New 3 series Touring - your thoughts?

[ukross]

Good evening all - first post on the BMW forum.

Having been over the other side in an Audi tdi for a while, it's now time to start looking at BMWs again. The new job has thrown up an intertsing option car-wise. Fleet manager would love me to take a a new-shape 318i touring with a couple of thousand on the clock:

Black 318 Touring, manaual, 17" wheels, colour screen sat nav, sports steering wheel. I have to admit I really love the look and spec of it.

I'm currently in an A6 1.9tdi at the mo and keen to find out what is the 318i like to drive? Performance adequate? Also I need and ave of 36 MPG to breakeven on the milage allowance - possibly without driving like a nun?

Your views would be most welcome.

[anonymous-user]

Although the "straight six or die" fraternity tend to look down their noses at the 4-pots the latest 2 litre valvetronic 318 engine is very good indeed. No, you won't be competing with the Starship Enterprise in acceleration but the engine is wonderfully driveable at real world speeds. Also extremely smooth.

BMW claim high mpg figures for the 318 cars but that's not easy to achieve in normal driving. The 3-Touring is quite a heavy car and the laws of physics say it takes a fair amount of energy to accelerate that mass, however modest the engine. I have a strong suspicion that 320d would be a lot more frugal than 318i.

Despite Audi's improved standing over recent years I would expect the BMW to be a nicer drive in the twisties. On a motorway you pay your money and take your choice. The BMW tourings are great cars.

Model: 318i ES Touring
Price: £21,645
Fuel: Petrol
CO2 tax: 23% (26%)
Engine size: 1995cc
EU4: Yes
Fuel consumption: 37.2 (34.9) mpg
0-62mph: 10.4 (11.4) seconds

Model: 318d ES Touring
Price: £24,015
Fuel: Diesel
CO2 tax: 21%
Engine size: 1995cc
EU4: Yes
Fuel consumption: 48.7 mpg
0-62mph: 10.9 seconds

As you can see the diesel range in fact starts with a 318 too and it's massively more economical on fuel. (Figures in brackets are for automatic gearbox)

Model: 320d ES Touring
Price: £25,135
Fuel: Diesel
CO2 tax: 21% (26%)
Engine size: 1995cc
EU4: Yes
Fuel consumption: 47.9 (40.9) mpg
0-62mph: 8.6 (8.8) seconds

And the 320 diesel has much better performance with similar mpg and tax bracket. Well worth the extra £1,000.

[gazzab]

would say that you WONT get that sort of MPG unless you sit on motorway at 2.5K revs constant!

[ukross]

Thanks for the info.

I tried it today and really just couldn't get on with it. Maybe I have become used ot the diesel way of driving but the thing just felt bloody gutless. In order to get any sort of meaningful acceleration I had to drop 2 cogs and really rev it quite hard, and even then it was still sluggish - not my cup of team at all.

I've seen that he does have an old shape 330d knocking around as well though - might give that a run tomorrow and see

[MattOz]

The 318 will feel flat. It's not a bad car, but it's not brilliant either. Try the E46 330d and see what you think.

Matt

[Zod]

I'm looking at a new shape 320d Touring for the wife. I've had them twice as courtesy cars recently and have been impressed at how hard they pull and how unslow they feel. I had to get used to the initial slow pick up followed by the surge and at the narrow rev band (hit the limiter a couple of times, becasue I'm used to a redline at over 8000).