09 e90 loaner
 

I have a nearly new 2009 328i xDrive loaner while my 330i is being serviced. I think automatic and heated seats are the only options.

1. The automatic tranny really really sucks. This stands out over and above all review items. Take a bet between dog and surge... That's the response you get.
2. The xi suspension is inferior to i sport suspension. This difference is overshadowed by 1. above.
3. To my surprise, the leatherette is pretty good, I really wouldn't have noticed it.
4. The non-sport seats are actually kind of comfy and leave more leg room and impression of space. Not sure how they would be on a long drive.
5. The new 16" wheels and taillights actually look good.
6. The new elephantine mirrors suck. They are huge vertically but not long enough horizontally, there might be added wind noise as well.
7. The ride/handling is really not quite there for a 38-40k car. No wonder Audi is stealing sales, even with their weak steering.
8. The 328 engine feels pretty close to the 330 engine in power/torque in most cases (if you account for the sucky AT). They differ in higher revs where the 330 seems to breathe better, sound better and develop heady power.
9. The continental A/S runflats are nicer than bridgestone turanza A/S runflats.

I agree completely on the transmission. It is terrible. That was my one big take-away from my loaner drive of an 08 328i. What a POS; it completely ruins the car, and is measurably worse, IMHO, to the transmission in my father's freaking Edge.

What I don't get are all the people who will defend the E90 automagic to the death. Much more so than they ever would for, say, the E46 step.

http://forums.carmudgeons.com/showth...ght=328+loaner

I don't recall the auto on the E46 very well; I only ever drove a couple of them. But I do not remember it being as noticeably bad as the E90 auto. I wonder if an obsessive quest for better fuel economy is partly to blame?

Too much torque converter lockup and too much of a tendency to start in second (with awkward dropping to first when you touch the pedal wrong) are what do it, IMHO. The irony is that the current automatics clearly perform far better at the limit. They just feel like crap everywhere else.

Are the 330/335 automatics better? I haven't driven that much, but I also don't remember hating them this quickly.

Meh. Maybe a little bit. In the 335, though, this is more than made up for by the torque surge as it starts off in 2nd, freaks out, flips to 1st and flies for no god damned reason.

I've driven both manual and auto 335s...

The 335 with a manual was perfection. I loved it.

The 335 with automatic has a nightmare. Absolutely horrible. Took all the fun out of the amazing TT engine...

I agree with all of this in general, but I do think the auto in the 335 is significantly better than the 328.

I hate automatics. I don't know how I'll live ~6 months without a stick this coming fall/winter.

The V70 is decent under sport mode - but then it's a bit twitchy. And if you ever decide to give the car some gas but not a lot, it will sporadically do what seems like a double downshift, jerk everyone in the car and go nuts.

Manumatic mode is half decent, but there's lots of lag and most annoyingly, it doesn't realize or take into account the fact that one already downshifted. Example: You are comming up on a turn. You slow down and decide it's time to downshift to say, 2nd. Well, the car, in its infinite wisdom/lag, had already determined that you rpobably need to downshift and completely ignores that you already did, so it downshifts again to 1st. Ugh.

...and this tranny is the best "conventional" slushie I've ever driven (except for the one in the C63).