3000km in a new 3-series
Do great adventures come in threes? We find out with an epic Kiwi road trip in BMW’s new 330i, write Damien O’Carroll and David Linklater.
An all-new BMW 3-series is a big deal, but can Germany’s most famous compact-sedan cope with Kiwi roads? We introduce the latest Three to Kiwi roads with an epic trip: three drivers cover 3000km in three days in the 330i. Did you know that there’s a ‘‘4 o’clock’’ in the morning? I didn’t. I am not a morning person.
Yet, here I am heading out of Auckland in an excitingly blue BMW 330i at just that time, with the intention of driving the long way to Wellington before the end of the day.
However, the ridiculous hour does allow me to try out some of the car’s clever tech.
The headlight system essentially moulds the illumination around other road users, giving full visibility without dazzling anybody.
The powerful LEDs do an amazing job down a foggy SH2 as I do my best to get past Tauranga before 7am and beat rush-hour.
I fail, having taken too much time getting early morning pictures . . . but getting stuck in traffic is exactly where the BMW’s driver-assist tech comes in handy.
Setting the 330i’s active cruise control gives you a choice of the standard radar-assisted setup, or the Driving Assistant that also handles the bulk of the steering (you have to keep hold of the wheel though).
It’s a stress-free way to cover highway distances, but even more impressive in heavy stop/start traffic.
As the roads get more winding, I take over again, because the 3-series is an electrifying thing to chuck at a demanding b-road. Belting the 330i along SH2 between O¯ po¯ tiki and Gisborne is a near-religious experience.
We talked about the new dampers in the 3-series in our report from the global launch in Portugal. But the ‘‘damper within a damper’’ system is an amazingly good thing on Kiwi roads. At speed through corners, nothing upsets it.
One seemingly innocuous corner turns into a gnarly combination of broken/sunken seal that would have sent most cars skittering across the white line, but the 330i was totally unfussed.