Quote:
Originally Posted by Hoody007
As an owner of an E90 335i (N55, Performance Package)…
There’s a reason why E90s and F30s are worth practically the same on the used market. It’s because most F30s pre-LCI are junk. Not worth the BMW roundel. Exception might be a correctly-optioned F30 335i. But how awful is it that you had to option out an F30 just to get it to somewhat feel like a BMW?
The N20 is better off being used as an anchor for a ship, the F30s chassis is too floaty, etc. The LCI fixed many of these issues with the added chassis reinforcements, Bxx motors, and software updates to the steering, but it’s telling that it took BMW nearly 8 years to fix the F30. The F30 is much like the W210 was for Mercedes, compared to the W124. When you have near-perfection, really the only way to go is downhill. The G20 was a much better effort than the F30, thank goodness.
The E90 is hardly ancient. It was ahead of it’s time, and still gets decent mileage, handles extremely well (again, better than its successor), has classic looks, and is extremely reliable (even the N54 isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. I should know, I owned one until 150K miles).
The G chassis is nice, but quite synthetic. Compared to other contemporaries, it may be a “drivers car,” but let’s not kid ourselves, an E90 is still a better sports sedan than an F30 or a G20. Now is it a better luxury sedan? Well that’s debatable, and given the delta in tech, probably not. But if one wanted a luxury sedan, wouldn’t you go for something with a 3-pointed star on the grill? Put another way, it’s an asset for an F30 or G20 to have active cruise and lane departure — it’s the kind of car you want to drive itself at times. An E90? Way too much fun to have a computer drive for you!
I have access to a 997.2. The E90s steering is right on par with the 997. An F30 or G20? No. Not even close.
This all to say that a driver-oriented BMW is no longer the 3er - the Z4 and the 2er are really the last two model lines that really embrace the BMW ethos. Not saying that the rest of the lineup isn't better than their competitors, but it’s a shame to see how much further ahead BMW used to be with respect to the competition.
|
Not going to sit here and argue early gen F series vs E series because I 100% will say that they are both junk.
I owned 3 E series cars... 2 x 335i and 1 x 135i... so I had numerous N54s and N55s in my stable... i will tell you right now that at the time they were the finest sporty sedans and coupes on earth... but that was a whopping 15 years ago now and things have drastically changed. First off - the reliability of those cars was absolutely horrid... the N54 is indeed as bad as people say, I have experience to back that up. Second - the suspension tied to those first gen runflats was unbearable and the car had severe traction issues with that junk rear end and lack of a true rear limited slip diff. It was nearly impossible to throw into a slide for that reason... the steering was very solid in terms of feel but the non M racks were also incredibly slow. The non M f series was made softer so it was even worse... but at the time the Lci 340i came around, it was a better car in every way.
Now, once we get into the G series everything is on another level... the M340i is stiffer, faster, more reliable and does everything better. You may argue its heavier and steering is less involving but the reality is that it will mop the older cars around any track or autocross you choose because the chassis is that much better.