on it. It had just come up on AutoTrader the day before. We met the saleswoman and she went to get the keys and came back five minutes later with bad news: The car had just been sold. She tried to convince me to check out a 328i wagon they had but I said I was only interested in manuals. Unfortunately we wasted quite a bit of timing driving back and forth to this dealer but what can you do.
Funny enough, I had sent the ad for this black one to my wife and her response was BUY IT.
On our way back from the Subaru store we spotted a new Valencia orange 3-series wagon that also had all the M Performance parts on it. Very nice looking car.
So long story short, I guess I just need to wait for the right car to come along. Manual 335s are fairly popular, at least with xDrive. There's a lot of estoril blue ones around which is one of my favourite colours though I'm hoping a Valencia Orange or Laguna Seca Blue MPE becomes available at some point.
