Second Ride, Second Impressions

Marcoose

Marcoose

Senior member
 San Francisco, CA
A month into owning the 35is, I've shared some thoughts. https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=126331 Back then understeering and shifting were disappointments.

The friendly neighbourhood mechanic installed H&R springs, Turner adjustable camber plates, set all four wheels at approximately -1.7 degrees, and threw PS4S all around. Yesterday I drove 'spiritedly' down and back a local twisty road, Skyline. I know Skyline very well, both on car and motorbike. Road conditions were so-so; damp, wet, dirty and muddy at places, and air temperature between 10-12 C. I'm happy to report zero understeering whatsoever. You point she goes. That's a massive improvement in confidence.

I've also been in Sport+ more often. Shifting is indeed far faster than Comfort. But still clunky, and slower than I expected for a high end sporty car. I'll give it more seat time. Cheap benchmark, I can shift faster and smoother on a 2003 Fireblade.

Otherwise I'm stoked with this purchase. One of the finest automobiles I've owned. The black wheels, rear spoiler, and other small touch ups totally transformed the looks. Wifey gets compliments everywhere she goes. Though I suspect her big blue eyes have a lot to do with those compliments. :lol:
 

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They are a great car with little opposition at the pricepoint but good to read your thoughts on the DCT.
That alone tainted my 35is ownership & left me never wanting another "auto" weekender .
I still believe a mapped manual 35i is a better proposition :wink:
 
The automatic gearbox is God sent. Our neighbourhood, or the whole city of San Francisco in general, has atrocious traffic. On a 6-speed manual, you rarely shift past 4th. It's a calf workout in itself. It's brilliant to let the automatic box do the work to the supermarket.
 
Marcoose said:
It ain't yer olde car. :lol:

It's a 2016 35is with about 30K miles.
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I had a 2016 35is with about 18k on the clock when I sold it 18 months ago. Regretted selling it the moment I did.

Trying to remember the reg!

This is where you tell me you bought it from a mate? ;)
 
Marcoose said:
The automatic gearbox is God sent. Our neighbourhood, or the whole city of San Francisco in general, has atrocious traffic. On a 6-speed manual, you rarely shift past 4th. It's a calf workout in itself. It's brilliant to let the automatic box do the work to the supermarket.
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Sums up why people buy automatics perfectly. :thumbsup:

Not necessarily why they buy sports cars though. :?

I guess we all make compromises.
 
If the DCT shifts are anything other than seamless in normal mode and instant in sport mode you should consider servicing it.

I've got a couple of DCT cars. When the 335i came along I noticed the shifts felt slower in comparison to the Z4 so changed the pressure filter and fluid and it's back to normal again. My Z4 already had the fluid, pressure filter and suction filter replaced so when jumping between the cars it was really day and night.

The pressure filter and fluid are really easy to change. The filter was £60 from BMW and the Motul DCT fluid was £14/l so quite cheap.
 
R.E92 said:
If the DCT shifts are anything other than seamless in normal mode and instant in sport mode you should consider servicing it.
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Interesting. Upshifts, downshifts, or both? Presumably downshifts need extra time to match revs when the gearbox is already in high revs. Thanks.
 
Marcoose said:
R.E92 said:
If the DCT shifts are anything other than seamless in normal mode and instant in sport mode you should consider servicing it.
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Interesting. Upshifts, downshifts, or both? Presumably downshifts need extra time to match revs when the gearbox is already in high revs. Thanks.
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Both. I have DCT remaps on both cars so it shifts even faster than it usually would, if you service it and decide you will want more then that's an option.
 
R.E92 said:
I have DCT remaps on both cars so it shifts even faster than it usually would, if you service it and decide you will want more then that's an option.
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That I like. Is that something you can share openly, or best via private messages, emails, etc?
 
Marcoose said:
R.E92 said:
I have DCT remaps on both cars so it shifts even faster than it usually would, if you service it and decide you will want more then that's an option.
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That I like. Is that something you can share openly, or best via private messages, emails, etc?
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DCT tuning is already out there. There's a few different options these days.

You can use xHP to flash the tune to the DCT, much like MHD does for the engine. The base cost of xHP which gives you the ability to flash a custom binary costs £180 and is the easiest option. You can also pay another £180 for the xHP "map".

There is also a method of flashing the DCT completely free but you require a laptop with WinKFP and a good quality Bimmergeeks cable. It requires a bit of fiddling so unless you're someone who has spent a lot of time with WinKFP I'd suggest one of the former choices just for an easy life.

I can give you a copy of my own custom DCT binary file if you wanted to just buy the £180 base xHP license. As someone who has access to both I personally much prefer my own DCT tune over what xHP produce. I wouldn't dream of charging anything for the custom binary so the only expense is xHP and the cable if you don't already own one.

There's a few people experimenting on porting over the M3 GTS DCT tune as a proof of concept but that's still work in progress and likely will not add anything to what we already have.
 
Thanks, mate. All that is mega interesting and only a fool would pass on your generosity. I have a hundred questions which would be better asked and answered over the phone/video. I’ll find a way to reach out to you perhaps this weekend. It seems the first thing is to service the DCT. Thanks again.
 
[ref]R.E92[/ref], given [ref]Marcoose[/ref]'s location, I'd be insisting on hand delivery only, all expenses paid :wink:
 
Marcoose said:
Thanks, mate. All that is mega interesting and only a fool would pass on your generosity. I have a hundred questions which would be better asked and answered over the phone/video. I’ll find a way to reach out to you perhaps this weekend. It seems the first thing is to service the DCT. Thanks again.
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Just send a PM with any questions. For any servicing queries the M3 forums are a good place to search, they have the same gearbox and a lot of those guys service the gearbox every 50k. Just keep in mind that the M3 has an oil cooler for the DCT which has lines that get in the way so if you see any reference to unplugging cooling lines in the M3 DCT service just ignore that step.

enuff_zed said:
[ref]R.E92[/ref], given [ref]Marcoose[/ref]'s location, I'd be insisting on hand delivery only, all expenses paid :wink:
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Good idea. Also I require use of the car for a few days to make sure everything works :D
 
Ha! I've been known for welcoming and hosting folk in our humble abode. Sadly, Covid put a kibosh on all that. Not even me mum is welcome here these days. :)
 
Also ... since the new camber plates, lowering springs, tyres and alignment, there’s a subtle steering wheel shake at 90mph/145kph. It’s not always there. It comes and goes depending on the tarmac. Anyone experiencing the same? Thoughts?
 
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