Congrats on the degree. Not to sound like a total douche, but get a job and then buy a car. That way you know what you can afford and dont go broke! Thats 33 year old me, telling 22 year old me great advice. Dont foget about insurance costs! Never fun on a 300hp car.
To the car point: know what you want out of the car. If you want a luxury car that goes fast BMW, everyone knows a BMW is a nice car and chicks dig saying "my b/f drives a Bmer" if you want a car that you can max out and beat the hell out of and have the biggest grin while doing it-Evo.
Good luck with everything!

 

I don't tend to like girls who enjoy telling people that their "BF drives a BM-er". Screw that.

 

I own a 335i and an X GSR. First off, why do you want a 335xi? The BMW xDrive AWD system is pretty horrible. If you really need AWD for whatever reason, get the Evo. It's AWD system is sooooo much better in every way. But in Philly, I highly doubt you really need AWD, even in the winter. My 335i does fine with all the power in the rear, on summer tires, in DC winters.

Reliability is a wash. BMWs can be expensive to fix, but only if you're a sucker and listen to the dealers. The 335 had a few issues in the first 2 years of production, but those have been addressed and reliability is pretty great now. BMW covered those issues on their dime, which is the big differentiation: dealer network. Evos dont come with a warranty, period. If you blow your trans the 1st month of ownership and never abused the car, too bad you must have abused it and your warranty is denied. Mitsu dealership are incentivised to void warranties reject claims. It happened to me.
With BMW, when you go in for any service, the techs TRY to find problems because they are incentivised to do so. Corporate pays the dealers to fix problems, and techs get rewarded based on how many problems they find. They fix stuff you didn't even know was an issue for free. That makes a lot of owners perceive BMW as having a high defect rate since cars that come in for a oil change might end up staying for 2-3 days to fix other stuff, but the same issues exist in other cars that just get ignored. And they give you an upgraded loaners, so its not big deal.

Then there's performance. On paper and around a track, both cars perform pretty similarly. The 335 has better top end, while the evo is better in the corners, but over-all its pretty even. But with the Evo, you KNOW you're in a performance car. The engine noise and bad gearing, the wind and road noise, the responsiveness and feedback through the wheel, pedals, and seat... it's really engaging, if your into that stuff. If not, it'll be annoying. The BMW is totally different. You can go fast and not notice it. When I first got my 335 I was used to the sensation you get from the Evo at about 80mph.... I didn't realize i set the cruise control at 115mph because it felt slow compared to what the evo felt like.
To sum that up, the evo is more fun to drive when you're trying to have fun, but more annoying when you're just going about your day. The BMW is a lot more comfortable, but feels a little more numb. But they still perform about the same

If your into status symbols, then you're a tool but the BMW is probably for you. But expect people to look down on you if they're in a slow MB or Audi, since 'its just yet another bmw'. The evo is more rare, so it has that going for you. If you're considering any of this, stop and re-evaluate the way you look at the world

If you're only looking at new cars, the 335 also costs a lot more. You can get a used 2009 loaded CPO 335 for about the same price as a new GSR. You'll have to do some hunting to find a 5speed with the options you want, though. Also be picky about the car's history and see how long it's been in the shop! BMW keeps crazy records, so it should be easy to get a full history report

Yea, so TLDR version:
AWD - Evo
Reliability - Tie, but...
Dealer/Warranty - BMW
Performance - Tie
Driving Experience - Evo
Daily Driving Experience - BMW
Image - BMW
Price - Evo

it all comes down to what's more important to you

 

IMO: fit and finish and pomp and circumstance is better with the BMW
raw performance and interactivity with actually driving is better with the Evo.

On one route, performance isn't priority, cost is excessive for accessories, and most people think highly of it (sort of like an iPhone)

On the other, you'll feel more involved with your car at the cost of being less hip. But at least the people you talk to will also laugh about all the rattles and new noises you get.


Good luck with your decision.

 

I have the same issue. X or M3. I might get the X and play with it for a while and then get a M3.

 

I test drove the 335Xdrive before selecting the MR. For me it came down to the fun factor when driving (the Evo feels so much more tossable than the 335). I also wanted to avoid the image associated with a BMW (prefer stealth wealth). So far, I am loving the Evo. So much fun, so many mod options, and rare to see another on the road (as opposed to the sea of BMW's and Audis).

 

Geees really....

Anyway you might will find the BMW more confortable( not in my experince with the 2011 3series)

And the Evo more entertaining.

For you the question is since you are young: looking nerdy or cool. Lol

 

When I got rid of the VIII, I was thinking about buying a new 335 or waiting for an M3. But I was 21 at the time.. and when I thought of a 21 year old driving a new BMW, all I could think of was a pompous ******* parading around in a car that their parents bought them trying to look cool and show off their money.

That might not be what everyone thinks of when they see a younger person in a Beemer, but I kind of do. And I knew that I would be taking a step back in terms of performance too, so I went with a brand new X. Never looked back and SOOO happy I got back in an Evo..

 

I think thing this sums it up pretty well. It's all opinion and what you think you would enjoy most out of a car.

 

+1

A young kid in a BMW is gonna be thought of as "rich kid who has parents to buy them anything". A young kid in an Evo will get the same thoughts from a gearhead but from the normal public, they wont know that it is anything special except they might call you a ricer.

 

I had to make the same choice about 8mos. ago and the test drive told me all I needed to know. (EVO)

 

On the reliability front, "German engineering" has been just about at the bottom of the charts in recent times, with the exception of Porsche, not to mention the cost when something does break. I was surprised to see all the German manufacturers (minus Porsche) behind all the American manufacturers. It surprised me, the stereotypical perception I had was German cars never broke, but when they did they cost a fortune and were a pain to fix. American cars always broke, but were cheap and simple to fix. Times are a-changing I guess!

 

I own both a '08 335i and a '11 Evo GSR.

For 90% of my driving, I prefer driving the 335i.. its quiet, its comfy, it's still fast.. for those raw having fun blast driving times, I have the Evo.

The technology and features of the 335i (mine's fully loaded) just blow the Evo's features out of the water. But again, the Evo is not a luxury feature-rich machine.

I can honestly say i'll probably buy a newer BMW after i've had my fun in the Evo.

 

What "technology and features" does the BMW have fully loaded that the Evo doesn't that is so amazing?

 

It's obvious you're in defense mode for the Evo. Have you owned a late model BMW?