Quote:
Originally Posted by JCL
I think the 335d is a terrible value. It costs like a 335i, but performs like a 325. It is a sport sedan without a manual transmission. It has no history of extra longevity or high resale value in this market, which would have helped to justify the price.
BMW was too caught up in trying to protect their performance image, IMO. If they had brought in a 320d, and been honest about it, selling reasonable performance with outstanding fuel economy, they could have sold many more, again, IMO. the 35d makes some sense in an X5 due to the very high weight of that vehicle. But in the new 2011 X3, a 20d would make more sense. Will they do it? Probably more likely they will stick the old 35d engine in there as well. Too bad. If I did get a new X3 or X1, a 20d model would by far be my preference.
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Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but nobody that has driven that car would say it performs like the 325. It blows the NA engine out of the water. Every car magazine ranks the two 335 models as nearly identical in performance. If the manual is the deal breaker then so be it.
As far as longevity, I would say that with all the HPFP issues the i has, the d looks like the reliability champion so far. We'll see in a few years, but I can't imagine an engine with an RPM sweet spot of 1/3rd redline would not outlast one that is "rev happy".
For resale, the fact that the used d's are so expensive on the used market compared to the rest of the 3er's leads me to believe resale will be just fine. Unless of course diesel fuel gets to be much more expensive than premium.
I do agree with you in that I wish BMW would bring the 20d over for the smaller vehicles. I would die for a car with 328 type performance that gets 50mpg or more. I think that the greenies fearing diesel and enviro policies in several states kept this from happening.