In a way, if you missed the twin pipes at the back and the big rubber below, the versatility, comfort and everyday usefulness of the BMW 335i Touring would suggest it’s just another premium wagon.

Few would guess it is can post scorching track times straight out of the packet.

It looks benign, and offers family-friendly practicality. But it’s a ‘steppenwolf’ below the skin.

Equipment and Features

You would expect the 335i to be loaded. It is: standard equipment includes a premium sound system with USB/audio interface (aux-in socket for MP3 player), automatic climate control air-conditioning, on board computer, preparation for Bluetooth mobiles, 8.8-inch high-res colour display, DVD drive, sat-nav (with voice recognition) and multi-function sport steering wheel.

The navigation system, operated from the iDrive controller, comes with a new menu structure and offers full-screen mode on the colour monitor and three-dimensional relief maps.

The integrated 80 GB hard-disc drive allows the storage of up to 8 GB of audio that can be loaded from CD or USB files.

There is also (as mentioned) keyless entry and start, front fog lights, rain sensor, rear park distance control, adaptive Bi-Xenon headlamps, high beam assist, six airbags, seatbelt tensioners and force limiters (with split-second activation in the event of collision) and a host of dynamic safety features: ABS, EBD, traction assistance, and emergency brake detection.

Mechanical Package

The heart and soul of the 335i is its magnificent twin-turbo 3.0 litre six-cylinder engine.

Part of BMW’s ‘EfficientDynamics’ design engineering, it features a light-weight magnesium-alloy crankcase, four-valves per cylinder, variable valve control and BMW’s High Precision Injection (HPI) - enabling the engine to run in lean-burn mode over a broad range of engine speeds.

Though undersquare (84.0mm bore and 89.6mm stroke), it will happily rev its head off. And, thanks to that long stroke, it delivers a scorching 400Nm of torque in a delicious and irresistible stream from as low as 1300rpm all the way to 5000rpm.

Though power is a very healthy 225kW @ 5800rpm, it is the broad torque band that gives the engine its tractable nature, and why it works so well with the six-speed sequential automatic transmission when being hustled along.

With those 225kW and 400Nm working for you, and absolutely creamy delivery, it is a very potent unit. Should you decide to run it against the clock, you’ll see 100km/h in a mere 5.9 seconds.

It sounds sensational once you start winding it out. (A BMW straight-six in full-song is one of the great sounds of the age.)

The sequential six-speed auto is also a surprise. Drop it into sport-mode, bury the shoe, and the ‘box holds the gears, upshifting at the top of the rev range for thumping acceleration.

In sport-mode, like the Lexus ISF, shifts are blindingly quick. In press-on diving, it changes down pre-emptively, always keeping the right gear underfoot.

And, in either sport or normal drive, you can take things in hand with the paddles – up-shifting with the fingers, down-shifts with the thumbs.

Brakes, ventilated discs all round (348mm up front, 336mm rear) and near-perfect pedal feel, are astonishingly effective, pulling up straight and true time after time.

The Drive

Show me the person who does not enjoy the experience at the wheel of a sporting BMW, and I will show you a corpse. The sheer sure-footed dynamism of a BMW on the run makes any heart beat a little faster.

If ever a car had you looking for the ‘long way round’, BMW’s 335i is such a car. It is sheer driving pleasure: effortless across the ground and astonishingly quick.

On a reaching run along the back-roads skirting the foothills in Victoria’s North East, the 335i was in its element. Out here, powering through long looping curves, switchbacks, crests and hollows, the chassis balance, sure-footedness and sheer engineering excellence below positively shines.

The 335i is a driver’s car from the kidney grille to the tips of its twin-exhausts.

With double-joint spring struts up front and five-link rear axle, there is nothing particularly sophisticated in the suspension set-up. It is just in the way it works that sets the 335i apart.

What happens below is brilliant really: it’s involving, taut but not too firm, well-connected but free of jarring through the wheel, and, when pressing hard, it sits flat and unruffled with arrow-true turn-in.