http://motoring.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=604155&host=32&dir=1091
Excerpt:
... the new Three is a little calmer, to avoid alienating its ownership aspirants. ... It's almost attractive, even if the rear lights do look as if created by a Japanese or Korean designer to mimic a true BMW's.
The front three-quarter view is the best, showing the unique face and the wedgy stance. The concavity on the flanks, below the ridge that runs through the door handles, is broad at the front and tapers to nothing above the rear wheel arch; you need the right reflections to pick it out. But is there one ridge too many at the aft end, the one that continues from the waistline into the rear wing? Under the glare of spotlights it seems cluttered, but out in the open it makes sense. Long in the bonnet, short in the tail, with the front wheels pushed well forward, the new 3-series has as authentic a BMW stance as you can get.
There's good space for four (unlike in the 1-series, whose underpinnings the Three broadly shares), although five is a squeeze because the edges of the rear seat's backrest curve forward a lot to help the comfort of the intended two occupants. The boot is bigger, too, but that's mainly because there's no spare wheel.
BMW has embraced aluminium in the current 5-series, but the 3-series has no such exoticism except in parts of the suspension and subframes.
Can the latest car live up to this heady past? It can. On a racetrack, the 330i revs with a typically BMW silken ease, its exhaust note a metallic blare and its handling balance impeccable. (It won't let you blip the accelerator for a smooth downshift under heavy braking, when the car is about to trigger its anti-lock system, but the engineers have promised to fix that.) Out on the road, it rides smoothly for a car with such crisp responses, and the Active Steering is easy to get used to. Acceleration from a standstill to 62mph takes 6.3 seconds, incidentally, and the price without options will be £28,455.
There's just one dynamic flaw, a tendency to follow road cambers on a bumpy road at speed, which also afflicts the non-Active, and also rapid, 320d. The steering wheel tugs in your hand and sometimes feels as though working against friction; the suspension engineer told me it was the price paid for the precise handling. If so, fair enough, because it's a while since I've driven a saloon as intimate, as invigorating, as "flingable" as this one.
The Ultimate Driving Machine? Certainly. Straight in at number one, and this time there's no doubt. Sales start in March.
Excerpt:
... the new Three is a little calmer, to avoid alienating its ownership aspirants. ... It's almost attractive, even if the rear lights do look as if created by a Japanese or Korean designer to mimic a true BMW's.
The front three-quarter view is the best, showing the unique face and the wedgy stance. The concavity on the flanks, below the ridge that runs through the door handles, is broad at the front and tapers to nothing above the rear wheel arch; you need the right reflections to pick it out. But is there one ridge too many at the aft end, the one that continues from the waistline into the rear wing? Under the glare of spotlights it seems cluttered, but out in the open it makes sense. Long in the bonnet, short in the tail, with the front wheels pushed well forward, the new 3-series has as authentic a BMW stance as you can get.
There's good space for four (unlike in the 1-series, whose underpinnings the Three broadly shares), although five is a squeeze because the edges of the rear seat's backrest curve forward a lot to help the comfort of the intended two occupants. The boot is bigger, too, but that's mainly because there's no spare wheel.
BMW has embraced aluminium in the current 5-series, but the 3-series has no such exoticism except in parts of the suspension and subframes.
Can the latest car live up to this heady past? It can. On a racetrack, the 330i revs with a typically BMW silken ease, its exhaust note a metallic blare and its handling balance impeccable. (It won't let you blip the accelerator for a smooth downshift under heavy braking, when the car is about to trigger its anti-lock system, but the engineers have promised to fix that.) Out on the road, it rides smoothly for a car with such crisp responses, and the Active Steering is easy to get used to. Acceleration from a standstill to 62mph takes 6.3 seconds, incidentally, and the price without options will be £28,455.
There's just one dynamic flaw, a tendency to follow road cambers on a bumpy road at speed, which also afflicts the non-Active, and also rapid, 320d. The steering wheel tugs in your hand and sometimes feels as though working against friction; the suspension engineer told me it was the price paid for the precise handling. If so, fair enough, because it's a while since I've driven a saloon as intimate, as invigorating, as "flingable" as this one.
The Ultimate Driving Machine? Certainly. Straight in at number one, and this time there's no doubt. Sales start in March.