Fastest BMW diesel.

[Mike Scib]

Are you for real?

[Dominic]

Are you for real?

It's like being back in 1986....

[rossybee]

Torque...

[Dipper]

bag of spanners...

[ruadh08]

Get real, people only buy dismal cars because of pikeyness and fuel bill anxiety.

Nobody by choice who has any interest in cars would choose a dismal over a petrol.

Think you need to get out more, and see what is available in the modern market place!

To qualify, I agree petrol for track , sporty involved driving, but you cannot beat the driveabity of a modern diesel for day to day use, and serious good lazy performance. I am lucky enough to own one of the best of each, and I certainly wouldn't take a diesel on track for serious performance, but I wouldn't look past it for real world road use!

And just to boot, I have been driving all sorts of serious road and competition cars for many more years that I care to remember!

[ryallm]

Get real, people only buy dismal cars because of pikeyness and fuel bill anxiety.

Nobody by choice who has any interest in cars would choose a dismal over a petrol.

Yup, afraid this is just absolute tosh . For many modern cars the diesel is a far nicer drive than the petrol equivalent. Just one example: when my BMW 320d was in for a service I had a 320i as a courtesy car. It felt unbelievably gutless and plain slow in comparison and gained little in refinement except on start up from cold. When you compare a 335d to 335i it does become more difficult though. The 335i is a stonking engine, at least in part due to its diesel-like low down torque I'd take the 335d, as much down to the 335i's well know reliability issues as anything. I really struggle to think of any car I'd rather have as my daily driver than the new Alpina D3 http://www.bmwalpina.co.uk/?3134

[tut]

Just read through the list of options for the Alpina, tick them all and you could double the price of the car.

tut

[Scuffers]

Get real, people only buy dismal cars because of pikeyness and fuel bill anxiety.

Nobody by choice who has any interest in cars would choose a dismal over a petrol.

Yup, afraid this is just absolute tosh . For many modern cars the diesel is a far nicer drive than the petrol equivalent. Just one example: when my BMW 320d was in for a service I had a 320i as a courtesy car. It felt unbelievably gutless and plain slow in comparison and gained little in refinement except on start up from cold. When you compare a 335d to 335i it does become more difficult though. The 335i is a stonking engine, at least in part due to its diesel-like low down torque I'd take the 335d, as much down to the 335i's well know reliability issues as anything. I really struggle to think of any car I'd rather have as my daily driver than the new Alpina D3 http://www.bmwalpina.co.uk/?3134

tosh?

you think a 320d is nice to drive?

OK, you would rather drive that than a 335i?, with it;s more poweful, responsive, smoother engine?

get real, the only reason dismal cars exist is because of fuel economy, if you ignore the price of petrol, NOBODY would both with dismal.

to take your argument, I have a 4.2V8 S5, it was at Audi so they gave me a new A5 3L V6 TDi, with all the toys, and yes it was pretty economical, but to put it bluntly, the most boring car to drive you can imagine, no, it's not that it's not as fast as the V8, it's the fact it's lethargic, has the flywheel mass of the titanic with all the responsiveness that brings, along with a horrible thrashing noise if you dare to use more than 3K Rpm.

what shocked me the most about it though was the cost, £40K start and some £7K in spec/options, if you actually do a back to back compression with the new S5, and spec them to the same point, the TDi costs more.

Anyway, back to the basic point, you can argue torque all you like, but in the context of 7&8 speed gearboxes, who cares? it's power that counts, along with responsiveness.

[rossybee]

He didn't compare the 320d to the 335i

[ryallm]

He didn't compare the 320d to the 335i

Quite. I defy anyone to drive an E90 320d back to back with a 320i and then say the 320i is preferable. 335d to 335i is, like I said, much closer. I have driven both and I'd take the 335d.

Chacun à son goût

[Scuffers]

so, what's your saying is the 320i is just a sh*t car?

so?

not all petrol engines are great, some are utter dogs, but that's not the point.

OK, let's go to the other end of the market, try the new Fiesta with it's eco-boost engine, then drive the dismal equivalent, now tell me the dismal is better?

simple fact of the matter is dimal is only available because of fuel economy, if petrol was dirt cheap, we would not have dismal cars.

[Dipper]

He didn't compare the 320d to the 335i

Quite. I defy anyone to drive an E90 320d back to back with a 320i and then say the 320i is preferable. 335d to 335i is, like I said, much closer. I have driven both and I'd take the 335d.

Chacun à son goût

seriously? for what reason? performance or economy? having owned a 535d there no way id have it over the petrol engine for performance. it might be quick and have more torque than an M5 but i have to agree with scuffers sentiments on diesel.

however, im currently looking for a car for the wife and theres a strong possibility it will be diesel, because when it comes to the daily grind i come over all pikey besides, the more money i can save on running the wifes car the more i can spend on a proper car(with a proper engine)!

[Dipper]

so, what's your saying is the 320i is just a sh*t car?

so?

not all petrol engines are great, some are utter dogs, but that's not the point.

OK, let's go to the other end of the market, try the new Fiesta with it's eco-boost engine, then drive the dismal equivalent, now tell me the dismal is better?

simple fact of the matter is dimal is only available because of fuel economy, if petrol was dirt cheap, we would not have dismal cars.

agreed. if petrol was dirt cheap id still have the RS6! loved that car and engine but couldnt afford to run it!

[Stevoraith]

Nobody by choice who has any interest in cars would choose a dismal over a petrol.

Do you just come on here to try and pick arguments?

I think the very fact that there are lots of diesel owners on a forum dedicated to probably the best drivers cars in the world proves that your point is complete tosh.

Then you put the icing on the cake by revealing you drive an Audi- not exactly the last word in feel or handling finesse are they!!? Lovely sounding engine, but not exactly the enthusiasts choice for hustling down a back road is it?

[Gareth]

So what's the happy medium? Alpina derivative?
They bolt on a few nice extras and tweek a little more power whilst improving looks.
Surely a winner if this is the type of car you're looking for?