3 Series (G20) [Official] BMW 3 Series (G20)

[Deleted member 1071]

I will not mark it as "old" as it was posted earlier because indeed this car is the development model for the Alpina B3.

"OAL" Landkreis Ostallgäu registration plates the telltale sign.

 

[chonkoa]

If all you want are facts then what is the point of having journalists? All you need are the car brochures.

Journalists having subjective opinions is fine. It's when total clown shoes mistake that opinion for FACT.

You do make a very valid point.

 

[hovabongZA]

 

[Frankie G]

@mods, now that first drives are out should we have a driven thread or just post content here?

 

[nikola1984]

 

[DocM]

Lot's of reviews pouring in. The European car journalist seem the agree that the steering remains sub-par whereas the Americans have given it some praise. Both agree that the car feels stiffer and that the 4 cylinder turbo remains uninspired.
Another missed opportunity by BMW or a somewhat decent return to form? Hard to tell.

 

[Serpens]

Lot's of reviews pouring in. The European car journalist seem the agree that the steering remains sub-par whereas the Americans have given it some praise. Both agree that the car feels stiffer and that the 4 cylinder turbo remains uninspired.
Another missed opportunity by BMW or a somewhat decent return to form? Hard to tell.

And two reviews I just read criticized the quality of plastic in the interior compared to the C-class while also mentioning some of the exterior design elements remind them of the Lexus IS. I was shocked to hear about the interior but I do suppose people are going to be very critical when it comes to a car like this.

2019 BMW 3-Series First Drive: Doing Everything, To Its Detriment
2019 BMW 3 Series first drive review: Comeback kid

 

[bmwblog]

As always, hard to please everyone. Listen, the car is good, way better than F30 in all aspects. The M340i is a beast, the 330i is your normal city sedan which will sell like crazy. The customer for that 320d and 330i will care more about the tech and premium quality, than any of that steering input and road feedback.

The car has very few shortcomings, subjectively also, but it will do well. The E90, E30, E46 times are gone.

 

[hoffmeister_fan]

Read the Jalop review...the only negatives were the silver plastic trim masqerading as Alu and the broken record-like bemoaning regarding a lack of manual transmission. Steering has improved from F30 era but it's best to keep it in Sports mode. I'd link the article, but since linking doesn't work, I am notgoing to bother.

To me, it'd be between a 330i, a Giulia Ti, and the new V60.

 

[Merc1]

The reviews are not coming in like I thought they would.

M

 

[Der Hofmeister]

I am tired of this plethora of M Sport or High-Gloss Black trims, present on mostly any new BMW presented in press photos. The cars are OK, nonetheless, but this trend is very tiring. I would have chosen a Luxury Line model instead of the Sport Line for the press reviews. It simply looks better.

At the same time, I don't get it why the M340i was camouflaged. Would they do a new press drive in the future with the M340i uncamouflaged?

 

[Tarek]

The C has a better quality interior, the A4 has a better tech and Guilia drives better? i certainly didn't expect that. I expected that car to totally annihilate the others.

 

[martinbo]

The C has a better quality interior, the A4 has a better tech and Guilia drives better? i certainly didn't expect that. I expected that car to totally annihilate the others.

That's not an all-encompassing summation of the myriad of opinions published recently. One can easily cherry-pick the statements which support one's preferences or biases. Here, I'll have a go:

But climb aboard and we were astonished at the cabin refinement BMW has built in here – an acoustic windscreen and odd-looking foam-filled window shut covers are standard-fit on all 3 Series’, and do a fabulous job of keeping unwanted noise out of the car.

Its chassis, of course, is top-drawer, but it’s one of the new wave of BMW products that don’t feel as heavy-set as the previous car. The steering is lighter in resistance, but also far sharper and that makes it easier to place on the road. Munich claims up to 55kg of weight has been shed, and this coupled with nimbler control weights lends the new 3-series a new-found agility.

Once you’ve factored in the 50:50 weight distribution, even this 320d diesel mpg-hero is an entertaining steer. In this sense it’s more akin to an Alfa Giulia than either of the 3’s German rivals, placing it right towards the top of the handling class.

Is the BMW 330i any better to drive?
In a word, yes. It’s a lighter lump, meaning it feels dartier, and of course it sounds far better than the Derv above. It’s still no creamy six-pot, but instead BMW’s mapped in some four-banger theatrics in the shape of pops and bangs on the over-run. It has a relatively linear power delivery for a turbo motor, and actually sounds pretty interesting – particularly in the Sport drive mode that winds up engine and gearbox responses.

What’s the BMW M340i xDrive like?
While the rest of the range we’ve tried so far has impressed us in a not-too-unexpected manner, our six laps in the M340i xDrive prototype around Portimao had us wondering which organs we really cared most about.

You see, this model is billed as an answer to the Audi S4 and Mercedes-AMG C 43 4Matic, but our initial go suggested it’s a step above both of those cars. The M340i uses an M Sport diff that employs similar software logic to the M5, and adaptive dampers that can tighten-up at the front on turn-in, ushering the rear end into play despite its xDrive AWD system.

In quicker corners the same character remains, and while you might expect you’re glad of the headroom afforded by some front-wheel intervention, actually the gait exhibited by the 3 in this scenario inspires confidence to push. In this application, xDrive easily trumps current Quattro and 4Matic.

It’s a much quieter, smarter and more interesting place to be than ever, getting better as you climb rungs on the spec ladder.

We thought the seats were excellent in both adjustment and support, going a small distance towards mitigating against the harsh ride, and clearly there’s been renewed focus on the fit-and-finish in there too. We predict some head-scratching at Audi while they try to figure out how to fire back…

 

[martinbo]

Some more positive "vibes"...

The 320d doesn't need BMW’s familiar M Sport suspension modifications to handle really well, with a balance and precision that few of its rivals can touch. There is greater immediacy and incisiveness about its cornering manners than the ‘F30’ managed – although deliberately not quite as much as you might find in an Alfa Romeo Giulia. BMW was quite plainly keen to produce a steering rack with good on-centre stability, a clear sense of tactile load and with linear handling response as you add lock – all of which it has very successfully delivered.

The new 3 Series is therefore at once easy, enjoyable and really engaging to drive quickly. It’s also a car with an apparent though entirely palatable compromise on ride comfort, however. It rides quite firmly: not coarsely, harshly or awkwardly, but with a slight but recurrent sense of over-excitement over smaller lumps and bumps, and a businesslike vigour over bigger ones. Impatient might be the best word for it; fiddly, perhaps, at its worst. Over most surfaces I dare say it won’t bother the majority of 3 Series regulars one jot – though it’ll take a good drive on UK roads before we can declare that with any certainty.

There's always the 3 Series' optional adaptively damped suspension, on which we have yet to try it at all on the road, but which is quite likely to be able to make the car more comfortable-riding when you want it to be. Still, I imagine the newly sharpened cutting edge of the 3 Series’ handling appeal will be recompense enough for the vast majority of returning customers - especially given they’ll also be getting a car with a more rich, sophisticated and accommodating cabin than they’re used to here. One with some very impressive infotainment features, too, and with engines every bit as strong and relatively appealing as ever they have been.

They'll be getting a car, in other words, that looks more likely than any all-new 3 Series I've ever driven (fair enough, this is only my third) to make its rivals seem dull-handling, slow and one-dimensional when the opportunity for a back-to-back comparison presents. And, by the way, between the delicate-handling Alfa Giulia, the dynamically gifted Jaguar XE, the popular and luxurious Mercedes C-Class, the smart and refined Audi A4 and the all-new and promising Volvo S60, they're a much better bunch of rivals than I've even known any 3 Series to have - so that's quite a compliment.

Whether they like it or not, those returning customers will also be getting a bigger 3 Series, of course. One, to these eyes at least, without the perfection of design proportion the BMW has shown in the past; but whose size seems to leave the driving experience entirely unencumbered. Bigger or not, 'revisionist' or otherwise, this car just keeps getting better where it's really expected to deliver: on the road.

BMW 3 Series 320d Sport 2019 review | Autocar

I'm more and more convinced that I'll opt - once more - for a 320d Sport Line for business use.

 

[martinbo]

Reading up on more of the reviews, one thing which always interests me the most is the advancement in the ride & handling dynamics department.

It's become clear to me that given the greater difference in suspension stiffness between the standard and M-Sport setup, I will say select the M-Sport option at your peril if live in a place with less-than-smooth roads.
If the F30 M-Sport on 19" wheels and passive damping was too firm on SA then I can't imagine how the new G20 will fare. Supposedly, the standard, passive lift-dampening suspension is already a step up in firmness so that's probably where the best compromise in the ride/handling trade-off will lie should you not wish to opt for the extra expense of adaptive shocks.

So, in terms of vehicle dynamics, I predict that the G20 will be even more spec-sensitive than the F30; unfortunately, for reasons of image, M-Sport is by far the most prevalent trim (at least for F30s down here) and will continue to be for the G20. The sad thing is that, without being properly forewarned of the implications of the M-Sport option, unsuspecting (and totally non-hardcore drivers) customers will end up with, what they perceive as a luxury car, with a less than luxurious ride.

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

So ride quality has deteriorated?

 

[Mars1965]

Reading up on more of the reviews, one thing which always interests me the most is the advancement in the ride & handling dynamics department.

It's become clear to me that given the greater difference in suspension stiffness between the standard and M-Sport setup, I will say select the M-Sport option at your peril if live in a place with less-than-smoot...

You can have the adaptive sport suspension.

 

[martinbo]

So ride quality has deteriorated?

Wellll, y'see here's the problem - that word "quality" has its own subjectivity...
So, no, at this stage there is no way of answering that question in any way amounting to more than pure speculation.

 

[martinbo]

You can have the adaptive sport suspension.

Well, yes, but adaptive only to an extent - the primary spring rates are still fixed.

 

[hovabongZA]

It seems like all the cars they tested didn’t have adaptive suspension besides the M340i they tested on track. So it remains to be seen how the G20 with AS will ride. This is going to be a spec sensitive car and you can have it how you want it, but as a BMW fan I’m happy that the basic suspension leans towards sportiness than comfort.