[zacu]

I am currently (very, very seriously) considering buying a 335i Coupe. I test drove it and, needless to say, it was an absolutely spectacular car.

That being said, a couple of minor issues and questions arose. I would appreciate any insights that would help making me the right choices now that I am considering my options.

Generally I love to feel in control while I am driving and to know exactly what the car is about to do. On my test drive, there was practically only one issue when I felt that was not calling the shots, but that the car was making bad decisions for me: It was very hard, if not impossible, to make the car stop absolutely smoothly.

I live in an area with lot of traffic lights and I need to stop often. When I let it roll slowly to full stop, just before the car would stop on its own, it seems that some automatic braking mechanism closes the brakes and makes a (minor) jerky stop. First I thought it was the automatic tranny, but shifting to neutral and the super gentlest braking -- nothing helped.

Finally I assumed that this is its automatic brake function that is supposed to help in the hills. Does anybody else find this annoying? Is there any way to disable this functionality in iDrive (it did not have one) or ask a service guy to disable it from the car's internal software? I am completely capable to do my own hill starts using the hand brake, thank you. :-)

I have also always enjoyed manual transmission and the precision of it. All my previous cars have been with manual. I drove an automatic 335i (with paddle shifters) and it was so good, that now I am considering one. Any recommendations? Anybody tested both and felt that very clearly the other was better than the other? There surely has been discussion about this before and I know that this is very much a matter of taste, but I would not mind hearing your opinions anyway.

[zacu]

Whoops, there was at least one thread about just this:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36565

I did a search just a few days ago, but apparently I did not know the right phrase "hill assist" and "start-off assist"

Apparently I am not the only one who finds the system annoying. I found the good tip about pulling the handbrake just a little to disable the hill assist (it would have been nice to test this myself on the test drive). I hope that, if go for 335, it works.

Still, I would appreciate if anybody knows how the system could be disabled altogether. I prefer my car inching forward and backward, when I so choose :-)