<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

In comparison to a comparably equipped 330, the G falls a little short on luxury and refinement, but edges the BMW (slightly) in performance, exhaust note and looks.

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All the above, even "performance" if the term is used broadly enough (to include ride for example) are subjective. In the way you mean it though (acceleration, cornering and braking ability), of course you're right.

Where the other matters are concerned, I might disagree. I spent a long time looking at E46 BMWs while I still had my E36, and other than exterior styling (ci version only, which I think is gorgeous), very little about the car had me in anything near a frenzy to trade up, whereas the G coupe most definitely did.

I've always found the E46 interior to be very bland. The instrument pod looks dinky to me and the rest of the dash is dull in finish and boring in design. The seats are plain and surprisingly cheap looking for a car that costs that much.

I also have my quibbles with the G interior (they've all been discussed here before, ad nauseum), but overall I find it much more distinctive, sporty and luxurious looking.

Beauty is in the eye as they say, but for me the ONLY thing about the 330ci that gives the G coupe a serious run for me, even disregarding the price, is the exterior styling. Even there, I prefer the G.

To put it in perspective however, if the G didn't exist I'd be driving a 330ci right now...

 

I'm an ex E46 owner and I don't know how you're making your comparisions. There aren't many options the E46 will offer that's not available in the G35. Back-up sensors comes to mind and I love the 6 in-dash cd player that wasn't even an option on the E46. I even prefer the seats in the Coupe to the E46. If you're mag racing then the best time for the 330Ci I've seen is 5.9 (non ZHP). Keep in mind that this was a one-time result. Most of the times I've seen were 6.1 to 6.2. On the other hand, the best time I've seen for the G35c6 is 5.5 with variences up to 6.1 second. Also keep in mind that the 6.1 result is from Road and Track while everyone else got the coupe under 6 seconds. I've raced numerous E46s with the same result from a dig on from a roll. The G35 is clearly a faster car. I've even raced a new ZHP and walked it from a roll. I'll give to nod to BMW in refinement, but for all out performance...The Coupe wins. Like I always said, the 330Ci is a luxury car trying to be a sports car and the Coupe is a sports cars trying to be a luxury car.


'03 G35C, 6MT, Black, Pop Charger, 18x8.5/9.5 BBS RGR, 245/275 40 Toyo T1-S, Tein S-Tech