gangzoom

Glad to see you done the hardest part of swapping cars....I'm sure your love test driving all those cars....if you can handle the potential running costs I think the M5 would outclass everything else on that list with ease (on paper the Apina B10 weighs more than a 335, and once remapped/tuned the 335 will offer the same power output but obviously the E90 chassis is a generation younger than the E39 5 series).

Good luck with the search and let us know what you end up with

My wife looking much more glamorous than me at the Singapore GP  

Some none car pics from Singapore 

18 months ago I px my 350Z for a BMW 335i saloon. I wanted something bigger to replace my 350Z but it also had to be just as quick , easy to live with, newish and not break down every 5 seconds. Virtually every car with 4 seats and a decent engine in the £20-30K range was considered. In the end it came down to the 335i or Audi S4 (B8)…the £10K difference in 2nd hand prices meant the 335i ended up on my drive .

Ideally I would have gone for a E90 M3, but the wife said no to that. However soon after acquiring the 335i I realized it seems BMW hadn’t really developed the full potential of the 335i and set about putting thing right….It also gave me an excuse to spend the money “saved†by buying a cheap 335i compared to a M3.

This is how it looked after I took delivery.

The first thing I wanted to sort out was the lack of traction, I still don’t understand why BMW didn't fit the 335 with a LSD. 1 week into ownership the car went down to Birds BMW for a Quaife LSD which has really improved things, the TC now rarely comes on even when really pressing the car.

For some reason I’ve always found the standard suspension setup to be a bit soft (even on the much hated Run Flats), steering feel is fab but turn-in was always a touch slow and the rear end always seemed unkeen to get involved in the corners. Under acceleration the backend also seem to always take a few seconds to settle down before launching the car forwards. After some research I ended up uprating the rear sub-frame bushes and antiroll bars.

The car is now much more keen to turn-in, and body-roll in the corners is much improved. The ride is now just about perfect, the damping could still be improved but overall the car now handles beautifully. Infact I would say the car now handles better than the 350Z and has a hint of how my old Integra Type R felt. It certainly doesn’t feel like a 4 door 5 seater saloon!! Though the car is also perfectly happy pottering around town at 30mph, which is precisely what I wanted from my Z replacement .

After the extended warranty expired I looked into getting some extra BHP. I had good experience with the JB+ tune therefore upgrading to the JB4 tune (ECU chip) was a natural extension. I also added a few other bits to reduce the backpressure (downpipes, and intercooler). I’m more than happy with result of the suspension and power upgrades. The car now performs at a level not far from a E90 M3 , but rather unexpectedly is also surprising economical, this was the mpg read out after a 3hr commute on a Friday night across various M ways (traffic jams and all)!!

I should add finding a garage to fit all the various mods was a headache, I ended up going back to Mitz and Andy (Cougar Store) who did all the work on my 350Z, as usual the work was top notch and the service provided puts main dealers to shame!! Thanks again guys!!

Some other bits done including braided brake lines, EBC Yellow stuff pads, Alpine speaker upgrade (the standard speakers were awful), and DAB/iPhone input via a Pure 300Di. None of these items were essential but improves on some inherent weakness in the stock car. I’ve also added some exterior changes, spoiler/splitters all of which are cheap copies of more expensive items but funds aren’t endless (and I have to save some money for when/if the turbo wastage/fuel pump/injectors/steering rack decides to fail )…

This is how finished product looks, I quite like the fact the car looks pretty much identical to a 320D, even though it now pushing close to 400bhp!! Plan is now to leave the car alone (which means Mitz needs to stop tempting me with things ) and just enjoy it for a good few years....

…nearly forgot the most important Mod any BMW needs..OBD port deletion...if your not sure why its needed search for "Watchdog BMW thefts" on Google

...and finally some off track action

The F1 action....these were taken from various corners of the race track.

Backdrop to the race

Posh hotel opposite the bay track 

Some Pre race warm up, normally I would say 911s and 458s are pretty exotic but compared to F1 and GP2 cars these were pretty 'ordinary'

GP2 cars, good action, amazing how close you could get to the drivers...am sure some of them will be future F1 champs

About to come back home after what I can only describe as one of the best motoring/sporting experience at the Singapore GP!! I've posted links to the photos on the forum, but if your at all interested in F1 this is one GP you have to experience. At some parts of the track you are no more than 2 meters from the cars...add onto this amazing food, music, transport links, and prices no more expensive than Silverstone it really is a experience not to be missed. We're planing our return visit already

Our taxi ride home also took us on the home straight and turn one!!

Rest of the pics are in the thread below

No access to laptop so no pictures from me...yet.

Finished Friday night standing next to last turn, the cars were less than 2 meters away!!! I've been to Silverstone but this is something else, these things are ferocious close up, makes the Ferrari and Porsche cars sound normal

Yesterday watched Marron 5 to finish the day off, cannot wait for the race, than got Katie Perry playing a gig and fireworks...it his place knows how to put on a show, the problem been I cannot see another GP matching this experience (come on Newyork )

iTunes is awful. When it first started it was great, handled MP3s, sync your iPod job done. But now it's a mess, it wasnt designed to handle video, apps, books, multiple devices. Someone in Apple needs to be brave and kill it so that we can have something better and designed from the ground up to handle Apps and multiple devices...anyone here remember MobileMe before iCloud started?? The best thing about iCloud and iOS 5 is I've not needed to open iTunes for months.

As for the iPhone 5 going to give it a miss, glad Apple is still making plenty of money from it but my 4 works fine and cannot see the 5 offering anything new. Time for iPhone 6 predications to start....I'm betting on a complete new design using the 'liquid metal' technology Apple bought recently

1 is 25 seconds.

2 is 15 seconds.

3 is 30 seconds.

4 is 15 seconds.

5 is multiple exposure HDR.

Pics looks fab, was hoping to get similar shots in Singapore but the tripod is been left at home to keep the suitcases empty in preparation for 'shopping'. Still cannot complain about going to see a F1 night race in one of my favourite cities .

I know quite a few people who have bought SLRs, spent money on lens and than realise they cannot be bothered with the whole carrying around a DSLR so never use their cameras. One of them has more lens than me (though at the moment I only have 3)!!

Personally for a beginner I wouldn't bother talking about lens or full frame cameras that cost >£1k for the body alone .

The Cannon 550D is a good pick (what am using at moment), in regards to ISO performance the new 650D is hardly any better but costs twice as much. The newer DSLRs are better at video but if you want to shot video why not buy a video camera .

I had a scorpion exhaust on mine to replace a failed OEM, CS supplied and fitted, top job .

But be warned replacing the exhaust on my 350Z started me down the path of modifications, must have now spent close to £8k on modifications on my previous Z and now 335i....Mitz knows I hold him responsible for this

Prague, Vegas come on people we can come up with more original ideas ...the best stag i've been to was in North Berwick (Scotland), we entered our mate into the highland games, camped out for 2 nights in torrential rain....cheap, cheerful and fun!!

Felt sorry for the stag we made him do this after a night out in Edinburgh

Followed by a brisk walk up a small hill..

..I think I only spent £200ish all in for the whole weekend

Start with something cheap and go from there...to be 100% honest all the SLRs from the big companies are very very good, its important to remember if you buy a Sony camera its likely when it comes to upgrading lens/equipment (assuming you get into the photography stuff) your most likely carry on buying Sony stuff, likewise if you buy a Canon as your start up camera your end up investing in Canon gear. This is because most lens/equipment isn't interchangeable between brands, so you have to commit to one "system". But again all the big companies have a wide array of lens for you to upgrade to so choosing a brand simply comes down to brand preference.

I use Canon buy my sister in law uses Nikon, we both take photos of equal quality (as in not all that good ).

Don't be afraid to go 2nd hand, camera gear have a very long working life, nearly all my lens and camera bodies are 2nd hand and I have never suffered any equipment failure. If you look on eBay or photo forums (AVforums) your find lots of people selling hardly used cameras simply because alot of people buy DSLRs buy but than can never be bothered to use them due to size or weigh etc.....hence the invention of the Mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera (MILC) cameras, which offer the same/similar sensor performance of a DSLR but alot smaller to carry round...

Hope your not too confused

Great little lens for the money, and i believe there are other Chinese copies of this on eBay for as little as £25, i found this out after i'd bought mine for £85

I remember the days when I thought spending more than £50 on a lens was too much.... Picked up a used Canon 17-55mm IS F2.8 recently for more than what I paid for my DSLR camera body+kit lens NEW!!! Still the sharpness and depth of field of the images is amazing....

Had a trip up to Loch Lomond and than to Aberdeen for a wedding recently, unfortunately didn't really have much time to stop for photos (did 980 miles in 3 days, 1 day was spent getting over the hangover from the wedding). Still one of the most beautifully places i've been, will be going back next summer .

Next time I think we'll take the 335i....I'm not sure why the roads there aren't very straight given all the empty land but it made the drive in Civic much more fun

Some great city scape shots, I really need to go and use my tripod more

Nothing wrong with using photoshop, technology is here to be used, in any case if you haven't got the composition right to start off with no amount of editing will make it look good. Hopefully will be back from Singapore with some good night shots, but stupid rules means no tripods in the GP/track areas .

£699 for a PHONE .....thats nearly the same as what we paid for my wifes the MacBook Air with a 128 gig SSD.

Too rich for me, I think I will be holding on to my 4, might pick up a 4S when they get a bit cheaper and pass the 4 onto my wife when the 3G she's currently using finally dies (I first bought it in 2009) We have plenty of Apple stuff in the house (About 10 different Apple laptops/desktops over the years) but the current lot of Apple stuff is just too expensive for me...specced up a Retina Macbook Pro to my liking..£3K!!! Thats half way into a Z these day

Great shot!!

Never really understood what the books were on about when they talk about the milky way, until whilst in Newzeland in the middle of no where one night I looked up at the sky!! Never seen anything like in the UK, tried to take some shots but only had a cheap tripod so had to hand hold....still it gave me a good excuse to buy a better tripod

Lighter than a 3 series...that's impressive...imaging how much faster a 350Z would be if it was lighter by 39%. Was going to keep my 335 for years and years but if Jag can pull off the same trick on the next XF it's going to be very tempting....400bhp in a 1200kg 4 door saloon, yes please

If your still after a 335i, there's a chap trying to shift a pretty minte example (57 plate, 67k, sat nav) with some nice mods and BMW warranty for.....£12k

Here's the link, honestly cannot believe how little you have to spent to get a 335i these days, I cannot think of anyting else for that price that comes close in terms of performance and practicality!!

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=716505

Gang, she's spoiling you again, that's a great gift...

In my defence I have paid for the flights and hotel ...so I better delete your number from my phone once the latest round of goodies are installed on the car (only 48hrs to go)

I offered to return the favour by getting tickets to the NewJersey GP next year for her birthday....she didnt look all that happy with the idea but didn't say no either

This arrived 20 minutes ago Is my 30th birthday present from the wife, had a quick look at the program support races start at 1445 all 3 days with cars running till 2230+ cannot wait

Anyone else going or been before? All the different zones / musics stuff is abit confusing, I'm quite happy to sit there and watch the cars but no doubt the wife will want to have a little walk around.

Awesome

 

...makes me wish I knew how to work my slr properly!

It helps, but if in doubt use automatic! That picture was taken with my phone

 

Thanks for all the support guys!

Fab photo...goes to show you don't need fancy gear to get good shots (still doesn't stop me from spending £££)

For some reason BMW's leave me a bit cold, I kind of wish they didn't

Have you had the chance to drive a 33i5? I looked at just about every other option before test driving the 335, and all of a sudden i understood why all car journalists rave about the 3 series

Still the current S4 (B8) look very nice, remap one of those and apparent you be seeing 400bhp+, add on 4WD, 33mpg and the option to have it as an avant I cannot see many better/faster family car I have to say its one of only a few cars i would consider replacing my 335i with, someone from work has just dropped over £40K on one and cannot wait for it arrive so that I can have a run with it against my 335i