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

Road Test: Citroen DS3 Racing

Price as tested: €30,495

+ Fun, high quality, gorgeous
– Bit pricey, other than that not much
= Other may be purist but the DS3 is more fun

In a motoring world where convention is king (“I’ll have that in silver please, with black upholstery” is the phrase most often heard in Irish dealerships) it is refreshing, like zesty mineral water on a hot day, to drive something a bit naughty.

And naughty is not often a word that you would apply to Citroen. Quirky? Yes. Comfortable? Absolutely. But naughty? Not so much. That kind of changed when the little DS3 hatch was introduced. Take the chassis and engines from a C3, add a healthy measure of the kind of appealing styling and sporty driving experience that has made the Mini such a storming success, garnish with a sprinkle of the DS badge magic, shake over ice and pour... It’s been a storming success in Europe (albeit much, much less so in Ireland) and is a sharp-edged competitor to the Anglo-German hatch.

The Racing is all of the same ingredients, with about a quart of Wasabi added to the mixture. It takes the 150bhp DSport model as its basis, cranks the (BMW-sourced) 1.6-litre petrol turbo engine up to 204bhp, adds a chassis tweaked and balanced by the sorcerers at Citroen Rally Sport (which has utterly dominated the World Rally Championship in recent years) and served it up as a grey-and-blinding-orange, €32k playzone.

There are few things better in life than a quick, well-balanced hot hatch and the DS3 Racing is certainly not going to upset that assertion. It gives you all the performance you could reasonably ask for, unless you are a track-day junkie, yet it remains practical, spacious and comfortable enough for everyday driving.

Aside from the damage to your retinas that the paintjob will cause, the most abiding memory you will take from driving the Racing is the performance of its engine. And oddly enough, not because it is savagely powerful but because it seems so unassuming.

That’s a strange thing to say about a hopped-up turbo job, but it’s true. There is so little turbo lag and the power is delivered so linearly that you start to doubt, just a little that it really has its advertised power output. Its other significant rival, the RenaultSport Clio 200, has a similar grunt figure but it’s all delivered, in one mad dash, at the top of the power band, making it more exciting in extremis than that Citroen, but maddening and frustrating at all other times. The Racing, with its diesel-like low-down shove, is much more accessible, and yes, I consider that a good thing.

It’ll still do the 0-100kmh dash in 6.5secs (hardly blistering I know, but it feels pretty rapid in a car this compact) and will run on to a top speed of 235kmh (given space and legality, of course). Yet its fuel consumption is reasonable claimed 6.4-litres per 100km, which you should be able to match, or at least get close to, in real world driving.

It’s the chassis, rather surprisingly, that feels unruly and naughty. Normally, cars tweaked by motorsport departments are set up for cold, clinical apex-annihilation. Racers want cars that go as quick as possible, even if the quickest way sometimes looks and feels the slowest. The DS3 Racing, rather pleasingly, eschews this for a more on-the-edge feel. It’s not really anywhere near the limits of its abilities on the public road, it just likes to make you think that it is. It does this through steering that feels a touch ragged, with a nibble of torque steer at the edges, and handling that washes surprisingly quickly into understeer. Now, technically, this is not good, but it is enjoyable as you feel as if you’re really pressing on when in reality, you’re actually just cruising. A classic case of being better by appearing worse.

What I particularly like about the DS3 (in all its forms) is the way it really nails the static quality side of things. Renault’s hot Clio is all business-like plain plastics and underwhelming styling, preferring you to concentrate on the chassis and engine. Which is fine if you’re lapping the Nurburgring, but not so good if you’re stuck in traffic on the Wellpark Road, casting around the cabin for something nice to look at. The DS3’s funky exterior styling, its high-quality cabin (yes, in a Citroen) and its decent rear space and boot mark it out as a car that gets the true ownership essentials right.

So, it’s not a paragon of hot hatch handling, or even grunt for that matter. A Mini Cooper S Works offers (slightly) more power, a RenaultSport Clio has sharper steering and handling and, frankly, a VW Golf GTI has the lot licked for all-round appeal. But, like an engagingly naughty child, the DS3 Racing’s character shines through, and in a world of grey cars, that is truly something to be happy about.


Facts & Figures

Citroen DS3 Racing
Price as tested: €32,990
Range price: €17,490 to €32,990
Capacity: 1,598cc
Power: 204bhp
Torque: 275Nm
Top speed: 220kmh
0-100kmh: 6.5sec
Economy: 5.4l-100km (44.1mpg)
CO2 emissions: 149g/km
VRT Band: C. €330 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star; 87% adult, 71% child, 35% pedestrian, 83% safety assist

Road Test: Land Rover Range Rover Evoque SD4 4x4 Pure

Price as tested: €40,975

In brief: Stunning to look at, excellent to drive and amazingly capable off-road. Hard to see it being anything other than a hit, but it’s not as affordable as it seems.


Well, this is odd. When your brain hears the words Range Rover it still expects to see a towering two-tonne hunk of metal, clambering over rocks and gorges before depositing its tuxedo-wearing occupants at the nearest five-star hotel. You expect big.

You do not expect to see something roughly Golf-sized (or Golf Plus at any rate), that fits neatly within the confines of a standard car parking space and whose roofline doesn’t extend above your eyeline.

But then the Range Rover Evoque is a very different kind of Range Rover, and truly is a turning point for Land Rover as a whole. Before Evoque, Land Rovers were are, obviously, directly descended from the go-anywhere Maurice Wilks original. Post Evoque, the brand is going to be more about watching its Co2 figures and keeping physical bloat well and truly under control.

The Evoque shares much, mechanically, with the current Land Rover Freelander and will be built in the same factory in Liverpool. But while it’s related, clearly there has been some serious re-engineering work going on under the skin. For a start, there’s the Co2 figure, surely the most important co2 rating that Land Rover will ever release. Pick our four-wheel-drive, 190bhp test car and you’ll emit 149g/km and pay €302 a year in road tax. Compared to the previous lowest Land Rover figure, the 158g/km emitted by the front-drive Freelander.

But wait, coming very soon is a 150bhp front-drive Evoque, whose Co2-figure will be good enough for a Band B, €156 road tax rating. Now that is a breakthrough for the Land Rover and Range Rover brands. Who can accuse the Evoque of being a Chelsea Tractor, even if you’ll need the reticence of a saint to match the claimed fuel consumption figure.

But while it might not be a gas-guzzler, is it still a proper Land Rover? Well, yes and no was what I assumed would be the predictably complicated answer. It looks the part. It might be small, but Gerry McGovern’s design team has succeeded in grafting on all of the appropriate Range Rover styling cues, especially the big, castellated bonnet. It also looks great, to these eyes anyway (better in five-door form than as a more-expensive coupe); a curiously enticing combination of bijou but battle-hardened. Like a Chihuahua with an assault rifle.

Inside, it marks the best Land Rover cabin since the 2002 Range Rover. Gone are the too-cheap main dials of the Discovery and Range Rover Sport, and gone too are the acres of tinny grey plastic that blight the Freelander. However much was down to the involvement of Victoria Beckham (hired by Land Rover as a ‘design consultant’ for the Evoque’s cabin) is debatable, but it’s a success in here. Excellent cabin quality is backed up by understatedly fashionable design and a surprising (given that sloping roofline) amount of space. Love the sculpted leather seats (best seen in a natural tan finish) and the main dials that glow cherry red in Dynamic mode. Love too the surround camera system (whose front cameras dip beneath the waves when wading through standing water) and the simple, clear control layout. Hate (well, maybe hate is slightly too strong) the fiddly, annoying touch-screen infotainment system. A big override button would be useful here, Land Rover. Still, it’s a very impressive cabin that doesn’t sacrifice practicality on the altar of  style. Thanks, Posh.

To drive, you won’t be surprised if I tell you it feels much like a Freelander (no bad thing) but better. The steering is surprisingly light, and while the Evoque can be hustled very satisfyingly down a twisting road, you are always aware of a slight numbness to the steering (even in Dynamic mode, with the optional adaptive suspension set to firm) and it makes the already broad-shouldered Evoque feel wider still. There’s also a slight sense of disconnect between the sportily firm ride quality and that finger-light steering. So, while you can feel the hand of Jaguar’s legendary chassis engineer, Mike Cross, as you drive (in fact, it feels surprisingly like the original Toyota RAV4; agile, chuckable, fun) there is an unmissable sense that the Evoque’s dynamic ability has been compromised by the need for fuel-saving electric power steering. In that sense, it isn’t the first, it won’t be the last and it’s certainly not the worst.

Actually, it felt much better in the last version we got to try. In order, we drove a 2.0 turbo petrol Coupe automatic, a 190bhp diesel coupe automatic and, finally, a 190bhp diesel manual five-door. Perhaps it’s down to the weight distribution, or possibly the fact that you’re more in command of the drivetrain, but the manual diesel felt the best balanced of the three.

But can it off-road? Oh buy, can it. Land Rover was doubtlessly carefully controlling the loose surfaces and off-road sections we got to drive the Evoque on, but it climbed and crossed incredibly tough terrain. It will doubtless be stymied by the sort of deep mud and jagged rocks that a bigger Defender or Discovery would surmount, but that is hardly a shame for a car that can trace its chassis roots to the Ford Mondeo. It is in fact startling capable (assuming that you select a four-wheel drive model, of course), even shrugging off the accidental removal of some under-bumper trim on a too-enthusiastically tackled stretch. Ahem.

In town, it feels most at home and that is hardly surprising. SUVs are most commonly used in town, and the substantially female audience that Land Rover is looking to attract with the Evoque is predominantly urbanite. But even in town, in the middle of Liverpool (the Evoque’s home; it’s built in Land Rover’s Halewood plant just outside the Scouse City) Land Rover couldn’t resist demonstrating the Evoque’s urban assault capability. And so, we nosed the Evoque ito a foot-and-a-half of murky brown water inside a 3km disused railway tunnel that runs under the city. It was full of water, mud, slime, rubble and dirt and yet the pretty, urbane, concept-car-look Evoque pushed effortlessly through it all. Perhaps city councils could consider it as a potential congestion-saving measure and open up such tunnels for intra-urban commuting. Land Rovers only allowed.

However, we do have one or two issues and the first is with the pricing structure. €40k for a 150bhp 4WD ‘Pure’ model sounds good, but it’s pretty bare of decent equipment. True, the front-drive model will be cheaper still, but effectively the Evoque is going to be a €50k car if you want yours to have Range Rover appropriate equipment levels. And that is going to make life hard for the Evoque, as it pushes the price above that of an equivalent (but larger) BMW X3, BMW 5 Series Touring, Audi Q5, Mercedes E-Class Estate and many, many more. The Range Rover connection means that, even at €50k, it’s still a bargain compared to full-size RR models, but this is a pricey trinket, be in no doubt.

But a proper Land Rover? Yes, it is, just not as we know it thus far. It’s not a Defender descendant. It’s the start of something entirely new.


Facts & Figures

Land Rover Range Rover Evoque TD4 190 4x4 Pure 5-door
Price as tested: €40,975
Price range: €TBA to €66,920
Capacity: 2,179cc
Power: 190bhp
Torque: 420Nm
Top speed: 200kmh
0-100kmh: 10.0sec
Economy: 5.7l-100km (49.6mpg)
CO2 emissions: 149g/km
Road Tax Band: C €302
Euro NCAP rating: Not yet tested