very tight steering wheel on 2011 335 xi

Hello M3 owners,

I own a 08 vert m3 and brought it in today to swap out my snow tires and oil change. Dealer gave me a loaner 2011 335 xi with a m package option. I have to say the car was very cool and fun to drive. What really intrigued me was how tight the steering wheel is compared to my car. I would think my car should have the same stiffness or better. I always thought the steering was fine but this car was ridiculously tight. It felt great. Perhaps my steering column needs adjusting? Any thoughts are appreciated.

JL

New car syndrome......you have gotten used to yours and the newer one feels tighter. Plus yours is 3+ years old now.......I'm sure you wouldn't trade cars ...........Phil

I'll go out on a limb and say that it may be that the xi is under-boosted relative to the required effort to turn all that front wheel drive hardware that's absent on the M3. You still have WAY better road feel.

I have the competition pkg and NAV on my '11 M3 so I can't say for certain what M3 steering is like without those options, but I can set my steering effort ("servotronic") to "normal" or "Sport", and I agree the normal setting is kinda light. In fact, I wish it had a "sport plus" setting.

Thanks Phil for your feedback. You are absolutely right in saying I wouldn't swap my car for the 335. No comparison. I will say though the steering needed more effort to turn then my m3, which only has 18,000 miles. It felt pretty cool and sportier then my steering. Anyway, picked up my car with the summer tires on it and I feel so much better having removed the snow tires.

Thanks again
JL