24 May 07
And at first it was all very exciting, like flirting with your girlfriend's rather racier big sister. That engine's won more awards than Meryl Streep and if I ever tire of its colossal power, mad 8,250rpm red line and offbeat racing howl, I'll quit writing about cars for ever. My children appreciated the extra legroom in the back, and my hound the added sprawling space in the boot.
But after a few days I started to become annoyed by its far from seamless SMG paddle-shift manual transmission, the ride was uncompromisingly firm and, try as I might, I could not coax anything near 20mpg from it. And when it went back and life with the 335d resumed, I found I rarely missed the M5.
For a start the 335d may have little more than half the power of the M5, but not only does it have more torque, all its thrust is available at just 1,750rpm - in the M5 it's not there until the far side of 6,000rpm. And in the real world, if not on the race track, that's a massive difference.
The 3-Series six-speed auto is also a far better means of swapping cogs than the seven-speed SMG in the M5. Its shifts may not be quite so swift and take a little longer to react to paddle inputs, but they are incomparably smoother.
And then there's the not insignificant point that, in my experience at least, the 335d uses quite literally half the fuel of the M5. I know one costs nearly £30,000 more than the other but if I could choose one in which to spend the next six months, I'd stick with the one I have.
