07 328I vs. 07 G35 Sport

[jasfrmn]

Can't decide what to buy...I know I should expect a bias towards BMW on this forum but I still want to know your thoughts

FYI, the 328's I am looking at are all equipped with Sport/Premium pkg. along with Xenon headlights

[mryakan]

Do you want more handling or more power?

[shazzy04]

Do you want more handling or more power?

It does depend what you're lookin for. 'cause the G35 will give you moar power.

[jasfrmn]

I am planning to go drive the G35 today and the 328 tomorrow so I am hoping I know after being in both cars. I love the exterior styling of the BMW far more but the interior of the G35 more along with it having more options than the BMW. As for power versus handling I am not really sure but I figure once I drive both my mind will be made up.

[robroy72]

If you have an SRT-4 now, you'll find the 328i very underwhelming; the G35 has more power but the engine is quite rash.

335i ... trust me, you'll like it ;)

[RonNSoCal]

I will be watching this thread to see what you decide. I was pretty much down to these two and decided on the 328i coupe without really spending any time comparing the two, except on paper. My neighbor across the street has a G35 coupe that I had planned to drive, but my friend's wife has a 2007 328i and after I drove it, I thought it was perfect for my needs. I loved the way it felt on the road and how it handled and was impressed with the back seat and trunk space. Of course, coming from an M Roadster, any coupe would seem roomy! I stumbled across a great deal on an '08 Coupe near by with premium/sport package and low mileage coupled with a great color combo, and felt I should not pass it up so I took the plunge.

Still, I feel a twinge of guilt because I did not give the Infinity so much as a test drive and we have an Infinity I30 that has given us nearly 10 years of service and has held up well mechanically and cosmetically. I also was attracted to the Volkswagen CC, a four door coupe style, which I also failed to consider seriously, but should have driven since I could have bought a new one for about what my coupe ran. Although with the amenities I would want, maybe it would have run a few grand more.

I love my 328i coupe, and feel the power is more than adequate for most situations. As I write, my wife and I are on a two week trip in which we will probably drive about 3000 miles before we are done. The car runs great on 89 octane gas and is averaging about 25.5 miles per gallon so far on mixed driving, but mostly highway miles. We packed light but were able to fit all of our luggage, laptop, etc., plus a BMW car cover in the trunk without having to resort to lowering the back seats for extra room, which amazes me. The car drives so nicely, I rarely have to think about it. It seems very well planted on the road and the handling is sports car like.

Good luck on your decision, I doubt you will go wrong considering either of these two cars.

[robroy72]

Ron

You mentioned 89 octane gas; I thought 91 was the min. for all BMWs, no?

[jasfrmn]

If you have an SRT-4 now, you'll find the 328i very underwhelming; the G35 has more power but the engine is quite rash.

335i ... trust me, you'll like it ;)

As my SRT4 as gotten up in the miles i have had some issues and I have not been comfortable driving it real hard for 6-12 months so I am hoping that is not the case.

I was originally intent on the 335 but the issues that many have (I know most are minor and covered by warranty) is more than I care to deal with so I am not taking the chance

[RonNSoCal]

With regards to the required octane gas, in reading the manual, it says use 91 in one place, and then in another states that you are not to use under 87 octane gasoline. In discussing this with knowledgeable friends, they tell me that the engine management system, aka-ECU, computer, etc., automatically adjusts the engine timing to allow the car to run fine on which ever you put in the tank. For maximum performance, however, 91 is better than a lower grade, but if you are looking for economy and are not pushing the engine, the lower grades will work fine.

Anyone out there with more knowledge than I, please feel free to correct me if you disagree. I am not sure if you would get better or lesser gas mileage as a result of using a higher octane fuel, however, I am figuring that it probably does not matter. Lower octane gas is more combustible than higher octane gas, the latter being slower to burn, it resists pre-ignition, aka dieseling or engine knock. As long as you are not getting any knock, your engine should be working well within the parameters of its design. (My wife's old Infinity "requires" 91 octane fuel too, but she put 89 in it when she first got it as a result of habit, her previous car took 89. She asked the service adviser if this was okay and his response was that if it runs fine on it, there is no good reason she should not use it.)

If you are a purist, you will probably want to use 91 octane for maximum performance. Even with 91, my last BMW and the current one will knock a little when you try to accelerate at very low RPMS going up hill. I assume this is related to the high compression ratio of the engine, coupled with the range of correction the ECU is capable of making. But once above roughly 1500 RPMs, I have never noted engine knock, even going up some fairly steep grades, nor when getting on it to pass cars on the highway.

[RI335d]

As my SRT4 as gotten up in the miles i have had some issues and I have not been comfortable driving it real hard for 6-12 months so I am hoping that is not the case.

I was originally intent on the 335 but the issues that many have (I know most are minor and covered by warranty) is more than I care to deal with so I am not taking the chance

If you have the money to spend on 335s, you can always look at the 335d too. Of course I'm a bit prejudiced in my opinion, but I love mine and after diesel rebates and tax credits, it's pretty much the same price as a comparably equipped 335i. Not to mention ~50% better gas mileage.

[mryakan]

The octane question must get asked on this forum on a daily basis! I like Kevalr's response on this matter:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1841626&postcount=3


So let me get this straight... you went out and spent big bucks on a high performance car and you're getting cheap with the gas you are going to put in it :confused:

What's next... running it on peanut oil instead of actual synthetic oil?

To answer your question... yes it will run on a lower grade gas and not harm the engine any, but you're going to take a massive hit in the performance category and your check engine light will eventually turn on and stare you in the face.

If you wanted to run 87 octane gas... you should have gotten a cheaper car.

[RonNSoCal]

Point is well taken, although a 328i hardly seems to be a high performance car, nor is my wife's Infinity I30. I always put 91 in my 2001 M Roadster. Putting out 315 HP from a 3.2 L six, now that is performance! In comparison, the 328i motor seems pretty pedestrian, although it certainly has more pep than the quoted statistics might suggest.

jasfrmn,

So what did you learn and then decide? You started this tread and now have dropped the ball! Do you prefer the 328i to the G37 coupe? What were the best features of each in your mind?

[mryakan]

Point is well taken, although a 328i hardly seems to be a high performance car, nor is my wife's Infinity I30. I always put 91 in my 2001 M Roadster. Putting out 315 HP from a 3.2 L six, now that is performance! In comparison, the 328i motor seems pretty pedestrian, although it certainly has more pep than the quoted statistics might suggest.


It has a high performance engine. Any engine that has an 10.7 compression ratio and a 6800rpm redline is not pedestrian by any standard. In fact the N52 on the 328 has a higher compression ratio than the N54 engine on the 335 (10.2), so your chances of knocking on lower octane gas are higher, and knocking is bad esp. if the sensors miss a knock.

[RonNSoCal]

Good points again. The 335, being turbo-charged would not be expected to have an especially high compression ratio, I would think. I once owned a Dodge Stealth Twin Turbo that had a very low compression ratio (in the range of 7.5 to 1, I seem to recall), presumably to allow the turbos to spool more quickly. It's engine produced 300 HP from a mere 3.0 Liters of displacement, which would have been even more impressive had the car not weighed so much as a result of all wheel drive and steering, among other things. In its day, 1991, it produced about the most HP per liter of anything that was available. So I was really impressed with my M Roady, which produced 315 HP in a 3.2 liter engine without forced induction.

If you are trying to shame me into buying 91 octane for my Coupe, you are scoring a lot of points so far. What galls me the most about buying 91, is that I have read that it is no more expensive to produce 91 octane than 87, and the oil companies are just sticking it to those of us who enjoy performance cars.

[mryakan]

What galls me the most about buying 91, is that I have read that it is no more expensive to produce 91 octane than 87, and the oil companies are just sticking it to those of us who enjoy performance cars.
I would not be surprised at all. The marketing folks call that market segmentation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_segmentation). It is very common in our industry, paying more for the pretty much the same .product but with an extra unlocked feature.

By the way, there are a lot of factors that also play into the octane equation, temperature being one of them for example.

[floydr]

What galls me the most about buying 91, is that I have read that it is no more expensive to produce 91 octane than 87, and the oil companies are just sticking it to those of us who enjoy performance cars.

Although I agree that *most* of the premium stuff is just marketing, it does cost a little extra to produce. In Europe, regular and mid-grade are the same price, while premium is a few "pennies" more.

[jasfrmn]

Point is well taken, although a 328i hardly seems to be a high performance car, nor is my wife's Infinity I30. I always put 91 in my 2001 M Roadster. Putting out 315 HP from a 3.2 L six, now that is performance! In comparison, the 328i motor seems pretty pedestrian, although it certainly has more pep than the quoted statistics might suggest.

jasfrmn,

So what did you learn and then decide? You started this tread and now have dropped the ball! Do you prefer the 328i to the G37 coupe? What were the best features of each in your mind?

I have not made a purchase yet (plan to by the end of this week) but it appears I will be going with the G35. Both are no doubt great cars but I feel it is the better choice for me and I can get a little more for my money as I have found a 2008 G35 Sport with 20K miles that looks brand new that I have worked a good deal on. Part of the decision making process also came from the experience I had dealing with each dealership and the impression that made on me as a customer.

[Joe Smokes]

I had a 2007 G35 Sport - great car....but I luv my 328i. Handles much bettter, accelaration is much smoother and the interior cabin feels much more refined. As far as service goes, hands down my local BMW dealer is by far superior...free car washes, free breakfast and lunch and $0 maitenance.

[RonNSoCal]

My biggest complaint with BMW dealers is they treat you like you are an idiot and they do not give you any useful information. When I bought my roadster, I felt the acceleration was sluggish and perhaps the linkage or cable was sticky. You would think the service rep would have at least told me that the car did not have any mechanical linkage, it had a drive by wire system. When I needed a new plastic piece on my back seat because the baby seat receptor piece was broken, my dealer wanted me to leave the car for a day and said they probably would replace it under warranty. The part was about $20 and I was able to pull out the broken one with my bare hands and snap in the new one in less than 5 minutes. Of course, I had to pay for the part because he said he would need the missing piece that was broken off, which of course I did not have or know where it might be.

You will need to watch the Infinity dealers too. My wife's car was in for a regular servicing and they decided to do work that the car did not need, in my opinion, that was not mentioned in the owners manual as required or even recommended. Unfortunately, my wife signed off for it, without being aware they had slipped it in.