Road Test: BMW 320d SE Touring

Price as tested: €51,930

+ Style, chassis, practicality, comfort, economy, performance; everything really
– Engine too noisy around town. That's it.
= As close to perfection as currently mechanically possible.



They. They are omnipresent. They are all-knowing. They are the They who show up in every pub conversation, They are the true and all-seeing know-alls of the universe. You know, the They in "They say that..."

Well, They say that perfection is unattainable in nature. To which I say, well, what about Scarlett Johansson? And perhaps more pertinently for a motoring website, what about the new BMW 3 Series Touring?

Now, perfection is a dangerous word for any critic to use. It essentially paints you into a corner, as if this thing here is perfect, then what about the next thing, which may be even better again. Do we need to have a graduated system of perfection? A Johansson scale, as it were?

BMW's mighty 3 Series has always been pretty high up the scale of perfection, certainly since the iconic E30 version of the 1980s and the current F30 3 Series is for my money the best one ever. It manages to combine traditional BMW virtues of style, agility and an entertaining driving experience with a level of comfort and refinement that few other cars, indeed few other BMWs, can match.

And here's the Touring version, the estate, which really and truly pushes all my buttons. Now, I know many of you still dismiss estates as Brewery Rep's cars and you'd all rather be seen in your trendy compact SUVs. To which I say, good luck to you and enjoy the fuel bills. I'll be happy in my wagon.

To turn the regular 3 Series into a Touring, BMW has really been doing its homework. The expected separate opening glass rear window, a feature pioneered by the original E30 Touring, is there as ever, while the main tailgate is now electrically powered as standard. A shame that; electric 'gates are just an annoyance in my book. Why not just offer it as a no-cost option? Still, the boot once open is large (495-litres, which BMW claims is a best-in-class figure), square and luxuriously carpeted. The sill is just 620mm off the ground the the standard stainless steel scuff plate should keep dings and scratches in the paint work down to a minimum.

The rear seats split into three 40:20:40 sections and if you fold everything flat, there's 1,500-litres of load space. Practical, then.

Up front, it looks and feels the same as any 3 Series, which is to say really rather wonderful. I've heard complaints from some quarters that the cabin looks too plain or too similar to the previous E90 3 Series, but to that I say just take a long journey in one. Then, when you've noticed the spot-on driving position, the comfy seats, the space, the clear dials and the general air of purposefulness, get back to me.

Sufficient eulogies to the brilliance of the 181bhp 2.0-litre turbo diesel engine found herein have been written that future archaeologists will be forced to conclude that there was at one time a church that deified a Munich-built oil-burning engine, so it's enough here to say that it remains powerful, smooth and very efficient. Thanks to the now-expected battery of EfficientDynamics technologies, you should easily enough be able to match the claimed 5.1-litres per 100km fuel consumtion figure, That's mid-fifties in MPG, and I managed low forties bombing around with the sport setting on the gearbox activated. Select the Eco Pro mode and you should do better still.

If there is a chink in the armour of perfection though, it's in the engine. Simply put, refinement is not quite all it should be. On the main road, at a cruise, it's fine, blending seamlessly into the background. But around town, especially from cold, and it just growls and gurgles a bit too much, an effect heightened by the otherwise excellent 8-speed automatic transmission, which tends to hunt around for cogs at low speeds.

Still, if that's enough to put you off then you'll never sample the 320d's greatest party trick. In the past, BMWs would always wow you with sharp steering, iron-fisted body control and an entertaining attitude to wet roundabouts, but then punish you when the road got bumpy, something that got progressively worse from 2002 onwards when the runflat tyre systems arrived. Now though, you'll be pitching your 3 Series down a favourite back road, revelling in the steering and chassis balance when a traditional Irish pothole will appear. You'll brace yourself for the impact, getting your wince face ready and then... nothing. The car will glide over the cratered surface as if it isn't there. Wonderful.

And that, to me at any rate, is why the 3 Touring flirts so closely with perfection. It's that combination of talents, that blending into one of sports car, family car and practical holdall. You can drop the kids to school, clean out the garage and go for an invigorating spin on a challenging road, all in one morning, all without changing cars.

Perfect? Not quite, but probably as close as They will allow.

BMW 320d SE Touring
Price as tested: €51,930
Range price: €36,620 to €52,120
Capacity: 1,995cc
Power: 181bhp
Torque: 560Nm
Top speed: 250kmh
0-100kmh: 5.6sec
Economy: 5.1-100km (55.4mpg)
CO2 emissions: 135g/km
Tax Band: B. €225 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star; 95% adult, 84% child, 78% pedestrian, 86% safety assist

Road Test: BMW 320d EfficientDynamics

Price as tested: €40,200

Chassis, steering, economy, performance, space, image
– Plain styling, pricey
= Just about as good a car as it’s possible to buy

I’ve said before that reviewing a new BMW 3 Series, especially a diesel one, is a bit like reviewing a monster Hollywood blockbuster (possibly featuring monsters). I could sit here and say that it's the worst pile of dreck ever committed to celluloid, but thousands of you would still go and pay the price of a ticket. Don’t believe me? Look at the Transformers trilogy. Worst damn films ever made, and they took a bundle of bundles at the box office.

It’s very much the same with the new 3 Series. If I were to tell you that I thought it an utterly worthless, dreadful insult to the legacies of Henry Ford, Wilhelm Hoffmeister and Preston Tucker combined, would you care? No, you wouldn’t. You’d still want one and a black 320d with biscuit leather upholstery would still be the most searched-for car on Carzone.ie.

And tempting as it would be to play out this little game and to scream from a height the inadequacies of the new 3 Series, I just can’t. Because it basically has none. It’s achingly close to perfect.

This is the EfficientDynamics version which, for a price, brings with it a whole new world of being able to enjoy driving your car without your conscience being pricked.

It uses the same 2.0-litre diesel engine as the standard 320d, but its power is reduced from 184bhp to 163bhp. Torque remains the same at a very healthy 380Nm, but the key to the ED’s performance is in its emissions and consumption figures. A few years ago, 109g/km of Co2 was an emissions figure that only a Toyota Prius could claim. Now, you can have a slinky, sexy German sports saloon that does the same.

And it’s fuel consumption is just as remarkable. BMW claims a scarcely believable 4.0l/100km (68.9mpg) on the combined cycle, but frankly, it’s a hard figure to dispute. Put it this way; over a hard-driven, twisty test route, taken mostly in third and fourth gear, I averaged 5.3l/100km (53mpg). Turn off the aircon, keep your right foot light and I reckon that claimed figure is within reach.

Of course, efficiency is all well and good, but what about the desirability that has traditionally been the preserve of the German sports saloon? Well, it’s present and correct, but with a caveat or two.

The new 3 looks smart, and I do like that split around the edge of the headlamps and the beginning of the kidney grille; it looks as if the car is trying to show off a Terminator-style endo-skeleton. But the rest of the styling seems a bit plain. In fact, from dead-side on, you’d be hard pressed to tell it from the old 3 Series.

It is longer, wider and more spacious than before though. So spacious in the rear, that I reckon it’s about a match for rear seats space with the old E60 5 Series. The boot’s big too, if a trifle shallow.

Up front, there are lovely soft-touch surfaces and the usual beautifully clear and elegant dials. The seats are very comfy, but on our manual gearbox test car, the pedals were noticeably offset to the right. There is also the slight problem that the fascia looks too similar to that of the smaller, cheaper 1 Series. You can get around this a bit with careful speccing and colour choices; just avoid the plain black and grey of our car’s cabin.

To drive? Well, it’s about as good as you’d expect. Toggle the electronic Drive Performance Control to Comfort and it’s almost too soft, allowing a little too much body lean and wobble. Best kept for long motorway miles or town work, that one. Hit Sport and it feels like a proper 3 Series again; taut, communicative steering (the best electric system we’ve yet tried), perfect body control and yet a ride quality that, while firm, at last succeeds in absorbing the worst tendencies of Irish roads. Mind you, that was on the 16” wheels (with high profile tyres) of our test car. Don’t expect an M-Sport 320d on 18”s to ride with the same equanimity. The third setting for the DPC system is Eco Pro, which dials back throttle response and other items to maximise economy. Clever stuff, that.

Let’s talk about price though. Our ED test car lists at €40,200. That seems to be getting dangerously close to 520d price levels, especially when you start adding options. Leather trim, for instance, costs a whopping €1,700 (yet is standard on a 5 Series). Fair enough, BMW’s people were at pains to make the  point that basic specs have actually improved and if you drove off the lot with just the standard car, you would still have a very respectable equipment level. That may be true but the options list remains a corridor of pain. Worth pointing out though that the most basic 316d ES costs just €35,600, which does seem like quite a lot of car for the money.

As I said when we came in, reviewing a new 3 Series is more or less pointless. You’re going to love it and covet it whether I reckon it’s crap or not. And while I do think that there are some things that need improvement (check out what gorgeous styling inside and out Volvo can provide you with for the same price, for instance) there isn’t much point in me saying much else other than... pass the popcorn, please.

Facts & Figures

BMW 320d EfficientDynamics
Price: €40,200
Range price: €35,600 to €61,110
Capacity: 1,995cc
Power: 163bhp
Torque: 380Nm
Top speed: 230kmh
0-100kmh: 8.1sec
Economy: 4.1l-100km (68.9mpg)
CO2 emissions: 109g/km
Tax Band: A. €160 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: Not yet tested