[mjh93sa]

I was down my local dealer for an open day arranged with assistance from the BMW Car Club (GB) today and as predicted in a previous post the diet had to go on hold in favour of one of their excellent bacon baps.

It was interesting to see around the service area as the workshops are actually on the first floor above the showroom. They have a neat two storey tall rotating computerised parts storage system and being only a couple of years old and designed with input from the dealer staff it's all laid out as neatly and cleanly as you would expect from a BMW dealer.

Unfortunately the E93 didn't make an appearance as had been hoped, but the demo fleet was being pressed into hard service. So much so that the MiniGp was out of action for want of fuel at one point. I limited myself to the E92 335i auto and E90 330d MSport auto (for the purposes of future buying reference).

Impressions?
335i - clucking bell that thing is quick! If you're the sort that likes to redline the car (MF?) then it's gonna put a smile on your face. It came in for a lot of stick from the M3 brigade for being too cosseting and refined, with not enough raw edge (though they didn't complain about the speed). The consensus was that it was too soft for a balls out fast car, needed driving too hard for a grand tourer and so was a little hard to define it's role.

All I can see is they seem to be missing the point, it'll go like something off a well greased shovel, but is refined enough for everyday use. The newer autobox was also actually quite nice, and gives it much more the character of a manual due to the increased torque lock-up, so much so that I kept going to shift gear when coming to a halt!

330d - People kept coming back saying they were converted to diesel and that on balance they preferred the 330d to the 335i as it had a better balance between speed and comfort. Basically they felt it's identity was less confused.

What can I say beyond it's a great car, okay it's not as fast as a 335i, but things still get small in your mirrors at an alarming rate. The older generation of autobox is not as nice as that fitted to the 335i, you feel less connected to what's going on. Whereas the autobox on the 335i would stand up against a manual for my affections, I'd still prefer the manual over this older version.

It's just a shame they didn't have a 335d available, as given the showing of these 2 it would probably have walked away with everyone's vote.

Roll on their next Ride and Drive event....