1st Time Experience

Why do they call owning a BMW the ‘Ultimate Driving Experience’? There are no doubts about the cars being special, brimming with Teutonic precision and technology. They continue to be the benchmark for all the other luxury sports sedans. But do they live up to all the hype? I got to find out for myself in Fall 2009 when I put together a deal with my local dealer, Budd’s BMW of Oakville to lease a 2009 Titanium Silver 335i. Just how was that leasing experience? I had gone to the dealer thinking it would be a 328i that I could afford to get into but salesman Cliff Fraser listened when I said, “That’s what I really want, but can’t afford it.” pointing towards a 335i sitting by the kerb, We returned to his office and after much keyboard punching he came up with a price that was within my budget. The huge $6,000 discount he came up with was due to the fact that it was coming up for the end of September and there was a huge incentive to for him to move this 2009 model. After all, the 2011 versions would be available in April 2010. Did that matter to me? Not really, it would just be nice to get behind the wheel of a Marque I had fantasized over since my early teens, it was a Bimmer and THAT was all that mattered.

My initial impressions? What a ride! The technology BMW packages in these cars is simply amazing. Cliff had giving me a comprehensive tour of the car when I picked it up but every so often in those first few weeks the handbook came out as I refreshed my memory and reacquainted myself with one electronic gizmo or another. I have to admit that as much as I have admired BMWs over the year s I was not really up to speed with all the nomenclature that goes with them. I had no clue what an E90 was never mind an LCI version of the same. It blew me away when I found out the 335i came with three hundred very healthy horses and twin turbos under the hood and the rumours abound that three hundred is conservative number. Heck, I remember the days when the likes of Eddie Cheever and Bruno Giacomelli ran Formula 2 BMWs and they had 300hp in the back of them! This was not to be my first encounter with turbocharging on a road car however; I had owned an original SAAB 99 turbo back in 1982. It was a pleasure to see how far turbocharging had come; throttle lag is now practically nonexistent and fuel economy is much improved. Being over fifty the only transmission I had considered was the automatic. It came with six speeds and BMW’s Steptronic system. The first question I get asked is, “Does it have the paddles?” Unfortunately no, but having lived with the push/ pull shifter for over six months, I am happy I don’t have them. I grew up rowing gears and the Steptronic shifter is very similar; there is hardly a day the car comes out of the garage that the shifter does not find its way over to the Manual mode for at least a short period of time. With BMW’s racing heritage it is only natural that they source components from companies with a true racing pedigree. The six-speed auto transmission comes from ZF and it behaves quite differently from my previous encounter with a ZF, a five-speed manual in the famed Droop Snoot Vauxhall Firenza; that piece of engineering would never go into second gear first thing in the morning if you did not hit the revs just right! You just had to sit and wait for the oils to warm up before trying to go any further. Nothing like that happens

with the ZF 6HP26 version, it is smooth in all three modes, Auto, Sport and Manual. The fact that even in Manual mode the transmission downshifts on its own on a trailing throttle was a little disconcerting at first but it does not take long to get used to it. Drive the car in a spirited fashion and it behaves totally different; blips the throttle on downshift and slows the car down almost like a manual. But come crawling in downtown Toronto it is time to slip the lever over to D and forget about it. I have hardly ever use the Sport Automatic mode; it is just more natural for me to drive it in Manual. As I mentioned previously, BMW fills their cars with all sorts of electronic goodies. One of them takes a bit of getting used to when driving a car with the horsepower this one has. That is the Dynamic Traction Control (DTC), which is part of Dynamic Stability Control (DSC). Wow, what a mouthful, anyway DCT limits the power put to the ground when road conditions allow the rear wheels to spin. At that point the car can fall flat on its face depending on how much power is taken out. Up here in Canada this can get exciting as you turn left and cross the opposing lane and the wheels spin on the remnants of the winter sand still on the roadway. The car falling flat on its face with a car coming at you is not good, but once you realize you have to give other traffic plenty of room to spare it is not a problem. Fun time comes when you hit the DTC and all 300+ horsepower is directed toward the rear of the car. This was to be my first experience of run-flat tires and after all the reading I had done on the Internet I was not really sure what to expect. Despite all the doom and gloom from the multitude of posts on various BMW themed forums I really have to say I didn’t find the ride any worse than the Mustang GT I bought new in 1991. Now I have the added benefit of not worrying about a sudden tire deflation and all the ensuing mayhem that could go with it. My car did not have the Sport package and came with 17” rims and I have to admit I actually like them, but they have seen their last summer for a while. Once the snow tires come off I am upgrading to a set of MORR’s newly introduced 19” VS8.2 rims and just for the better ride quality I am probably going to forgo the run-flats. The one thing I won’t be leaving the tire shop without is nitrogen inside the tires. I am an absolute believer in this, if for no other reason than the MORR’s are $3,500 plus aluminum wheels. The lack of moisture in nitrogen helps keep any oxidation to a minimum and my expensive wheels will end up lasting longer and seal better. In fact there is a whole story we can tell about nitrogen and tires, watch for a future issue for an in depth article.

So what are the things I like about the car! Well, they put a bunch of thought into almost everything. There are some issues I have with the car, but more on that later! With the adjustabity of both the seats and steering wheel a good driving position is easily found. I really love the passenger mirror tilting down to show where the kerb is when you are reversing. I have never used the fold back feature for the door mirrors but I am sure there is a use for it. The automatic dimming feature not only works on the interior mirror but on the door mirrors, a great thing if you are in heavy traffic on Highway 401 at night! I love the ability to vary the settings on the heated seats and come my second winter with the car forgot all about the steering wheel being heated, which is another plus for our increasingly cold winters. The Bluetooth interface for the phone and the ability to sync my IPod is just what is required here in Ontario with our no hand held devices law. The park distance control takes all the difficulty out of slotting into the tight parking spots that seem to becoming the norm these days. Then we get to comfort access, an absolute godsend in our Canadian winters! No more fiddling with gloves in pockets trying to unlock the car, just get close enough and pull the handle. Now for the things I don’t like, I was very disappointed to see the gauge array was really limited, no water temperature or oil pressure gauges. I always thought performance cars always had those gauges, my previous ones did! The functionality of the cruise control lever left me a bit puzzled, with the automatic transmission in Manual mode you pull the gear lever towards you to upshift and go faster, but to go faster with cruise engaged to push the cruise lever away from you, the totally opposite movement. An interesting concept don’t you think! That being said, I do like no longer having to screw around with buttons on the wheel to speed up or slow down to maintain station in a line of traffic, the lever falls right to hand at the left side of the steering wheel right where my hand resides as we cruise down the road. Add in the fact that you can use the cruise lever to accelerate or brake in a slightly more aggressive manor, the fact that you have to push away to speed up becomes an insignificant issue at the end of the day. The LCI upgrade included new taillights. I saw a comment on the Internet where one poster was glad BMW went back to L shaped lenses. Excuse me! It is not L shaped, BMW moved the intersect point between the trunk lamp and the quarter panel lamp down by about an inch and a half. It looks as if somebody screwed up the drawing and they just had to build it like that. Having said that, I think looking at the car from a three quarters rear viewpoint, it really is a sexy looking car, especially with that BMW Performance carbon spoiler on the trunk lid. Oil changes! Yep, that one had to come up! Even on a leased car do you want to run to 24,000 km before you do an oil change, I know I don’t! Ever since I came to Canada I always said we were being screwed over by having oil change schedules at 5,000 km but moving it by a factor of almost five is not a good move as far as I am concerned. Silly question, but why are there no miles shown on the speedometer? After all, some of us are only sixty miles from the USA! The next item is not so much a don’t like, but a why not complete the package? In a hot summer you can stand outside of the car and lower all the windows and open the sunroof. A good idea but one I never used other than to show friends how it worked. In the southern States I am sure it is used a lot but the question is, why didn’t BMW complete the package and allow you to roll up the windows with one button? This is accomplished by removing the valet key from the fob, inserting it into the lock and holding it one direction until all the windows and sunroof closes. Just a little thing but considering all the technology in the car, one I thought would have been a no brainer during the design process. And last but not least, the dreaded HPFP. I don’t have to spell it out to you but N54 powered BMWs have had the failing High Pressure Fuel Pump issue for many a year. I did not know that, I hadn’t got a clue! Maybe I should have done a bunch more homework on the car before I signed on the dotted line. But, you know what, touch wood, I have not had a failure; 33,000 km and still on the original. As long as I don’t start to have problems that turn into an ongoing concern, I’m cool. Extending the warranty on the HPFP to tens years was the least that BMW could do, it was a pity that it took so long. Unfortunately it’s the bean counters that are running these companies now and dollars and cents are what matters. To all those guys, I have one thing to say! Customer satisfaction matters and BMW took a hit over this. It is time to get back to the old days where customers are important! They are paying your salary after all!

BMW Performance Parts Made available in spring 2008, the BMW Performance accessory range was inspired by the company’s involement in motorsport. My 335i has three products from the range fitted. Looking to give the car a little bit more aggressive look I fitted a pair of carbon front splitters, a carbon rear spoiler and the black kidney grills. The car not only has a different look but I have yet to see any other 3 series in the Greater Toronto Area running the carbon components.