Production 2011-present.

We've finally finished development and are quite amazed with the results. As 'petrol' heads, we were almost reluctant to deal with the 335d xdrive development car that arrived...

Our initial observations showed that traction, ride and handling, and of course engine performance, will all need dealing with. It's clear that the standard suspension package was not up to the job, but more surprisingly, the Adaptive M Sport suspension was very weak in body control when set to "comfort" and was typically stiff when set to "sport". Given it costs around £750 as an option, we would recommend it be left unticked when specifying your car. If comfort is your primary requirement, then the standard suspension may well be adequate. But if you want the car to handle properly, whether you have standard or adaptive damping, you HAVE to change the dampers for something that works properly.

The reason it took us some time to develop our F30 B3 Sport Suspension kit was because the chassis didn't respond to the same treatment we used so successfully on the E92 chassis. Even though we had softened the rear end significantly, we were still unhappy with the slow speed ride quality. In desperation we started to experiment with stuff we'd never had to tackle before, and quite literally stumbled upon the solution. 

Where engine power is concerned, recent developments have allowed us to tweak the 335i engine beyond 400hp, and the amazing 435dx to 380ps. All of the "Additional ECU" strategies can be consigned to history, now the engine can be tuned the correct way with software modifications.

Traction improvements are now almost mandatory in the form of the famous Quaife ATB limited-slip differential, with the exception of the 4WD xdrives, but then you start thinking about Alcon brakes instead....

Click the link below to read BMWCar Magazine's review of our now complete F30 335dx demonstrator:

Editorial - F30 335dx - BMWCar - Oct 2015