I went and test drove a 35i this Saturday and had some fun with it...although I always seem to go down the fun roads and get stuck behind slow people.
I drove a 35i with DCT and the adaptive suspension.
I currently have a 135i and the handling is definitely different, I wouldn't say it is bad, just different. A lot of that is sitting behind such a long hood and so close to the rear axle. I am very used to my 135i and I think it is a very easy car to drive to the edge and very forgiving. The 35i didn't feel like that, but I will attribute a lot of that to me not being used to it.
I liked the adaptive suspension, on the smooth roads I dialed it up to sport+ and it limited body roll. On the rougher roads I lowered it to normal and it soaked up the bumps nicely. I really didn't like the gear selections the computer made in normal though, in sport and sport+ it did a great job.
DCT was great, I really liked it. When in sport or sport+ mode the shifts are near instantanious (spelling?). When downshifting there is often a burble, not a big deal but fun! I wish there was a way to have DCT and normal manual transmissions together. I am sure they could do it, but there probably aren't too many people that would want it.
About the steering wheel, my 135i has the M wheel and I really wish the 35i had it as well. It seems almost too thin. I didn't pay too much attention to how the steering worked in normal vs sport/sport+, I will go back and take it for another test drive and see how that feels.
The engine didn't seem as free revving as the one in my 135i, it was odd. I think that might be because mine has 14k miles on it now and engines definitely break in over a period of time. This might have been the difference in seating position as well though. At lower speeds the car seemed to be faster than my 135i, which was fun
Overall I loved the car, it was a lot of fun. I will hopefully have one early next month. I don't think it is as fast or well handling as my 135i, but I really liked the car a lot. And I love the way it looks (I also love the way the Z4M Coupe looks too). Build quality seemed a bit better than the 135i.
Oh, I almost forgot. There was a 30i and the 35i, the 30i had the 17 inch rims and the 35i the 18 inch rims. The 17s looked too small for the car, also I can't say I was a big fan of the spokes on it either. The 18s looked just right though, I ordered the 19s and hopefully they won't look too big on the car.
Now I have to figure out how to get back for anothe drive