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| A taut ride, which the 335 certainly has, guards against travel sickness: even the whippet managed to keep his breakfast down | |
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And then we were off, the 335i refreshed, me and Mrs T up front, two teenagers and a ten-year-old in the second row, two dogs stuffed in the boot along with a couple of squashy bags, and the rest of the luggage in the roofbox. It was, it’s fair to say, a bit of a squeeze. But not as much as you might imagine. Boot space is reasonable for a ‘lifestyle’ estate, and there’s a surprising amount of rear passenger space, which meant we got to Porthleven without any of the kids actually committing GBH (always a result in my book).
In fact the 335i proved a hit with everyone. A taut ride, which the 335 certainly has, guards against travel sickness: even the whippet managed to keep his breakfast down. The seats are well-shaped; legroom is good all round. The ‘Professional’ sat-nav with its 3D view of the landscape is one of the better we’ve experienced; the sound system is a curate’s egg (having an MP3 connection is terrific, but the DAB radio is a waste of money – the breaks in reception are just too frequent). The 3-litre biturbo engine is a paragon of torquey refinement, with just enough of an M Sport snarl to let you know you’re driving something special. And even with the roof box on, it still managed over 27mpg, meaning an excellent range of around 400 miles. By the end of the holiday we’d well and truly bonded with the 335i, and there will forever be a few grains of Cornish sand somewhere in its footwells.
As soon as we got back I booked the Beemer in to Wollaston BMW in Northampton for its now overdue oil change. The receptionist suggested I try out their ‘Fast Lane’ service: the idea is you turn up, hand over the car, go for a drink and a bite in their café/lounge (they give you a voucher for your duck and chips or whatever) and within 90 minutes the car’s ready – serviced, washed and vacuumed. Sounded great. Didn’t work out quite like that. The total time was closer to two hours and it would have been longer if I’d stuck around while they washed it, but it was pretty convenient and not stupidly expensive – £162.95 all in, which included 80 quid for six and a half litres of fully synthetic. They also carried out a free ‘health check’, though this seemed to comprise a quick check on the tyre tread depth. The only annoyance is that I haven’t managed to wear out the runflats. Even the rears have about 4mm of usable tread left. I think I can feel another trackday coming on…
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