Any time. Any place
3-series estate owns every road. By Ben Barry
‘Probably the best car in the world, but we’ll have to drive it in the UK to be sure!’ If it’s often true, it’s also a road-test cop-out that must irk many readers. So the best news: I’ve lived with the 330i Touring for four months now, driven it only in the UK and it’s damn good.
Those road-test cop-outs usually refer to how a car rides nicely on smooth European roads, but might fare less well on the UK’s artillery-shelled network. Well, the 330i Touring is in M Sport trim with 19-inch alloys and adaptive dampers, and there is a firmness versus my last-gen 440i long-term test car, and some unnecessary chop if you go so far as Sport mode, never mind Sport Plus, but in Comfort I’ve no complaints.
The upside is sharper handling compared to the already very good previous model, because BMW went all out to fend off upstarts like the Jaguar XE and Alfa Romeo Giulia. The steering feels sharper, the body better managed as it settles in to a curve where the 440i would briefly topple, and because you can now spec a limited-slip diff, the rear end is more precise if you give it a bootful from slower corners.
I’d sacrifice some of the impressive 34.5mpg that the 2.0-litre turbo four managed this month for more performance and refinement, but a 340i is significantly pricier (it starts above £50k as a Touring) plus the punchiest four-cylinder turbo is smooth and quick enough for the most part. The Touring doesn’t sparkle over a great road like the Renault Megane Trophy I recently handed back, but I enjoy driving it very much, and then it swallows all our luggage and shopping and gives the whole family the space, comfort and technology we need like few performance cars could.
An Audi RS6 would ace the lot for loads more cash, but it’s that sweet spot again, and the more I live with it, the more I realise a 330i Touring hits it – no matter where you drive it.