Comparison Tests
From the April 2014 Issue of Car and Driver
Conspiracy theorists will tell you that BMW’s payroll got a little lighter when the current-generation 3-series appeared. Our early reviews were tempered with disappointment because the car wasn’t as involving as its predecessor, confusing those readers who believed our affinity for the 3 was based on monthly cash payoffs rather than the vehicle’s intrinsic goodness. And then the 335i lost a comparison test. To a Lexus. Even so, the collective merit of the full 3- and 4-series family landed it on our 10Best list. A 3-series in structure, but with additional chassis gusseting and tweaks to the suspension geometry, the 4-series contributes a substantial share of the model line’s desirability.
We figured the 4 would be indomitable in any comparo, but because we wanted to put its best foot forward, we lined up the baddest example available—a 435i with the $3100 M Sport package, which includes firmer dampers, springs, and anti-roll bars. The $1000 Dynamic Handling pack adds variable-ratio steering and adjustable dampers. With a 300-hp inline-six, the 435i starts at $46,925, but ours totaled $57,225 after $1900 in lighting upgrades, the $2200 Premium pack (satellite radio and keyless entry and start), and a few other nickels and dimes.
Audi’s aging S5, introduced for the 2008 model year, still represents the 435i’s greatest threat. It was born with a rumbling 4.2-liter V-8, but a transplant for 2013 traded two cylinders for a Roots-style supercharger. Its V-6 displaces just one cubic inch more than the 435i’s straight-six but makes 33 more horses and 25 more pound-feet, for totals of 333 and 325. Quattro routes the power to all four wheels, and $1100 of this example’s $59,220 asking price goes toward the sports differential that varies torque distribution between the rear wheels for sharper handling.
Both cars here wear what their respective makers call “Estoril Blue” paint. Estoril is a breezy little Portuguese parish where the phrase “the blues” refers to a hypnotic, deep-ocean hue rather than music of the my-woman-left-me variety. We didn’t test this pair in Portugal, instead opting for the hills and high deserts around a breezy little parish on our own west coast known as Los Angeles. But no matter—somebody’s going home singing those Memphis-style blues.
