Matt

As many of you know my Mom has had her 335i sedan for 4 months now and I have had numerous opportunities to punch it-like today. Basically this means that i have been recklessly speeding around LA for the past three months while being scolded by my mother to "Slow Down!". Anway, i wrote up on the car in the "my owners" section but i felt that doesnt do it justice and frankly i have a bit more to say after driving my friends S4 in Santa Monica. To start off, the car as an overall package, is superb. If you want to spend 40K USD on a fast but luxerious and practical car that doesnt shout "look at me" well here it is:






Now onto some facts. As many of you know, BMW reports this car to pull o-60 in a mediocre 5 in a half seconds but according to magazines and owners on e90 forums etc. we have heard times as low as 4.8 and many other sub 5 times. This means that this car can play with E46 M3's and as we have seen-can even pull off a win! So what were looking at is a very subdued but very fast car.

Dont be fooled by its looks, this car is extremely quick. Waiting at a stoplight with a quaurter mile of free run way-and nothing but my mom (whos a bit of a push-over) to hold me back-I move the stick over to Manuel S mode. I floor it, flipping the gears methodically (6,500 RPM) as we reach 85 mph and an angry mother telling me to slow down, "you cant afford another ticket!!!" I slow down to about 45 right as we make a sharp right hand turn with absolutely no body roll or (unfortunately) no drift as i gas it again on the way out. Perhaps i could have taken the traction controll off but that would have really made my mom mad.

Like I mentioned above, i did drive an S4 (B7), which i was able to give a good ringing out. Its my friends and before he let me drive it he says "you can drive it any way you like-but just remember-you break it, you buy it." Well, ok that sounded pretty good to me. Sounds like an opportunity to compare these cars. So given the opportunity i threw it around some turns to see how well this famous quatrro works-Trust me, it works really really well. It showed no signs of grip loss or even understeer. The car felt extremely sure footed yet at the same time nimble enough to have some fun. The car is extremely masculine-the guages, the interior all say that this thing is race ready. Is it? well sort of. Its aggressive styling might make you think that this is a better performance car than the 3-well its not. The engine grumbles at low speeds, a very deep sound that is just a foreshodow of the power that lies beneath. Like the 3 series, the S4 has a sport mode. You shift the gear lever to the right and it knows that you're up for some spirited driving. It revs much more freely and the engine tone changes. The 4.2 is a great engine and really gives the ooomph that A4 probably doesnt have.

Well what's better? The 3 is. Not because i am completely biased or because i just like BMW's better than audi's, but because the driving experience in the 3 series is something that is seared into your mind. Its perfect balance and stability along with steering feel all make it what a BMW product should be. THe Audi's steering felt loose and even disconnected compared with the 3 series. That makes the difference. It isnt which car wins in the drag (which i believe would go to the 3 series), its what car makes you feel like your in control-and frankly the 3 series does that quite well.

cawimmer430

Great write up and nice pictures!

Is that your mom in the background? Shouldn't you be helping her with garden work instead of wasting your time writing reviews for silly little car forums?

Bartek Sikorski

Great post and like your personal judgement .

Matt

haha, she already made me wash her car!

Mr. M

Very nice, you're very lucky to be able to test drive these two cars!

Michael

Great post.

However, I have driven an S4, manual, and I have to say, driving these cars manually is a different story than from automatic that can do a 'sports mode.'

I personally think they are both great cars.

Matt

I agree. I wish they had manuals actually. Unfortunately finding someone willing to put up with a stick in Los Angeles is pretty rare-but your right-it would have been better.