Competitors have improved, and some aspects of the 335i-its lofty price, the coldly impersonal cockpit with its meniscus-shaped dash and slightly old-fashioned displays-never pleased everyone. The 335i was new in 2007 and got a mild styling jiggle for 2009. The BMW’s brakes are excellent, but time stops for no one.
Whether you’re steering, braking, shifting, or flooring it, the 335i is always enticing you to push harder-but in the unflappable Audi, you in fact can. At any pace exceeding 80 percent of insanity, our confidence likewise dissolved.Īs we boogied over the asphalt strings that drape the mountains of Southern California, the BMW invariably fell behind. Tested: 2007 BMW 335i Coupe Joins the Turbo Crowdĭespite the 3’s superior skidpad performance, in harder real-world corners its Bridgestone run-flats lose their bite earlier, the razor-responsive steering dissolving into sideslip with an abrupt degeneration of control and at lower thresholds than in the Audi. Before you howl about the Audi’s higher price, recall that it also has standard all-wheel drive. This story is about how a $50,675 Audi S4 (the base price plus the performance-vital Audi drive select but minus all the nonessential luxuries we’re assiduously ignoring because we’re trained professionals) meets a $48,470 BMW 335i (base price plus all the requisite options to match the S4’s standard equipment) on virtually equal treads. We’ll boil it down: Forget the Audi’s as-tested price of $59,425 and the BMW’s $49,320 tab.
We also had parking sensors ($750) and keyless access ($500). The BMW doesn’t match the S4’s standard equipment until you add the Premium pack ($2650), the Sport pack ($2150), the Cold Weather pack ($1150), and $995 in iPod interfaces and satellite radio. With the V-8–powered M3 starting at $56,975, the $41,125 BMW 335i with its 300-hp, twin-turbo inline-six is the S4’s new, lower-priced doppelgänger.
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