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      05-02-2011, 10:56 AM   #5
ItsAlwaysSunnyInSeattle
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Drives: 2011 X3
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Seattle

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Quote:
Originally Posted by silverforumsurf View Post
Hmm what is everyone's thoughts?
It seems 35i has more torque and HP - helpful in morning local road California traffic?
Is there additional maintenance and / or repairs costs for the 35i because it's turbo?

On my particular configuration because I'm getting Xenon and Sports Kit, and paying a fixed price off invoice, the price difference is only $3000 more (35i include xenon and lower sports package cost due to wheels)
I checked around online and from what I could tell, the 35i gets slightly better mileage when driven the same as the 28i (I think that's due to a combination of additional torque a broader torque band). That being said, I test drove the 28i before I drove the 35i and was pretty happy with the 28i... That is, until I drove the 35i; then I couldn't go back

As to the maintenence you're supposedly covered by the factory for the 1st 4 yrs or 50k miles (which ever comes 1st). So for that span of time, the maintenence is identical. If you're going to keep the car longer than that, you can get the extended warranty (you don't have to buy it at the time you take delivery of the car), so that can level the difference in maintenence as well.

However, a turbo has more parts than a naturally asperated engine, so in theory, there's more that can go wrong. From what I could tell when I was looking into what car I was going to get, the 35i uses the N55 engine, and that engine is being used in a pretty significant range of BMW's cars these days. The twin scroll turbo has been in use even longer (e.g. one of the V8s have two twin-scroll turbos). So I suspect that most of the kinks have already been worked out. Plus, since BMW covers the maintenence for the 1st 4 yrs, it would seem that BMW is incented to put higher quality parts in their cars than many of the other manufacturers.
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