2015 BMW 3-series driven
Andrew English
THERE’S a defensiveness when I ask about the main changes for this mid-cycle revamp of BMW’s sixth-generation 3-series. New bumpers is motoring journalists’ shorthand for a completely pointless revision, aimed at parting customers from hard-earned cash (or fleet allocation) much like selling kids away-football strips for their favourite teams.
“But it’s a sportier looking car,” whined Christian Voigt, product manager of BMW’s 3-series, explaining that the new air intakes, LED headlamps and grille accentuate the width and low stance without a single change in the sheet metal. Well, make your own mind up, there.
It’s equally small beer in the cabin, but more noticeable even if one of the highlighted changes is a new lid for the cup holders. There’s cogency about the design improvements, however, particularly the chromium highlights and ambient lighting.
The engines are mostly new and from BMW’s family of modular units displacing 500cc per piston. The 3-series gets the three-cylinder engine from the Mini in the starter model 318i, there are also mighty diesels such as the 308bhp/464lb ft 335d £40,330 range topper.
Such cars are academic, though, when in the all-important fleets, the only models sold are 2.0-litre diesels, either the 187bhp/295lb ft 320d at £29,785, or the 320D ED Plus, which emits 99g/km of CO2, delivers 72.4mpg in the Combined cycle and costs £30,485. Arriving next year will be a plug-in hybrid offering 49g/km CO2 output and 22 miles of electric-only driving.
You might have expected those diesels to muster among the cars offered for us to drive at the Munich-based launch, but no. Instead we were offered the £38,125 340i, a 326bhp, straight-six cylinder, petrol-powered road burner with the new twin-scroll turbocharger and water-to-water intercooling giving 326bhp, 41.5mpg and a claimed faster throttle response. Nice spec, but it’ll be as rare as hen’s teeth in the UK.
Suspension changes for the new car are subtle, but significant, with new rebound springs in the dampers and a five-bolt (that’s one extra) fixing for the strengthened top mounts of the front MacPherson struts. Springs and damper settings are titivated and the bypass valve in the optional adaptive dynamics package has been heavily revised.
Our car was an automatic (£1,690) and came with BMW’s variable steering system (£290) and adaptive M-Sport suspension (£750), which adapts damping effort depending on driving style and conditions, much in the manner of the new Ferrari 488GTB. It was shod on Michelin Pilot Super-Sport tyres.
In the cabin you will search in vain for raised moulding marks or poor material choices. BMW’s surface changes are muted, accurate and attractive in an utterly business-like way. You can pick from myriad trim options; one car had a veneered wood finish with an edging like an old-fashioned card table, another a matt black raw ash that looked just like plastic packaging.
Finding a right driving position is a matter of seconds as the seat adjusts up and down and steering for reach and rake. Views out are comprehensive and while you can’t tell exactly where the car’s corners are, the size shrinks around you as you move off.
The seats are soft and shaped around the driver; they hold you up in the corners without shouting boy racer. They’re also comfortable apart from the over-curved upper segment which pushes your shoulders forward.
There’s an implied contract with the driver here – not to bother you when you are busy. So there are separate buttons to individually switch off potentially annoying driver-assistance items such as lane-change warning and the different suspension settings can be easily changed via a separate button on the centre console – similarly the traction control.
BMW has been into the realms of the ludicrous with its gearbox and driver programs in the past (M5 anybody?), but these days it has settled on four basic suspension/steering/engine/transmission settings of EcoPro, Comfort, Sport and Sport +, that last option is where everything is set fast and firm, and there’s a little tail out action for drivers who like going sideways.
With Munich roads paved in cherub skins, the worst the wheels had to cope with were bridge expansion joints, which they did with disdain. The engine is addictive in its forceful wail under full throttle, and in its lovely gathering-storm performance and highly refined motorway cruising.
Unrestricted autobahns tempted a 155mph top speed run where the 340i was immaculately stable and the loudest sound was the fuel tank emptying. Entering the Bavarian Alps, the impression was that if the 5-series is the ultimate tourer in BMW’s armoury, the 3-series has a slimness of fit, and a fitness of purpose that makes it the ultimate driver’s car, at least in BMW’s lexicon. Neither too big or small, there’s litheness about the handling and excellent ride that makes it feel like a serious piece of kit.
Yet it was the Alpine roads which showed that BMW’s endless search for better steering is not yet concluded – although BMW engineers also blamed the Michelin tyres. The variable system has poor on-centre feel and a peculiar weight build up a few degrees into the turn, which becomes less as you turn further and then builds again as the side loads increase. This is a really peculiar sensation and almost as bad was a slight shimmy from the middle of the car when the front wheels had turned in.
The Sport setting is much the worse in this respect, with an unpleasantly heavy steering weight which has nothing to do with side loads being applied. And since parts of Bavaria are experiencing what might be best described as a shocker of a summer, pretty soon rain had made the road surface slippery. And it was here that the steering’s isolation failed to give any confidence at the wheel and generally inhibited even gently brisk driving. While going slowly in the rain is generally a good idea, you always felt that the car was more secure than the controls were telling you.
As ever with BMW there’s a truly great car trying to escape from its specification and options sheet. Just a shame this 340i wasn’t not one of them. Jaguar’s XE can’t match the BMW for braking, or possibly even outright grip, and it isn’t as luxurious, economical or classy, but in my opinion it’s a far better drive. -Telegraph.co.uk