BMW HAS SIX APPEAL!
BMW’s 3-series is the ‘bread and butter’ premium family car that underpins the success of the German manufacturer in Britain and around the world. And with the holiday season in full swing, the 3-series Touring estate adds practicality to the range’s superb driving characteristics.
Getting behind the wheel ahead of the first deliveries in september, I find it an engaging, no-nonsense, practical, comfortable, and clever piece of engineering that’s great fun to drive.
This is the sixth generation 3-series Touring which came to life in 1987 after a BMW engineer took an anglegrinder to a standard saloon. Bosses liked what they saw and the rest is history, with more than 1.7 million sales worldwide, of which the previous model accounts for 500,000 alone.
With the new range, starting at £35,235 for the 2-litre, 4-cylinder 320d diesel, BMW aims to continue the UK sales batting average of around 10,000 a year
in a tough segment where it will take on Audi’s A4 Avant and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class estate.
It’s evolution rather than revolution, with familiar but sharper lines; the Touring is a bit longer (by 76mm), wider (16mm) and higher (11mm), with a longer wheelbase and stiffer chassis, yet it weighs 10kg less than its predecessor. There are four trim levels. The 320d and 318d Tourings have six-speed manual gearboxes as standard, with eight-speed automatic options. On German roads and derestricted Autobahns I drove the 330d xDrive (from £43,065).
Its silky smooth, quiet, but punchy 3-litre, 6-cylinder 265hp engine can take you from rest to 62mph in 5.4 seconds up to 155mph. But it will still manage up to a claimed 52.3mpg, with the 2-litre 318d’s consumption at up to 65.7mpg, so there’s still a place for clean diesel for families who want to save on fuel costs.
‘Acoustic glass’ keeps the noise down. The steering wheel is chunky and the interior smart and sporty. But the real practicality is the boot, where clever, non-slip rails — expanding it by 1,000 litres by flipping down the rear seats — help stop cargo slipping around.