2009 BMW 335d Fuel-Efficient Sedan Review

Today's diesels, like the BMW 335d, are powerful, clean and fuel efficient, and have overcome previous drawbacks.

Dr. Ronald Golden, my periodontist, had one question beyond the usual inquiry into how I am going so very wrong with his brushing technique.

"Where do you get the diesel fuel?"

Told that BMW's new 335d is my current test car, Dr. Golden, a long-time BMW driver and auto enthusiast, is curious and wide open to the concept of a high-torque engine powering the superb 3-Series chassis. Chasing all over the city for diesel fuel, though, he doesn't fancy.

My usual Petro-Canada self-serve station doesn't offer diesel, it's true, but the Loblaw's just a few blocks further does. The former is 1.7 km from home, the latter 2.8 km, so for me it's no big deal. But how far Dr. Golden's nearest diesel outlet is out of his way requires some research.

And on the topic of FAQs, another is how long your hands stink after filling up. Before the sulphur content of diesel fuel was greatly reduced to 15 ppm in September, 2006, handling a diesel left a lasting stench. The reduction of sulphur has erased the stigma.

A personal experience is illustrative. BMW Canada supplied a filler adapter with our test car because some diesel pump nozzles won't fit. A full-serve attendant at a Sunoco station on Whitby's Thickson Road demonstrated that by sticking a finger in the filler and depressing a doodad, you could insert the nozzle without using the adapter and suggested I try. Thereafter, my finger would have condemned me socially for the remainder of the day, prior to model-year 2007. Today, not a whiff.

Many BMW fanciers will march past such concerns because the 335d is such an exceptional drive. As word spreads of its powerful throttle response and wonderful fuel efficiency (along with the silky ride and handling associated with other 3-Series models), drivers new to the brand will shop the car as well.

It does fall short of this EcoDriver column's standard of consuming no more than 10 litres/100 km in our city area driving. The 335d's EnerGuide city rating is 9.0 L/100 km, which qualifies it for consideration, but driving in the depths of winter, we averaged 11.2.

Considerable spinning of the rear wheels is a factor. Slush freezes overnight, capturing the Bridgestone Blizzak snow tires in icy cavities. The test car is well and truly stuck. Applications of salt, kitty litter and scrap Christmas tree branches purchase no traction. Finally two neighbours push the car free.

Which introduces another FAQ: is all-wheel-drive available in combination with the diesel? Not in the 3-Series in North America, not yet. The company's product planners chose to introduce diesel in only two models in the United States and Canada, the rear-drive 335d and the towering X5 wagon with all-wheel-drive.

This sedan is special. The X5 offers real advantages in practicality, but in terms of driving sensation it is not comparable to the 335d. The perfectly weighted steering, the balance in the handling that makes the car feel slotted into the road, the compliance regardless of surface irregularities, makes the 3-Series the international standard for premium cars of its size.


The twin-turbo diesel motor truly enhances the package. Its 265-horsepower rating is impressive, but the extraordinarily meaty throttle response is attributable to the 425 lb-ft of torque that is felt at only 1,750 rpm. The 3-Series' strongest gasoline engine, by contrast, has more horsepower at 300, but not nearly as much torque at 300 lb-ft.

The only comparable diesel-powered sedan in North America, the Mercedes-Benz E330 BlueTec, isn't a direct competitor. The Benz is larger, leans more to luxury than sportiness and occupies a higher price range as well: $68,100 compared with this car's base $49,700. It's rated at 210 hp and 388 lb-ft of torque, and has the same 9.0 L/100 km EnerGuide city rating as the 335d. It, too, is not offered here with all-wheel-drive.

Acceleration to 60 km/h, EcoDriver's usual measure of in-town get-up-and-go, averages 4.1 seconds in the 335d. Such effortless acceleration affords a measure of safety in accident avoidance, as does superior braking, and the 335d offers premium performance in each over less-expensive vehicles with similar fuel efficiency.

Various electronic stability controls that are standard equipment also come into play in our icy test week. Corner too quickly for the Blizzak winter tires to avoid skidding and the stability control quickly restores control. Indeed, BMW's advanced control technology renders this rear-drive sedan reassuringly easy to drive in winter's worst. Cold starts at -15 C are instantaneous. Waiting for glow plugs to warm up - once a diesel ritual - has gone the way of the stinky finger.

One new peculiarity is a subdued whirring noise sometimes heard from the rear of the car after turning it off, related to the tank that injects urea (commercially known as AdBlue) into the exhaust to eliminate nitrogen oxide emissions.

This diesel meets California air standards - as does the Mercedes-Benz using similar urea injection. The AdBlue is routinely topped up by BMW dealerships during annual services. Sharp-eyed observers will spot the pop-out access location on the driver's side of the rear bumper cover.

Any departure from the norm can cause a consumer to look elsewhere - and perhaps all the more so in a premium-priced sedan. BMW expects its globetrotting customers to have taken note of the predominance of diesel-powered luxury vehicles in Europe, and believes a test drive will make it obvious why this is so.

As for Dr. Golden's first concern, a few minutes on the web turned up a Shell station a few blocks south of his office at Yonge and St. Clair - 1.1 km away.

A final FAQ: isn't diesel fuel more expensive than regular gasoline? In our final fill-up, the price of a litre is 86.9 cents at the Sunoco on Thickson Road "we serve" pump. The station doesn't have a diesel among its "serve yourself" pumps where regular gasoline that day rounds off to 81 cents, premium 89 cents and Ultra 94 premium 93 cents.

On this day, at least, fuelling the diesel test car costs less per litre than would a gasoline-powered 335i with its mandated premium fuel. And remember, fewer litres are required with the diesel's superior efficiency. The price paid for its fuel, then, is part of the pleasure, along with its powerful character.

2009 BMW 335d

TYPE: Four-door sedan

BASE PRICE: $49,700; as tested, $59,605

ENGINE: Twin-turbo, inline-six diesel

HORSEPOWER/TORQUE: 265 hp/425 lb-ft

TRANSMISSION: Six-speed automatic

DRIVE: Rear-wheel-drive

FUEL ECONOMY (litres/100 km): 9.0 city/5.4 highway; actual urban driving, 11.2; diesel fuel

ALTERNATIVES: Mercedes-Benz E320 BlueTec, Volkswagen Jetta TDI, Lexus GS450h

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2009 VW Jetta TDI Road Test: Turbocharged Torque

Torque is described as a force that tends to turn things and, in the case of the 2009 Jetta TDI, its abundance turned me into a fan of this latest in a long line of Volkswagen "oil-burners" by providing strong performance and flexibility along with exceptionally high levels of fuel economy.

Torque is what you get when you, for example, tug on the handle of a wrench to tighten or loosen a nut. Doing so exerts a twisting force still expressed here, in Ye Olde English, in lb-ft, as nobody on this side of the Atlantic has any idea what a newton-metre is.

Torque in an engine is generated by burning a fuel/air mixture in a cylinder, with the pressure of the expanding gases pushing the piston, which is linked to the crankshaft by a connecting rod, downwards.

As this occurs, the angle generated by the crankshaft "throw" increases and the rod, like the wrench handle above, rotates the crank. And that, with a few things such as clutches and transmission gears in between, is what makes your car move.

The Jetta TDI, with its turbocharged diesel engine, does this with a degree of vigour, accompanied by a high degree of overall flexibility not normally experienced in the compact-car category. Most small-displacement gasoline engines don't produce a lot of torque, and what they do is generated at higher engine speeds.

The TDI's four-cylinder engine delivers a disproportionate (for its displacement) amount of low rpm "grunt" that lets it charge off the line like a V-6 but also maintains that strong pulling power at highway speeds.

This allows it to coast along at minimal revs in top gear while sipping fuel at such a frugal rate that 1,000 km per tank wouldn't be an unlikely achievement. In fact, the number on the trip computer that estimates how much distance I had before needing more gas disconcertingly went up for the first hundred kilometres or so that I drove the car.

The TDI's arrival last year marked the return of the popular diesel engine option to the VW lineup in North America — it hadn't been able to sell a diesel here in 2007 due to U.S. emission standards — and the Jetta range now offers three engine choices, each of which gives the car a different driving character.

There's a gasoline-fuelled, 2.5-litre, four-cylinder that makes 177 hp at 5,700 rpm and 177 lb-ft of torque peaking at 4,250 rpm. With six-speed automatic transmission, it delivers very good performance and fuel economy ratings of 10.5 L/100 km city and 7.2 highway.

Also available is a performance-oriented, gas-burning, turbocharged 2.0-litre unit rated at 200 hp at 5,100 rpm and 207 lb-ft of torque from 1,700-5,000 rpm. This makes the 2.0 TSI Jetta a very quick car indeed and, thanks to the turbo, produces plenty of torque over that wide rpm range, which helps it garner very good fuel economy ratings of 9.0 city and 6.8 highway.

The 2.0-litre, four-cylinder diesel engine in the TDI delivers the least power, 140 hp at 4,000 rpm, but the most torque, 236 lb-ft, all of which is available from 1,750 to 2,500 rpm. Its fuel economy ratings are 6.8 city and 4.9 highway. The on-board readout was showing an average of 7.1 L/100 km when I returned it.

The "oil burner" appellation used above is in reference to the bad old days of low-powered and stinky diesel engines. This new one makes 40 hp more than the previous 1.9-litre unit and burns ultra-low-sulphur diesel very efficiently and cleanly and is also quieter.

And the direct shift gearbox (DSG) is a treat, snapping off lightning-quick shifts automatically or allowing you to select gears yourself. Although it takes a while to get used to the fact that it only revs to about 4,500 rpm between the gears, acceleration is surprisingly strong.

And its direct steering, firm suspension and good brakes also contribute to making it a very enjoyable car to drive.

The Jetta TDI is available in base manual transmission Trendline form at $24,275, in Comfortline trim at $26,775 and Highline versions go for $29,775. Our DSG-transmission-equipped tester had a sticker price of $31,175 and an all-in-but-the-taxes cost of $33,510. By comparison, a base gasoline Jetta 2.5 goes for $21,975 and a base 2.0 TSI for $27,475.

The base TDI comes with the usual features at this price, plus cruise control, climate control, 16-inch wheels, exterior temp gauge, a single CD audio system and front, side and side-curtain airbag systems.

The Comfortline has some extra chrome trim, a power-reclining driver's seat, heated seats, leather-wrapped wheel and a premium six-disc audio system. The Highline adds a compass, leather upholstery, a multi-function wheel, a sunroof and a rear armrest/pass-through.
In typical VW fashion, the interior is designed to meet more utilitarian than utopian standards for style. There's rather-uninspired plastic aplenty, not only where you can see it but also feel it — the surprisingly nasty and hard-edged door pull, for example.

The somewhat stark look and feel is ameliorated by stitched padding on the armrests, rather-nice mesh-finish aluminum trim and thin aluminum bezels around the gauges that perk up the plainness a bit.

The cabin is quiet enough at highway speeds, the leather-clad front seats are supportive and comfortable, the rear seat will handle two in comfort, headroom is good front and rear and the trunk capacity is fine at 400 litres.

In fact, if I had to cover a lot of mileage on an annual basis, I'd be happy to do it in the TDI, and would likely save some money if I kept doing it long enough. But the potent 2.0 TSI turbo's fuel economy numbers are pretty good, too, and it would still be my choice among the Jetta triad.

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