I hope you guys didn't misunderstand me . . . no way will I be without my C2 or a TT. There are so many Bimmers out there. I was also looking at a new Audi A5. They are beautiful. Better looking then the 335xi. But the BMW drives so much nicer and performance is on a whole different plane

Ken.

 

335xi is a fantastic daily car. Sport and luxury in a great package. Been very very happy with it.

 

My wife drives a 335i coupe and it is certainly fast. I've raced her in my 996 from a light and kill her. Then again, she is only fast on the hwy.... I refuse to mod her car and make it any faster than mine though...

 

Really? Was your 335I stock? My friend just bought a 07 manual. Him and I have always raced our new cars all the time. Anyway we ran these 2 a couple different ways. from a low roll were I was not spooled up to 4K he would pull off with the instant TQ and once I got spooled the pull was stopped. Anytime we ran were I was at 4K Rpm's or above, I would always slowly pull on him a little though all gears up to 4th then we would shut it down.

 

Drive a 335i at an autocross. You will hate the fact that the car has no LSD (see one wheel tire fires). While the car is fast on the highway, it's far from a nimble and light performance car. It's a GT car and a heavy one at that (3500 LBS). On track it's a little better as the inside wheel doesn't open up as much but at slow speed the car is a PIG. Understeer galore.

Stock to stock (my buddy has 335i coupe) on the highway, we are pretty much dead even. If I'm in my RPM band, I can put a slight bit of distance on him (I mean slowly pull ahead). If we are on the lowerside of the powerband he jumps a bit quicker but I'm able to reel him in when we get up top.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a bimmer head and this car is great for what it is. A fast GT car. It's not a car that you will praise for it's driving dynamics. It's isolated, numb and heavy. Opposite characteristics of a 911.

Pete

 

and also...there is no such thing as a slow porsche 911!!

 

Here is a picture of my car with new wheels.

 

My only comment is that the 335 is making my next vehicle selection harder... we can all go on about putting it on a track, putting it in an Autocross event, etc, but no one wants to get beat by a near stock sedan from a light or on the highway while driving a Porsche (or any other expensive sports car). In mind, you either accept that it will kill you and let it go or get a faster car / mod the **** out of the one you have

Now the really funny thing is the lengths we'll go to in order to win a handful of street encounters a year and the dollars we throw at it "just in case." If it wasn't an issue, there wouldn't be so many posts about it. Oh well - it's what keeps the hobby interesting, and progress is only a good thing. If Chevy and BMW (oh, and add Nissan now) push Porsche to be better.... Porsche fans will only be better off for it.

 

the 996 c2 is slow but still quicker than the 335 for sure.

 

nice car except those grills are tacky! imo

 

Also stay away from those Lexus IS...a 350 is about as fast as a 335 or IS-F will destroy an E90 M3 or any 996 without forced induction.....

 

I had a 2007 335i coupe with a manual. I could easily take e46 M3's and C5's, even IS350's. It is all of the TQ, and they are very customizable especially with the Vishnu chip.

The 996 is fast though, and like I said, I am much happer with a 99 996 Cab than a 07 335i. The 996 is simply a Porsche.

 

Not to dispute your claims..the 335 stock is a fast car, and is EASY to tune more power...but according to R&T, IS350 is faster to 60, and identical in the 1/4 mile....comparing sedans, not the 335 coupe...the 335 coupe may be faster if its lighter than the sedan....

 

Interesting post. In February of 2007, I ran my 996 C2 (stock) against a chipped E90 335 sedan and an E46 M3 (modified). The E90 was on 100 octane and I'll have to say, the cards were definitely stacked against me. The E46 M3 pulled on me but it was as-expected. He probably had 50-75 HP on me. The E90 however blew the doors off my car. It continually walked away on repeated high speed test runs on the freeway.

On the track, depending on the track, I'll guess that there might be a slight advantage to a lighter car that is more nimble in turns. However, with suspension, the gap (if any) has definitely narrowed considerably by the other makes/models and Porsches.

BMW definitely gives you a lot of bang for your buck and any twin turbo system on higher octane (like the B5 Audi S4) is like Barry Bonds on steroids. You'll be hitting a lot of home runs out of the park.

Good call on the 335. I bet you'll find yourself driving it more than your wife. []

 

Yup...there is GREAT performance outside the Porsche world....nothing wrong with that...P cars still have the mystique...and the character. They make GREAT noise...and for the handling and performance, its hard to beat the whole package. In my opinion, they need to not focus on engine development, but on other technology...PDK transmission..is one. I saw a test of the Nissan GTR vs a E90 M3 and GT3. They called it a draw between the GTR and the GT3, they both blew away the M3...what was cool was they showed things in a real world scenario...not a bunch of runs and pulling out the best times, just get in go, and record the times...the M3 was the testers car, and he was kinda bummed about that..lol..but what was crazy was because the GTR had paddle shifters and was an auto manual, the launch was crazy, easy and repeatable...the other 2 cars being sticks, were basically at the mercy of the driver...and how good they were. I thought hmm...if Porsche had that...and it was geared properly, it would be FAST, and EASY to be fast...thats what the guy said...The Nissan GTR was EASY to drive fast, so easy it defied physics...thats why the IS350 is so fast, and fast EVERY time...its an auto, with a good set of gears coupled to a 306 HP engine..drop it in sport, hit the power button, step on the gas...0-60 in 4.9...every time. They try to implement that kinda thing in the tip TT with the launch mode...but its still a tiptronic and has issues...Lexus also has an EIGHT speed auto in the IS-F that blips downshifts and shifts faster than an Enzo....again, mated to a 430 HP V8...so yeah, performance is out there. The next 5-10 years will be VERY interesting in the sports car world...I think what we consider sports cars will change drastically....On the flip side I read an article about the new GT2 and it said it was easier to drive and more comfortable than a Mini S on the street and faster on a track than a CGT.