35d or 35

[apw2607]

Originally Posted by chrisny

This is a great point, because those of us that spent $60 - 80k on our 'Base model' 35i's feel so inadequate (hint, see Sdrive 35i for the actual "base model" X5 if you're going by starting MSRP, and I bet they feel pretty good about their luxury SAV's too ). More torque in the diesel is great if you're towing, but the 35i has plenty of torque itself and offers better performance overall. FYI, they're all fun to drive.

The 35d is no greater than the 35i, they're just different variations to suit different needs. Not everyone has easy, dependable access to diesel. And some of us just don't want our wives to have to pump diesel, nor worry they may forget to plan properly while out with the kids somewhere and get stuck.

They're both great engines. Get what suits your needs best.

It's not just towing but any time the engine is under load. Stick 4 adults and bags in the car and see what happens. Or driving over mountain passes. You'll soon discover merits of owning the Diesel engine.

[opasha]

Originally Posted by apw2607

It's not just towing but any time the engine is under load. Stick 4 adults and bags in the car and see what happens. Or driving over mountain passes. You'll soon discover merits of owning the Diesel engine.

I can understand this point because I've driven all kinds of cars and suvs and not once have I driven a diesel until recently when I was given a 2014 535d loaner a few months back. There's this really big uphill near the end of my neighborhood road and this is where I test every single mode for every single car just to see how it pulls....and the 535d really shocked me on how it could zoom up that hill and how it moved in general. I wish I had gotten a chance to drive both the 35i and 35d so I could have given much more helpful information, but I have to say...BMW diesels are definitely solid in my book.

[Wardman]

Appreciate all the great posts!

I am looking to get the "base" 35d :-) rear view, spare, and MC seats, luxury line for some contrast and leaning glacier silver or mineral white with mocha or terra interior.

Odd that MC seats cannot be ordered with Mocha Dakota leather....

[chrisny]

Originally Posted by apw2607

It's not just towing but any time the engine is under load. Stick 4 adults and bags in the car and see what happens. Or driving over mountain passes. You'll soon discover merits of owning the Diesel engine.

Agreed, but when did 300lbs of torque become insufficient for hauling people and luggage? I've never felt the 35i was lacking, but surely would if I tried to tow anything heavy. Obviously more is better even for every day life, but 300/300 in the 35i is hardly weak.

Like I said, both are great engines.

[iamthestig]

I tow a 5500-6000 lb travel trailer with my 35i. Absolutely no problem maintaining speed (or even accelerating) over mountain passes or steep hills. I'm more than thrilled with the performance of the 35i. It was never our intention to tow such a heavy load when we purchased the 35i, but I have to say it performs very well.

[chrisny]

Originally Posted by iamthestig

I tow a 5500-6000 lb travel trailer with my 35i. Absolutely no problem maintaining speed (or even accelerating) over mountain passes or steep hills. I'm more than thrilled with the performance of the 35i. It was never our intention to tow such a heavy load when we purchased the 35i, but I have to say it performs very well.

Well said. I have no doubt the diesel would be even better under those conditions. For those of us that don't tow that often (or at all), don't tow heavier loads, etc.. the 35i still has more than enough torque at any speed.

The mpg can't compare, but as others have said, the higher base price, amount you drive, price of diesel where you do your driving, etc… determine whether or not there are real savings there. I expect the savings are very tangible when you do a lot of driving, less so when you do not, and/or if most of your driving is local.

[skalberti]

Originally Posted by apw2607

It's not just towing but any time the engine is under load. Stick 4 adults and bags in the car and see what happens. Or driving over mountain passes. You'll soon discover merits of owning the Diesel engine.

You want to put a real load on a car, just add some in-laws

[skalberti]

Originally Posted by chrisny

Agreed, but when did 300lbs of torque become insufficient for hauling people and luggage? I've never felt the 35i was lacking, but surely would if I tried to tow anything heavy. Obviously more is better even for every day life, but 300/300 in the 35i is hardly weak.

Like I said, both are great engines.

I drove a 35i for 2.5 years and now have a 35D. The 35i is very competent. However, there's no substitute for torque. 300ft/lb is a lot, but 413 is a lot more. Plus you have different torque curves. My 35i was always shifting out of 8th gear on the highway. Even small hills. With the D I pass in 8th gear

[Kzang]

I'm going to agree with Chrisny,

Additionally, the 300lbs of torque on the 35i starts lower at 1,300 rpm and keeps churning to 5,000 RPM whereas the 416 lbs torque in the diesel starts at 1,500 rpm and ends short at 3,000 rpm. And we already know who is faster on the 0-60 sprint....

[LowerEast]

I'm surprised that people are struggling to get 20 mpg on the highway in a 35i. Over 5,000 miles of 20% city and 80% highway driving, I'm averaging 21 mpg in mine.

Most of the highway driving is using the active cruise control set at something between 75 mph and 85 mph, and usually in comfort mode, so it's not like I'm trying to milk every last mpg out of it. That average also include a couple of hundred miles of hard charging, early morning, back road blasts where I'm getting mpg in the low teens.

[cy07]

35i can barely get to 19 with city driving, but of course even diesel is only getting 21. Both with zero highway driving.

On the drive back to Bay Area from LA, I got 20 on 50i! Not too bad at all. With pure city driving I got 15.

[42pilot]

Originally Posted by skalberti

I drove a 35i for 2.5 years and now have a 35D. The 35i is very competent. However, there's no substitute for torque. 300ft/lb is a lot, but 413 is a lot more. Plus you have different torque curves. My 35i was always shifting out of 8th gear on the highway. Even small hills. With the D I pass in 8th gear

Chip the diesel and you'll get close to 500 lb ft of torque. Press the sport button, then the pedal and hang on. And knowing it's coming from a 3L motor is quite a feat.

Trivia question - does anyone know the peak amount of boost our 35d turbo produces? Hint - I measured it last week using an OBD2 reader. Yikes...

[Ray knight]

Originally Posted by 42pilot

Chip the diesel and you'll get close to 500 lb ft of torque. Press the sport button, then the pedal and hang on. And knowing it's coming from a 3L motor is quite a feat.

Trivia question - does anyone know the peak amount of boost our 35d turbo produces? Hint - I measured it last week using an OBD2 reader. Yikes...

I'm guessing its probably 40psi. What did you measure?

[skalberti]

Originally Posted by 42pilot

Chip the diesel and you'll get close to 500 lb ft of torque. Press the sport button, then the pedal and hang on. And knowing it's coming from a 3L motor is quite a feat.

Trivia question - does anyone know the peak amount of boost our 35d turbo produces? Hint - I measured it last week using an OBD2 reader. Yikes...

I had a 335 that was Dinan tuned. Spun #5 & #6 rod bearings at 42k miles. BMW wouldn't touch the car and $16k in damage was done. Fortunately Dinan paid with their warranty. Sure you can remove the piggy back tunes and clear the code, but the DME is still recording. Any variances outside of BMW parameters. You won't have a warranty. So there really is no undetectable tune. These cars really come alive with a tune, however, if something goes wrong. BMW will always blame the tune and $16K out of pocket just isn't what I want.

[42pilot]

Originally Posted by skalberti

I had a 335 that was Dinan tuned. Spun #5 & #6 rod bearings at 42k miles. BMW wouldn't touch the car and $16k in damage was done. Fortunately Dinan paid with their warranty. Sure you can remove the piggy back tunes and clear the code, but the DME is still recording. Any variances outside of BMW parameters. You won't have a warranty. So there really is no undetectable tune. These cars really come alive with a tune, however, if something goes wrong. BMW will always blame the tune and $16K out of pocket just isn't what I want.

BMW blamed Dinan for spun bearings? Wow. That was bullshit as a tune has nothing to do with that failure - it was either poor mains oiling, poor bearings, crank out of tolerance, etc. It's good you had Dinan warranty.

You cannot detect something that has been removed. You can see parameters that have been blown ONLY when there is a DTC - DME's or ECU's simply do not have the physical capacity to record every sensor and parameter over the life of the car (while it's running of course. It would take a terabyte hard drive to record everything. DTC codes flash all the parameters at the time of the code. If you have a concern about DTC's, spend an additional $150 and buy a code scanner that can remove "permanent" DTC's before you take the car in for service. This has worked for me with this chip since the car has been to the dealer after it threw a DTC (CEL) since I've owned it. No codes or data were shown after I cleared them.

It's clear you were burned by an aftermarket tune and it's exactly why I did so much research on this chip before I bought it, rather than being a marketing lemming. Anyway, don't buy the chip. But please have your facts straight on this chip before you make these statements (above).

[42pilot]

Originally Posted by Ray knight

I'm guessing its probably 40psi. What did you measure?

Close - 38 psi. To give you an idea of how high that is, my Powerstroke (stock) is 25 psi (400 hp, 775 lb ft) and my Porsche was 14 psi (525 hp, 495 lb ft). Any more than the numbers I've shown, and the heads would have lifted.

Also, there is no difference between stock and with the Racechip. The chip does not modify the boost.

[skalberti]

Originally Posted by 42pilot

BMW blamed Dinan for spun bearings? Wow. That was bullshit as a tune has nothing to do with that failure - it was either poor mains oiling, poor bearings, crank out of tolerance, etc. It's good you had Dinan warranty.

You cannot detect something that has been removed. You can see parameters that have been blown ONLY when there is a DTC - DME's or ECU's simply do not have the physical capacity to record every sensor and parameter over the life of the car (while it's running of course. It would take a terabyte hard drive to record everything. DTC codes flash all the parameters at the time of the code. If you have a concern about DTC's, spend an additional $150 and buy a code scanner that can remove "permanent" DTC's before you take the car in for service. This has worked for me with this chip since the car has been to the dealer after it threw a DTC (CEL) since I've owned it. No codes or data were shown after I cleared them.

It's clear you were burned by an aftermarket tune and it's exactly why I did so much research on this chip before I bought it, rather than being a marketing lemming. Anyway, don't buy the chip. But please have your facts straight on this chip before you make these statements (above).

I do have my facts straight. Remember that little sheet you signed when you took delivery concerning the black box in your car? There's a lot more recording in your car than you're aware of. There's a few weeks worth of data that can be interrogated. If a car is running outside BMW's programmed parameters, then something forced it to. BMW knows these cars are often tuned , that's why they monitor for this stuff. I know BMW had a supplier problem with their main bearings in 2008 and it wasn't the tunes fault. However, if I Pursued arbitration all BMW would have to say is I modified the car from its original state and that's why the bearing went out. I'd be fighting a losing battle. As far as Dinan, they're top notch as far as technology in tunes. My car ran flawless and never threw a CEL. Sure I paid $2k for the tune instead of $500, but you could also say I got a complete short block for $2k instead of $16k. So there's no point in getting into an argument over this, it really just comes down to how much risk you want to take.

[Ray knight]

Originally Posted by 42pilot

Close - 38 psi. To give you an idea of how high that is, my Powerstroke (stock) is 25 psi (400 hp, 775 lb ft) and my Porsche was 14 psi (525 hp, 495 lb ft). Any more than the numbers I've shown, and the heads would have lifted.

Also, there is no difference between stock and with the Racechip. The chip does not modify the boost.

Haha thats NUTS!!!! Wow. I remember running my Evo X at 25psi and it was right on the edge. So the chip does not add boost at all? Just fuel pressure? I'm still trying to figure out what its actually doing. No doubt i feel the increase in performance and it sure feels like its adding at least 10psi! Then again its just feeding the common rail signal so i guess it cannot really change anything other than fuel pressure? So with more fuel pressure and the same boost you would think it would just run too rich and if thats the case would actually be a safer tune than the stock tune. Have you checked EGT with and without the tune by any chance? You would think that with more fuel it would be a lower EGT no? I have never messed with diesels this is my first but i've built many many turbo gas cars.

[Wardman]

Anyone tune their 35d yet? Any comments/results? Local dealer is a Dinan shop and why I ask.

[cy07]

Originally Posted by Wardman

anyone tune their 35d yet? Any comments/results?

search race chip 35d tune, people seem to love it so far, even the most the most skeptical ones.

[Ray knight]

Mine is chipped. BIG difference in power. Massive.

[HansRobert]

Originally Posted by Ray knight

Mine is chipped. BIG difference in power. Massive.

To what extent does it have a negative impact on MPG?