R36 vs 335i Price.

[Luminary]

I just wanted to put this up for reference, discussion.

In Australia people seem to really appreciate the BMW 335i and often test drive it in comparison to the R36. Surely it must be a nice car but in its bare form the price is $120 000 AUD.

Interestingly in its home country of Germany (in case you didn't know the R36 with its high specifications is more costly to buy than the base 335i.

Here are the price lists from today...

[gead]

good post....i think the (lack of any real) price difference in europe is the reason the r36 is so underrated over there...if the 335 was only over $6k more expensive over here, i would have been very interested....

[tryingavw]

I

there is one thing you need to allow for is the base 335i in europe probably is a low spec car compared to the aussie version. for example 335 has sat nave standard- bet the euro doesn't.

plus in oz a 120k car has a shed load of Luxo car tax in the stocker price .

[tinto]

All things being equal, I'd take the BMW purely on the relatively cheap gains from software on a turbo engine. I'd love the AWD too... (that's what 335X is, isn't it?)

Local pricing highlights what a bargain the R36 is (or how overpriced the BMW is... take your pick).

[Swallowtail]

335xi is a weapon. And seriously workable too as Tinto has said. If they were the same price as an R36 here I'd have not even driven the R36 unfortunately... or even available LOL. And the car tax only affects cars priced high to start with... If VW Oz and BMW Oz brought them in at the equivalent Euro price the car tax would be the same. Bear in mind too that the Oz spec 335i isn't a patch on the R36 for std equipment either. I don't think it has sat nav as std equipment tryingavw?

[tryingavw]

335xi is a weapon. And seriously workable too as Tinto has said. If they were the same price as an R36 here I'd have not even driven the R36 unfortunately... or even available LOL. And the car tax only affects cars priced high to start with... If VW Oz and BMW Oz brought them in at the equivalent Euro price the car tax would be the same. Bear in mind too that the Oz spec 335i isn't a patch on the R36 for std equipment either. I don't think it has sat nav as std equipment tryingavw?

almost positive it has "business navigation" with a small screen. the professional is more. FBut fact is BMW navigation is crap compared to VW and Merc ( speaking from experience including having a 335 coupe to drive for a while), being not much better than the lame system on my 2002 7 series.

[Leagle]

For what its worth, I test drove the cheaper 135i lately before deciding that the CC was the way to go.

The 135i is a lot closer in price to the CC/R36. Same engine as the 335i. The drive was awesome (you really need to drive it to appreciate) but I don't think the CC is far behind. If anything I felt the CC felt just as potent. Being a sexier, much bigger car, the CC is a far better buy though And it is still cheaper with a few options.

[theplanner]

I test drove the 335 on the track and loved it, was almost convinced I was goin to buy that over the R36, until i spec'd the vehicle so it is on par with the R36 and was quoted almost 130k. So that is about 50k over wat i paid for the r36. At that point, I could only see the 50k premium for the badge and slightly nicer (in my opinion) interior & exterior therefore I couldn't justify forking out that premium. I thought the handling was almost on par but have a preference for the awd.

However, I hv set my eyes for the to be released Audi RS3. imagine the TTRS engine with Quattro in an A3. Will trade my r36 for that hopefully when it is released in aust in 2 yrs.