Tcdoe
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2004
- Messages
- 286
F30 320dA
F30 320dA
BMW 320dA Modern Line (F30)
Just like LastSoul here, I too had a go in the F30 320d. BMW's have always been close to my heart and I've owned a few of them, so after driving this winter with the Polo (in which you can't turn the ESP completely off) I've started to re-evaluate my options. Plus I was just curious about the new 3er.
I was none too excited about the looks of it after seeing photos of it online for the first time. I'm happy to say that it does look a lot better in person, especially the front end. I guess that's been the trend with new BMW's for a while now, they take some getting used to. What also struck me in-the-metal was the size of it. It feels bigger than its predecessor.
It's the same when you start driving it too. It feels more like a five, maybe even a bit like a seven. It is sufficiently nimble in roundabouts and city traffic, but it did lean quite a bit while cornering. What I felt was missing was the dynamic driving feel characteristic of the 3 series. No matter how basic spec a 3er is, they've always had an underlying sense of sportiness. You know what I'm talking about, the classic rwd-BMW handling. To be fair this was the Modern Line spec so the Sport Line chassis would probably be better in this respect. Also, the car had studless (proper) winter tires in 16" size (albeit runflats). Making sudden steering inputs I could feel the rear end of the car following with a bit of a delay. I wasn't that happy with the handling or steering feel, but tires are admittedly a big part of the equation.
As this was a Modern Line car, it had a light beige interior with the optional leather seats and unlacquered "rough cut" wood trim. Other than the plastic feel of the wood trim it was a genuinely nice place to be. The interior quality was just as good as expected. A lot of gadgets on these cars nowadays. I could probably have spent the entire hour of the test drive just exploring the iDrive. I really liked the Owner's handbook in the iDrive (as demonstrated by saabkyle04 here), a feature I hope will become a standard of the industry later. I spent some time trying the different modes (Sport+, Sport, Comfort, Traction, Eco Pro IIRC), but I didn't notice any huge differences between them on such a short test drive. Sport+ did allow the rear end to slide around a bit, but nowhere enough to have fun. For that you still need to turn DSC completely off, which you fortunately are allowed to do.
On to the engine then. I didn't have a lot of expectations of the engine, since a two litre turbodiesel is rarely a recipe for excitement and joy. In that respect, I guess it was as good as it gets. The 184hp rated engine pulls well in most situations and accelerates the car from 0-62mph in under 8 seconds. That's pretty decent for an auto and a car which is still pretty basic spec. It should definitely please the average company car leaser, who I believe most of the people driving these will be. The engine is perfectly fine and the performance is really good when taking the consumption into account, BUT a 4 cylinder diesel just doesn't feel sporty despite the good acceleration. No surprise there.
The gearbox was the all new 8 (!) speed automatic. I was quite impressed with it. Compared to the DSG in my Polo, the shifts felt almost as fast. As it's a regular auto it was a lot more comfortable and sophisticated while cruising than the DSG. Of course, if you wanna go you still have to switch over to Sport or Manual mode, since the kickdown is just too slow to react. Anyway, I have no issues with the gearbox.
Up until this point, I was really pleased. At this point I had reached halfway mark of my test drive. I was planning to pull over to take a few photos. I was on a snowy back road (covered with gravel in the summer) and pulled over in a junction with totally flat ground (Street view)and no more than 5 centimeters (two inches) of snow. Keep in mind that I've driven some ten winters and most of them with rwd BMW's and on studless winter tires meant for the Nordic climate (not allseasons). I thought I'd move the car just a bit for the photos. Stick it in D and the car doesn't move. Wtf, ok I'll reverse a bit then. Still nothing. Ah, excellent opportunity to try out all the different modes available, I thought. The one called "Traction" is after all meant for this kind of situation, but still no movement. I tried rocking the car back and forth with D and R but it just wouldn't move at all. I stopped a few passing cars to ask if they knew of any sand containers nearby (people often set up these near intersections on these country roads that can be tricky in the winter). No help, ran to a nearby house and got sand and a helper there (Thanks again if you'd happen to be reading!). By that time I was late for returning the car, so I only snapped a few (crap) pics without checking the settings on the camera. All the exterior shots in this post are from when I was stuck.
As I said, I've driven many winters with BMW's and I find it very hard to believe any of my former cars would've gotten stuck in such a ridiculous spot. This incident did leave a bad taste in my mouth. Sure, this may have been that rare situation where studded tires would've helped me or maybe this particular spot was just diabolically slippery compared to the rest of the road, but still some blame has to go to the car (it's never the driver, right?).
Summary: As an all-rounder, it's a pretty darn good car, but if you appreciate sporty characteristics, you'd better go for a petrol and the Sport Line. Then again the car I drove SHOULD be pretty damn good, because it was quite expensive. I didn't see the price tag but according to their website such a car must cost at least 51000?, but then again new BMW's have never been cheap. I still think the car deserves another try, next time with summer tires and a petrol engine.
F30 320dA
BMW 320dA Modern Line (F30)
Just like LastSoul here, I too had a go in the F30 320d. BMW's have always been close to my heart and I've owned a few of them, so after driving this winter with the Polo (in which you can't turn the ESP completely off) I've started to re-evaluate my options. Plus I was just curious about the new 3er.
I was none too excited about the looks of it after seeing photos of it online for the first time. I'm happy to say that it does look a lot better in person, especially the front end. I guess that's been the trend with new BMW's for a while now, they take some getting used to. What also struck me in-the-metal was the size of it. It feels bigger than its predecessor.
It's the same when you start driving it too. It feels more like a five, maybe even a bit like a seven. It is sufficiently nimble in roundabouts and city traffic, but it did lean quite a bit while cornering. What I felt was missing was the dynamic driving feel characteristic of the 3 series. No matter how basic spec a 3er is, they've always had an underlying sense of sportiness. You know what I'm talking about, the classic rwd-BMW handling. To be fair this was the Modern Line spec so the Sport Line chassis would probably be better in this respect. Also, the car had studless (proper) winter tires in 16" size (albeit runflats). Making sudden steering inputs I could feel the rear end of the car following with a bit of a delay. I wasn't that happy with the handling or steering feel, but tires are admittedly a big part of the equation.
As this was a Modern Line car, it had a light beige interior with the optional leather seats and unlacquered "rough cut" wood trim. Other than the plastic feel of the wood trim it was a genuinely nice place to be. The interior quality was just as good as expected. A lot of gadgets on these cars nowadays. I could probably have spent the entire hour of the test drive just exploring the iDrive. I really liked the Owner's handbook in the iDrive (as demonstrated by saabkyle04 here), a feature I hope will become a standard of the industry later. I spent some time trying the different modes (Sport+, Sport, Comfort, Traction, Eco Pro IIRC), but I didn't notice any huge differences between them on such a short test drive. Sport+ did allow the rear end to slide around a bit, but nowhere enough to have fun. For that you still need to turn DSC completely off, which you fortunately are allowed to do.
On to the engine then. I didn't have a lot of expectations of the engine, since a two litre turbodiesel is rarely a recipe for excitement and joy. In that respect, I guess it was as good as it gets. The 184hp rated engine pulls well in most situations and accelerates the car from 0-62mph in under 8 seconds. That's pretty decent for an auto and a car which is still pretty basic spec. It should definitely please the average company car leaser, who I believe most of the people driving these will be. The engine is perfectly fine and the performance is really good when taking the consumption into account, BUT a 4 cylinder diesel just doesn't feel sporty despite the good acceleration. No surprise there.
The gearbox was the all new 8 (!) speed automatic. I was quite impressed with it. Compared to the DSG in my Polo, the shifts felt almost as fast. As it's a regular auto it was a lot more comfortable and sophisticated while cruising than the DSG. Of course, if you wanna go you still have to switch over to Sport or Manual mode, since the kickdown is just too slow to react. Anyway, I have no issues with the gearbox.
Up until this point, I was really pleased. At this point I had reached halfway mark of my test drive. I was planning to pull over to take a few photos. I was on a snowy back road (covered with gravel in the summer) and pulled over in a junction with totally flat ground (Street view)and no more than 5 centimeters (two inches) of snow. Keep in mind that I've driven some ten winters and most of them with rwd BMW's and on studless winter tires meant for the Nordic climate (not allseasons). I thought I'd move the car just a bit for the photos. Stick it in D and the car doesn't move. Wtf, ok I'll reverse a bit then. Still nothing. Ah, excellent opportunity to try out all the different modes available, I thought. The one called "Traction" is after all meant for this kind of situation, but still no movement. I tried rocking the car back and forth with D and R but it just wouldn't move at all. I stopped a few passing cars to ask if they knew of any sand containers nearby (people often set up these near intersections on these country roads that can be tricky in the winter). No help, ran to a nearby house and got sand and a helper there (Thanks again if you'd happen to be reading!). By that time I was late for returning the car, so I only snapped a few (crap) pics without checking the settings on the camera. All the exterior shots in this post are from when I was stuck.
As I said, I've driven many winters with BMW's and I find it very hard to believe any of my former cars would've gotten stuck in such a ridiculous spot. This incident did leave a bad taste in my mouth. Sure, this may have been that rare situation where studded tires would've helped me or maybe this particular spot was just diabolically slippery compared to the rest of the road, but still some blame has to go to the car (it's never the driver, right?).
Summary: As an all-rounder, it's a pretty darn good car, but if you appreciate sporty characteristics, you'd better go for a petrol and the Sport Line. Then again the car I drove SHOULD be pretty damn good, because it was quite expensive. I didn't see the price tag but according to their website such a car must cost at least 51000?, but then again new BMW's have never been cheap. I still think the car deserves another try, next time with summer tires and a petrol engine.
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