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3 series thoughts

  • 27-10-2014 7:15pm
    #1
    Stallingrad
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,226 ✭✭✭


    Just had a 316d for a week and thought I would post my thoughts. It was a base model but with the excellent 8 speed auto. Having read a lot about the 3 series and how it always regarded as the benchmark, and as a lapsed BMW enthusiast I was keen to see how it would measure up.

    Have to say it was a great disappointment. And not because it was the base diesel, then engine in fact was fine, quite punchy in sport mode and very frugal, a bit grumbly at low revs but was quiet and refined at speed.

    It was just that the car was very average. The ergonomics, once BMWs forte, were a bit haphazard. The bulbous steering boss obscured the pathetically small info display in the binnicle, the handbrake was where the armrest should be, the leather steering wheel felt like plastic, the dash had various rattles, the feel of some of the switches was cheap with a poor press action, the iDrive in particular. Road notice was pronounced on coarse surfaces. Coming from a B7 Passat the car felt inferior in quite a few areas, and I kept thinking if I had paid upwards on €10k over a Passat I would feel ripped off. And a lot of the disappointments are not because it is a 316d, the same issues I assume would apply throughout the range.

    Keep in mind I was driving 'normally', not testing the limits of road holding or racing, just driving like 90% of owners would. So ultimate driving dynamics are not of much relevance, but in normal driving there the car was average at best.

    So overall a much overhyped disappointment, and not worth the price premium at all IMO.


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