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      12-31-2007, 09:39 AM   #1
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Will the AWD hurt handeling performance?

Hello all, I will be placing an order for a 2008 335xi coupe this week and am wondering if the AWD on the 335xi is performance oriented such as in the Evo's, new gtr etc...or is it just safety oriented such as in the snow and rain. I know the car has no LSD, so it makes me wonder... Will it hurt handeling performance over a RWD 335i. I know the 335i has a sport suspention and is lower than the xi..but say both have the same suspension and ride height..which will handle better? I also know that the xi is not as balanced as the i...
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      12-31-2007, 10:49 AM   #2
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I haven't tracked a 335i, but I have raced RWD and AWD cars. Its not going to hurt handling, but if you were to race a RWD 335i with sticky tires and your AWD car with the same sticky tires I think the RWD 335i might come out ahead due to the almost 200 pound weight difference. Thats probably the biggest difference I see when I compare a 335i and 335xi. Thats almost a 6% weight difference. I think the AWD can help make up for that difference being able to apply power quicker, but with good tires it sort of negates that on a dry track. Personally I love AWD, right now my car is still in the on order phase and I have been thinking about switching it to a XI, but then I see that weight difference and think just stick with RWD.
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      12-31-2007, 11:29 AM   #3
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I test drove both when I was going to plce my order, and they both seemed pretty equal performance wise, IMO, but if you are wondering how the 0-62 times are affected, the xi gets a better launch and therefore is faster to 62 than the i. However, after that, the i will be faster due to it being lighter. The i is closer to 50/50 weight distribution than the xi for abvious reasons, therefore I'd say its more nimble around the track.
Now the AWD system. Well its not as good as the EVO's since the xi version on the 335xi doesn't have torque vectoring which means that it can't send power to individual wheels, it can only send power to either of the axles. However, it is very intelligent and since its made for BMW's, i think it allows for a bit of performance together with safety aspects.
I think to get all of that power on the ground, its better to get the xi, because then you can get coil overs, suspension and turbo tuners to make it more nimble and even better than the i.
Good luck with your purchase
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      12-31-2007, 02:23 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KanosWRX View Post
I haven't tracked a 335i, but I have raced RWD and AWD cars. Its not going to hurt handling, but if you were to race a RWD 335i with sticky tires and your AWD car with the same sticky tires I think the RWD 335i might come out ahead due to the almost 200 pound weight difference. Thats probably the biggest difference I see when I compare a 335i and 335xi. Thats almost a 6% weight difference. I think the AWD can help make up for that difference being able to apply power quicker, but with good tires it sort of negates that on a dry track. Personally I love AWD, right now my car is still in the on order phase and I have been thinking about switching it to a XI, but then I see that weight difference and think just stick with RWD.

Well said and very much on point. I would add that LSD isnt that big a deal and properly setup AWD will be very usable and fun. Of course, there is generally more understeer dialed in from the factory so you will have some setting up to do.
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      12-31-2007, 02:47 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KanosWRX View Post
I haven't tracked a 335i, but I have raced RWD and AWD cars. Its not going to hurt handling, but if you were to race a RWD 335i with sticky tires and your AWD car with the same sticky tires I think the RWD 335i might come out ahead due to the almost 200 pound weight difference. Thats probably the biggest difference I see when I compare a 335i and 335xi. Thats almost a 6% weight difference. I think the AWD can help make up for that difference being able to apply power quicker, but with good tires it sort of negates that on a dry track. Personally I love AWD, right now my car is still in the on order phase and I have been thinking about switching it to a XI, but then I see that weight difference and think just stick with RWD.
I think the driveline losses are more of a setback than the weight. However the reports are that both trap speeds and 1/4 mile times are better in the xi because of the re-tooled xdrive system.

Off the strip, my guess is the AWD will be an even bigger advantage maximizing apex accelleration. But back on clubwrx, you were the track guy, so I'll defer to your opinion.

(dR)
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      12-31-2007, 03:23 PM   #6
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i will be getting my 335xi coupe this week and can post you my review. I'm coming from an e46 M3 and though people say rwd is better, the open differential on the 335 will probably get pretty annoying especially once you tune the car. With that in mind and the weird weather here in boston I chose the xi.
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      12-31-2007, 09:19 PM   #7
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I came from the Audi camp..and all my Audis were AWD. there are pluses and minuses...

Launch will be better..but driveline loss and extra weight will hurt quick transitions...side to side weight transfer. I am trying RWD right now..but I am really an AWD guy now.
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      01-01-2008, 04:02 PM   #8
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no, but plan to re-fuel more often...

Quote:
Originally Posted by 335xi2k8 View Post
Hello all, I will be placing an order for a 2008 335xi coupe this week and am wondering if the AWD on the 335xi is performance oriented such as in the Evo's, new gtr etc...or is it just safety oriented such as in the snow and rain. I know the car has no LSD, so it makes me wonder... Will it hurt handeling performance over a RWD 335i. I know the 335i has a sport suspention and is lower than the xi..but say both have the same suspension and ride height..which will handle better? I also know that the xi is not as balanced as the i...
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      01-01-2008, 05:39 PM   #9
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I love my e90 330xi but, out of the box, it does not feel like a performance car. The culprit are possibly tires and most likely suspension as well...

The awd is good this time around, and the car is a fantastic daily and a great audi replacement to boot. I've found x-drive excellent for ski trips. It just isn't tuned to make me want to race around. I have driven the 335i several times and if I'm correct in assuming that the 335xi is basically that engine bolted onto my 330xi (06), it still won't feel like an evo, sti or s4.

(P.s. my other car is a cayman, and my previous car was a v8 s4)
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      01-01-2008, 07:28 PM   #10
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I'm not impressed w/ my 325xi at the current moment w/ the stock Turanzas (replaced once w/ the tire bulletin - bout 10k miles on them now).

I have a feeling it is the tires...but Whenever I take corners on cold dry ground or wet ground, the back end steps out 60-70% of the time. It's just a little bit and not a huge drift, but I can feel it come out. The other day, it was raining outside and I'm just taking the same line at the same speed a toyota camry is going in front of me is on a right turn, and the back end came out like 1-2feet! I was like wth...if a camry can do it...y can't an AWD bimmer do it at least as fast?

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      01-01-2008, 08:19 PM   #11
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Deep, that's definitely your tires. But they should not be so gone after only 10k.

The braking is strong, steering ok & the engine is fine (though a bit weak at low rpm). Somehow, with all these going for it, I still don't feel like driving this car fast.

For me, I really hope the soft underbelly of this car's performance is due to tires. Unfortunately, my car came with a new set and after 3000 miles (mostly long trips) there's nearly zero wear. Once I get new tires, I will reevaluate and see if the suspension needs upgrading.

Until then, I will be taking it as easy as a florida granny.
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      01-02-2008, 02:10 AM   #12
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The Turanzas that came with the car got really loud and tramlined like no other after 10k miles. Had them replaced, and the bmw handling was back. Was awesome. But now over 10k again, and they are starting to get a little loud and tramline a bit, but not as much as the 1st set.

I'm thinking that once these tires become really bad, maybe i'll get a 162 wheel for summer and throw some runflat winters on the 16's for next winter.
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      01-09-2008, 03:10 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AWD Addict View Post
I think the driveline losses are more of a setback than the weight. However the reports are that both trap speeds and 1/4 mile times are better in the xi because of the re-tooled xdrive system.

Off the strip, my guess is the AWD will be an even bigger advantage maximizing apex accelleration. But back on clubwrx, you were the track guy, so I'll defer to your opinion.

(dR)
Hey an old ClubWRX'er I see you made your way over here as well.
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      01-09-2008, 05:26 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KanosWRX View Post
Hey an old ClubWRX'er I see you made your way over here as well.
PM sent.

Great sig, by the way. I remember when Koyo died. His wife posting on the forum afterwards was enough to bring tears to my eyes.
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      01-09-2008, 11:50 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AWD Addict View Post
PM sent.

Great sig, by the way. I remember when Koyo died. His wife posting on the forum afterwards was enough to bring tears to my eyes.
I know I thought it would be good to bring the sig over to this forum with so many young kids getting these powerful cars.
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      01-10-2008, 01:15 AM   #16
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Yes, momentum cars are nice too...I sold this about 5 months ago..yes, I miss it.

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      01-10-2008, 08:21 PM   #17
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I know I thought it would be good to bring the sig over to this forum with so many young kids getting these powerful cars.
found this...
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      01-10-2008, 10:55 PM   #18
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Anyone want to link me to the story or tell me what happened to KoyoKid? I remember when I was on rennlist and a member was tracking his Carrera GT and Ferrari came out of the pits in front of him and he crashed into a wall. Both him and his passenger died. Very good member on rennlist too.
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      01-10-2008, 11:13 PM   #19
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It was probably about 4 years ago. It wasn't an auto related death just happened out of the blue one day. He was a very involved member on the ClubWRX.net forums back in the day and one day his wife posted about how he passed away unexpectedly one night. It hit the community pretty hard to loose a good guy so young unexpectedly.

Here was the thread created by his wife, http://www.clubwrx.net/forums/showth...hlight=koyokid
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      01-10-2008, 11:18 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Master Deep View Post
Anyone want to link me to the story or tell me what happened to KoyoKid? I remember when I was on rennlist and a member was tracking his Carrera GT and Ferrari came out of the pits in front of him and he crashed into a wall. Both him and his passenger died. Very good member on rennlist too.
You might be talking about someone different. I heard about the Carrera GT story...that was down at an LA track...someone released a car when the Carrera GT was booming down the straight...not good..not good at all.
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      01-11-2008, 12:17 AM   #21
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I know I thought it would be good to bring the sig over to this forum with so many young kids getting these powerful cars.
What did he say? That people should learn to improve their driving skills first before getting faster cars? I actually want to do a driving school sometime soon.
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      01-11-2008, 09:31 AM   #22
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What he said is in my sig, it used to be his sig actually. If you want to go faster the best way is to learn how to go faster not just to make the car physically faster. Driving schools and auto-x'ing are the best ways to make you faster.
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