04 Jul 06
We drove a twin-turbo-equipped coupe on the mountain passes around Innsbruck. The first thing that struck me, as a veteran of turbo lag going back to mental Saab Aeros and early 911 Turbos, was the total absence of that pause before the storm. In fact, it would have been easy to believe that the engine was just a large capacity, non-turbo unit. That's partly because the turbochargers are relatively small, meaning there's not much in the way of inertia to overcome - and then there's all that low-down torque to launch you smartly off the line.
That said, this engine isn't as ferocious as the figures might suggest: it's very swift as opposed to oh-my-god punchy. In fact, first acquaintance with BMW's fantastic 3.0-litre twin-turbo diesel will leave most people short of breathless superlatives while the 335i is very impressive but nothing more.
The 335i comes standard with a six-speed manual, which has a direct, smooth and quick action. But it doesn't really suit the Grand Touring character of the coupe - much better to specify the optional six-speed automatic transmission, which is one of the very best slush boxes we've ever tried. The highlights are an incredibly smooth shift response, extremely quick reaction to kickdown (40% better than most autos, says BMW) and a shift programme that adapts to how the car is being driven. It can even determine if the car is being driven downhill and will select a lower gear for engine braking it that's the case. There are steering-wheel mounted shift levers for manual cog-swapping - these are fat lumps of aluminium, very nicely done indeed. And they work well enough, but frankly, this 'box is so responsive we imagine most drivers won't bother.
