There are few things that car enthusiasts agree on.  Some people like wagons, and some like trucks.  There are even people that like those little oddly shaped half-engined monstrosities called Prius.  It is for this reason that I don’t pretend to speak for everyone, because “на вкус и цвет товарищей нет“.  At the same time, though, you cannot deny the ubiquity of the sports coupe.  From the British Jaguar E-type, to the American Ford Mustang or Chevrolet Corvette, many of the most iconic cars are sports coupes.  For all of their desirability, these sports coupes have a fatal flaw for most Utah residents.  You don’t really want to drive them in the winter.  Enter the BMW E92 335xi.  It may not be your favorite car, but I’ll give you several reasons why I think it is among the best sports cars out there.

Can You Say #N54Life? I Know You Can

While #N54Life tends to accompany pictures of cars smoking from odd places, there are a lot of reasons why I believe it is the only engine you want in your E92 BMW 3-Series.

Nothing Is Smoother Than A Straight Six

While everyone has their own opinions on what they like, it is an engineering fact that straight six engines are naturally balanced.  This means that the primary forces (the motion of the pistons moving up and down) and the secondary forces (the variations in speed of the pistons at the top and bottom of the stroke) are in balance across the entire engine.

The above engine, a BMW M20B25, also shows two separate collectors for the exhaust.  Having a separate collector for a group of three cylinders provides perfect timing of exhaust pulses.  The suction behind one exhaust pulse pulls lines up with the high pressure from the next exhaust pulse in the group.  Now you have an engine that won’t shake itself to pieces and also allows air to flow extremely well.  BMW has been making engines like this for decades.  These principles are at the core of the N54B30 which powers the E92 335xi.

This Beast Was Born For Boost

Like them or not, turbo chargers are here to stay.  Forced induction, or the act of pumping air into your engine instead of drawing it in, allows engines to act bigger than they really are.  BMW designed the N54 engine to be stronger than its predecessor, the N52.  The block was made out of heavier materials with a more reinforced structure so that it could handle higher cylinder pressure.  This engine also comes stock with direct fuel injection, a lower compression ratio, and variable valve timing.  These features allow the engine to tune itself for optimum combustion at any speed.

Now, you may be familiar with something called turbo lag.  Turbo lag is when the extra power from the turbo chargers comes late and suddenly, because the compressor wheel isn’t spinning very fast until the exhaust gasses speed up.  To alleviate this condition, BMW equipped this engine with twin turbo chargers that are relatively small.  If you remember from the previous section, exhaust gasses from a straight six are delivered very smoothly from three cylinders at a time.  Constant flow from the exhaust allows the turbo chargers to spool up quicker.  The E92 335xi is known, with this configuration, for its smooth power delivery.

The BMW N54 Is Better Than A Toyota 2JZ

I will freely admit that every person has their own opinion, and we all know what opinions are like.  I believe, however, that the BMW N54 engine is a demonstrably better power plant than the comparable Toyota 2JZ.  Both of these engines come in the same 3.0 liter displacement, but the N54 comes stock with more horsepower and better torque delivery.  The N54 is about 12lbs lighter than the 2JZ.  Lastly, BMW’s engine started its life with forced induction, while this was only later added to the 2JZ.  While I don’t dislike the Toyota 2JZ, it is hard to argue with a lighter engine of the same size that makes almost 100 more peak horsepower stock.

What Am I Supposed To Drive When It’s Cold?

There are a lot of great places to drive in my home state of Utah, but the weather isn’t always nice.  For what seems like half of the year, we have to worry about ice, snow, and drivers from California.  Having a fun sports car is great when the weather is nice, but your rear wheel drive bomber gets really squirrelly when traction gets low.  This is where the x in the E92 335xi comes in.

xDrive Is Elegant And Effective

Audi blew the rally world away when they introduced their Quattro system to off-road racing.  The original Quattro system is really just an open differential in the center of the car.  While all wheels have at least some traction, or the car has proper momentum, this works great.  If you are dealing with zero traction on a given wheel, you want to lock that differential.  Well, this is what xDrive does.  In simple terms, BMW’s xDrive is just a clutch pack that allows the drive train to connect to the front wheels if the rear wheels are loosing grip.  By default, even with xDrive, a BMW is still a rear wheel drive car.  As soon as the computer detects the rear wheels slipping, it can quickly engage the clutch and dynamically add power to the front wheels.

The simplicity of the xDrive system makes it small and lightweight.  As a result BMW has been able to add all wheel drive to almost any of their vehicle line up.  This means that you don’t have to have a separate car for inclement weather, unless of course you really want to baby your sports car.  Your xDrive equipped BMW E92 335xi will find the traction on a slippery road as well as any Subaru.

Traction Management Isn’t Just For Inclement Weather

A trend that you are seeing more and more in high performance vehicles today is all wheel drive.  The Porsche 918 was able to beat the McLaren P1 at Laguna Seca, because it was able to put more power down using all four wheels.  While drifting is fun to do and entertaining to watch, you want your tires to grip when you want to go fast.  If you take your BMW E92 335xi to the track, you will be able to put more power down to the pavement in a controlled manner.  This will hopefully help you keep your car off of the wall.

The BMW E92 335xi May Not Be Perfect, But…

At the end of the day, our lives are fairly complicated.  We all have responsibilities, and some of us have families.  The E92 335xi can never be a minivan, but it does have a trunk large enough for golf clubs. The car also boasts a back seat where you can put your kids when you have to.  BMW made these cars from 2006 thru 2012, and I am all about used BMW’s.  Depending on the vintage, many can be had from between $12k and $24k.  Considering that you can pick up one of these with a third pedal, they check a lot of boxes for your average auto enthusiast.  This broad set of features is why I think this car allows you to have your cake and eat it too.