Opon a 1-hour lunch break, my friend Clark Kent invited me to test-drive a loaner car, a white 2011 BMW 328i while his black 05 545i was being serviced at the dealer. I was hoping he would get the new 5, but something told me ahead of time, it would be a 3-Series. Heck, why not… this is BMWs` best handler and is the hottest seller. You all have known me for quite some time and you know I`m a Mercedes fan at heart, from the beginning. I will tell you, I couldn`t wait to get my hands on this car since every journalists in the world literally stands behind the 3-Series as the ultimate handling sedan. That being said, I couldn`t wait to put this car to the test. This is my first review and here is how it went down. I`ll make it short and simple since this is a 2011 model. By now most of us should be familiar with it.
The car looked handsome and clean but the 3-Series (no matter what year) has no emotional feel to the design in my opinion. It seems like it`s dressed in a business suit to do the job, that’s about it. I entered the cabin, the doors closed with a good quality sound. The seats were quit comfortable with very good back support, thigh support was just shy. The quality of the dash was very good (but I still like the C-Class f/l better.) The design and materials were very good,( better than I expected) I like the interior design of the previous 3 better than the new one BTW. It possessed good head and legroom for an entry level luxury sport sedan. This vehicle was loaded with just about every option, Keyless go, I-Drive, 6-speed auto shift, exc… I sampled the I-Drive system and wondered what the heck the journalists are complaining about. It`s so damn easy to use in my opinion. The graphics were impressive to (with the 3-D map display!) My friend reminds me again he only has an hour “we need to start driving”. So I start to drive off. I noticed how firm, tight and accurate the steering is, I told my friend this is very impressive, wow! ( BTW, This is the newest 3-Series I `ve driven so far.) I take it directly on the freeway. The hi-revving 230hp 3.0liter inline 6 is a little sluggish off the line as it has to build revs to get going. Around 3000RPM your off! Before I knew it I was doing 70mph… I must have pissed off a Mazda driver as we both were racing on the acceleration lane to get on the freeway. The engine note was noticeable at this point, and revved quit high. (As a Mercedes fan this is something I am not used to. It almost sounded like something was going to break.) I just told myself at this point “this has to be the closest feel to the previous generation inline-6 M3.” It feels so confident and eager at speeds above 70mph, it just tells you “lets go partner, lets go!!” I did a little F1 zig-zag just to see if the steering was as accurate as it is at 35-40mph. I was really impressed at the feel, the firmness and accuracy was there, even at 70+mph. This is something I look for. This Mazda driver nailed it and was on my tail at 80mph+, so I floored it, hitting 100mph in little time, leaving him completely behind! This rate of speed was absolutely nothing to the 328i. It felt so damn confident and controllable (this is one eager driving partner!)
Further down the road
I take the 3 through some tight turns, the balance was excellent with no plow and minimal under-steer. Body control was very good. This has to do with the placement of the engine as it sits slightly midway behind the front axle, I explained. A little later the hi-speed driving came to close and the brakes did a fantastic job of scrubbing speeds quickly. Thay were very impressive and quit grabby at all speeds.
The ride quality during all this was firm but you were never jarred around in it, even at hi-speeds and some bad roads. This was something I really didn`t expect of the 3-Series.
There were a couple of things that really annoyed me during this test run. First, the turn signal switch. You tap it once at freeway speeds to get about 4 flashes out of it to change lanes. When you make a turn from a stop light for example, you have to hit the turn signal switch twice for it to stay on until you complete the turn. I often made the mistake of hitting it twice because it never stays in place like most other cars. It bothered me quit a bit. Why do you need to over-engineer a signal switch. The second annoyance was pulling the door handle twice just to open the door. Why does BMW need to be so different in these everyday mechanisms? With those niggles aside I really liked the BMW 328i. I really didn`t expect it to be as good as it is. I was impressed at the dynamic footwork and balance the 3-Series as to offer. This is what it`s all about.
Would I recommend the 3-Series? Absolutely! I like it more now than I have in the past.
I just bought a new cell phone and had taken several shots. I was in such a hurry I didn`t save them, My Cell Phone is new btw. I only managed to save two, sorry about that.
The car looked handsome and clean but the 3-Series (no matter what year) has no emotional feel to the design in my opinion. It seems like it`s dressed in a business suit to do the job, that’s about it. I entered the cabin, the doors closed with a good quality sound. The seats were quit comfortable with very good back support, thigh support was just shy. The quality of the dash was very good (but I still like the C-Class f/l better.) The design and materials were very good,( better than I expected) I like the interior design of the previous 3 better than the new one BTW. It possessed good head and legroom for an entry level luxury sport sedan. This vehicle was loaded with just about every option, Keyless go, I-Drive, 6-speed auto shift, exc… I sampled the I-Drive system and wondered what the heck the journalists are complaining about. It`s so damn easy to use in my opinion. The graphics were impressive to (with the 3-D map display!) My friend reminds me again he only has an hour “we need to start driving”. So I start to drive off. I noticed how firm, tight and accurate the steering is, I told my friend this is very impressive, wow! ( BTW, This is the newest 3-Series I `ve driven so far.) I take it directly on the freeway. The hi-revving 230hp 3.0liter inline 6 is a little sluggish off the line as it has to build revs to get going. Around 3000RPM your off! Before I knew it I was doing 70mph… I must have pissed off a Mazda driver as we both were racing on the acceleration lane to get on the freeway. The engine note was noticeable at this point, and revved quit high. (As a Mercedes fan this is something I am not used to. It almost sounded like something was going to break.) I just told myself at this point “this has to be the closest feel to the previous generation inline-6 M3.” It feels so confident and eager at speeds above 70mph, it just tells you “lets go partner, lets go!!” I did a little F1 zig-zag just to see if the steering was as accurate as it is at 35-40mph. I was really impressed at the feel, the firmness and accuracy was there, even at 70+mph. This is something I look for. This Mazda driver nailed it and was on my tail at 80mph+, so I floored it, hitting 100mph in little time, leaving him completely behind! This rate of speed was absolutely nothing to the 328i. It felt so damn confident and controllable (this is one eager driving partner!)
Further down the road
I take the 3 through some tight turns, the balance was excellent with no plow and minimal under-steer. Body control was very good. This has to do with the placement of the engine as it sits slightly midway behind the front axle, I explained. A little later the hi-speed driving came to close and the brakes did a fantastic job of scrubbing speeds quickly. Thay were very impressive and quit grabby at all speeds.
The ride quality during all this was firm but you were never jarred around in it, even at hi-speeds and some bad roads. This was something I really didn`t expect of the 3-Series.
There were a couple of things that really annoyed me during this test run. First, the turn signal switch. You tap it once at freeway speeds to get about 4 flashes out of it to change lanes. When you make a turn from a stop light for example, you have to hit the turn signal switch twice for it to stay on until you complete the turn. I often made the mistake of hitting it twice because it never stays in place like most other cars. It bothered me quit a bit. Why do you need to over-engineer a signal switch. The second annoyance was pulling the door handle twice just to open the door. Why does BMW need to be so different in these everyday mechanisms? With those niggles aside I really liked the BMW 328i. I really didn`t expect it to be as good as it is. I was impressed at the dynamic footwork and balance the 3-Series as to offer. This is what it`s all about.
Would I recommend the 3-Series? Absolutely! I like it more now than I have in the past.
I just bought a new cell phone and had taken several shots. I was in such a hurry I didn`t save them, My Cell Phone is new btw. I only managed to save two, sorry about that.
