[seis-speed]

I have a lease that ends in the fall and I may just keep my e90. Driving both it feels like the e90 is more of a drivers car. I had the same issue coming out of an e46, but the e90 crushed it in the looks and engine department. The F30 has the same engine and looks very similar to me. I am not dying to get an F30 like I thought I would be. Anyone else feel similar?

[bosz]

Wait till the F30 LCI

[seis-speed]

Re-lease for 3 more years? I timed my last lease so I could go right into an f30 then get the update, but I was expecting more of a change.

[onehungevo]

The cars look nothing alike on the inside or out.

[Mahzari]

I wouldn't want to deal with the depreciation on your E90; in a few years, it'll be worth what 07-08 335is go for now (nothing). I'd get the new car that's under BMW's free service plan. Then again, I prefer the F30 to the E90.

Just my 2 cents

[arnsbrae]

Originally Posted by seis-speed

I have a lease that ends in the fall and I may just keep my e90. Driving both it feels like the e90 is more of a drivers car. I had the same issue coming out of an e46, but the e90 crushed it in the looks and engine department. The F30 has the same engine and looks very similar to me. I am not dying to get an F30 like I thought I would be. Anyone else feel similar?

Nope. Not even a bit. If you had a E90 coupe things might be different.

That said, if you are not dying to get an F30 then you probably shouldn't get one...

[xugator]

When I see an F30 next to an E90, the 90 looks really dated to me.

I have a feeling that when we start to see even more F30s on the road, this perspective may be magnified

At first, it was hard for me to tell the difference between the 2 but now it is night and day and the F30 looks so much better

Plus its a completely different engine and the cost savings of the 4 vs the 6 cylinder over 3 years will be significant depending on your driving

[Maz335i]

Originally Posted by Mahzari

I wouldn't want to deal with the depreciation on your E90; in a few years, it'll be worth what 07-08 335is go for now (nothing). I'd get the new car that's under BMW's free service plan. Then again, I prefer the F30 to the E90.

Just my 2 cents

+1

[M.Suka]

looks e46>e90

[Calmwinds]

Originally Posted by xugator

When I see an F30 next to an E90, the 90 looks really dated to me.

I have a feeling that when we start to see even more F30s on the road, this perspective may be magnified

At first, it was hard for me to tell the difference between the 2 but now it is night and day and the F30 looks so much better

Plus its a completely different engine and the cost savings of the 4 vs the 6 cylinder over 3 years will be significant depending on your driving

100% true... IT's almost always the case

[cgpublic]

Keep the E (for excellence in steering feel) and pass on the F.

It's a downgrade in every aspect.

Let's keep our fingers crossed they fix it for the coupe or LCI.

[dmontic71]

Originally Posted by Maz335i

+1

+2

[RFGuy_KCCO]

I agree with the OP. I had been planning for the last year to pick up an F30 when my E90 335i's lease is up next summer, but then I drove a Sport Line F30 335i a couple months ago and realized I like the driving feel and looks of my current car much better than the F30. Sure, the F30 is a little larger (not really a plus for me) and it has more gizmos, but I really love my current car. It doesn't help that my current color combo (LeMans Blue/Saddle Brown) isn't available on the F30. Really, it comes down to the fact that the F30 does not wow me. I've decided to purchase my beloved E90 at lease end, instead.

[SCBimmerKid]

Originally Posted by cgpublic

Keep the E (for excellence in steering feel) and pass on the F.

It's a downgrade in every aspect.

Let's keep our fingers crossed they fix it for the coupe or LCI.

I'm not sure it's a downgrade in EVERY aspect. The styling, efficiency, and power have all improved. And while the steering feel may have decreased (marginally), the accuracy and handling is still all there.

[tony20009]

I am not dying to replace my e92 with an F30. Perhaps I'll feel differently about the F32 (or whatever they call the coupe version). I think the e9x is more of a drivers car, but only at the margins, and that's not where I drive 85% of the time, so I'm not sure how important that will be to me when the time actually comes.

Personally, were I you, liking my current car, I certainly would not spend more money to fix/change what's not broken. This would be especially true if you've not had issues with your car. Having a 335 instead of a 328 or diesel, I might just make the switch.

Now, I'm assuming you are considering buying the car you currently lease. That would be a good idea because a car you own free and clear (assuming it's trouble free) always much less costly to you than car you lease. Owning in an of itself is cheaper in the long run than leasing.

Some folks above mentioned depreciation. With few exceptions, the depreciation on the car is irrelevant. If you are buying a car to own it, and keep it (the least expensive choice), it doesn't matter how much the car depreciates because you aren't trying to sell it and by the time you do, you will have gotten more than your money's worth from the car.

Even if you choose to re-lease your current car, the payments will likely be lower than that for a new F30. So again, unless you are dissatisfied with your e90, there still seems to me to be little point in switching.

I see a car -- any car I've owned up to now -- as 80% transportation and 20% other things. As long as I'm getting the 80% value I need from the car, I won't spend more money to obtain that other 20% until such time as I need to replace the car to obtain my 80%'s worth again. That 20%, for me, is mostly just the niftyiness of having a new car with the latest tech and maybe gizmos/features. For example, my 5er has navigation on it and I really like that feature, both for its own sake as well as some of the improvements it brings to other elements of the car, such as the radio presets and the ease of accessing HD2/HD3 radio stations, and the iPod information displayed. My 3er doesn't have that option. I'm still not going to replace my 3er so I can have nav, even though I drive my 3-series 2-5 days a week, as compared with my 5-series which I may drive 2-6 times a month. Now when my e92 ceases to function as I need it to, I will most certainly get nav on its replacement.

Good luck with your decision. I'm sure you'll make the right choice for your needs.

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by BMWDude49120

... I drove a Sport Line F30 335i a couple months ago and realized I like the driving feel and looks of my current car...It doesn't help that my current color combo... isn't available on the F30. Really, it comes down to the fact that the F30 does not wow me.

I feel ya. For me, it comes down to the fact that the color combos I think I want to get next are in the lux and modern lines, but the sport suspension isn't. In my mind, the Sport Line should contain most of, if not all, the stuff we typically think of as being elements of the M Sport Package and the sport suspension should just be a stand alone option one can add to whatever variant of BMW one buys.

I feel that way because the vast majority of what comes with the M Sport package is cosmetic, just as the things that distinguish the Luxury and Modern line cars are mostly cosmetic. So were BMW to link the cosmetics with the various lines and leave the functional options as stand alone options, the lines would then make a great deal more sense to me.

[The X Men]

Originally Posted by SCBimmerKid

I'm not sure it's a downgrade in EVERY aspect. The styling, efficiency, and power have all improved. And while the steering feel may have decreased (marginally), the accuracy and handling is still all there.

Styling is subjective, I happen to think the E90 looks like a classic BMW design and the F30 looks more like a X3, especially in the front and we all know the X3 have a ugly front end
With that said, the F30 was a pretty big disappointment to me as well. I expected a smooth sounding engine and BMW like steering feel, the F30 lacks in both department. Sure there are some advancement in the F30, but not enough to justify the $9000 premium over the E90.

[ATX78703]

If you're a chronic "leaser", like many out there, I would lease the F30 now, then lease the F30 LCI in 4yrs....

[brandon @ eas]

I went from an e92, to an e46 M3, to now the F30 and have absolutely no regrets. Love the way the car looks and drives

[Alpine F31]

Originally Posted by msuka

looks e46>e90

Agreed.

That said, I'll take the F30 (actually F31 )

[svache]

I'm glad beauty is still in the eye of the beholder...

I loved the E46 design (and still do), then the E90 came out and, well, let me be nice and just say we skipped on that one and went with the E70 X5 instead.. now the F30 came out and, honestly, I love the three series once again.

[Propagator]

Originally Posted by svache

I'm glad beauty is still in the eye of the beholder...

I loved the E46 design (and still do), then the E90 came out and, well, let me be nice and just say we skipped on that one and went with the E70 X5 instead.. now the F30 came out and, honestly, I love the three series once again.

Beauty is certainly subjective, but I find it curious that quite a few people have said the same thing, that they loved the E46, hated the E90, and now the F30 is great. I say curious because if I had to choose between the E90 and F30 based on which one looks closer to the E46, I would pick the E90 without a doubt. (I'm also a huge E46 fan.)



While the side profiles are very similar between the E90 and the F30, the front of the F30 is actually very different from the two EXX cars. The E90 looks essentially like a "flame surfaced" version of the E46 front end, whereas the low and angled placement of the headlamps, along with the hood hump and hood cut line, creates a very different look for the F30.

I personally think it looks nice except for the stupid sperm whale hump, but I also think it looks quite different from the previous 3ers, including the E46.

I wonder what happened is that some people were really turned off by the Bangle design language, and it took them a few years before they got used to it. It is also true that the surface treatment is somewhat more restrained on the F30 compared to the E90.

Anyways, size-wise, the F30 is almost a bona fide family car now (which is both good and bad).

P.S. Actually, that stupid drawing I posted is not to scale at all. The F30 looks way too big in it. Sorry for linking a bad drawing, but the point was to compared the design.

P.P.S. I updated the pic, now it should be roughly to scale. Sorry for crappy workmanship, I did it with screen capture and Keynote. I also added a profile view of E39 I found on the web, also to scale. The E39 is still ~6 inches longer than the F30, but the wheelbase is about the same for the two cars now.