2013 BMW 320d Reviews

BMW promises the 3 Series GT mixes all the practicality of the touring with the sharp handling and sleek styling of the saloon.

Can the BMW 320d compete with the legendary E30 M3 in a drag race?

Doctor Frankenstein could not have done a better job on the new BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo. The family hatch with the 3 Series tag is more like a 5 Series in the body, more like a 7 Series in the cabin, and has - just quietly - more than a touch of Saab 9000 in the tail.It's also got frameless doors like a Subaru Impreza, a giant hatchback tail similar to a Ford Mondeo, and a pop-up rear spoiler that reminds me of a Porsche Cayman.And the styling? Well, even the Carsguide fans of the car admit it has a pregnant paunch, while others suggest it just looks butt ugly. If this sounds a bit confused or confusing, or a bit mix-and-match, it's not. It's monstrously good for anyone with a young family who craves the boot space of a wagon, the flexibility of a hatch, and the driving enjoyment of a 3 Series.I think the GT is an even better drive than a regular 3 Series and it's a car I would recommend to friends. It's definitely a leap forward from BMW's first GT, the over-hyped and under-done 5 Series model. As many as 500 Australian families are expected to choose a 3 GT for their next car, or around 10 per cent of total 3 Series deliveries.And it could easily mean the end of the Touring wagon down under. “We've had a bigger reaction to this car than we expected. It's got more interest than anything else recently,” says Tom Noble, head of marketing at BMW Australia. “It's one of those cars that people go, 'What's this then?' It's already working better for us than the 5 Series GT.”VALUEWould you pay more than $9000 over a 3 Series sedan to get a GT? That's what BMW is asking, even though it says the compensation comes with more equipment and a car that is majorly bigger than a four-door Three. The starting price for a 320i GT is $69,599, against $58,600 for a 320i four-door, rising to $71,800 for the 320d and $76,500 for the 328i Gran Turismo.The package includes an eight-speed automatic gearbox, a full suite of safety equipment, leather in the cabin, great aircon and a big infotainment display, as well as the electric assists you expect in a prestige car. As usual now at BMW, the specification choices are Modern, Luxury and Sport, but you can also spend big on things like M equipment and customised cabin pieces.“There is more specification in the car than the standard 3 Series sedan, and you've got more functionality and more space. And there is more metal in the car,” says Noble. “I think there is good value in it, because I don't think you get that combination in anything else. To put all those bits and pieces together, to get it to work, that's where the value is. I don't know if anyone else could build a car like that and get it to drive the way it does”.TECHNOLOGYThe Gran Turismo is predictably BMW in the raft of electronics inside the cabin and under the body, but the real technology is in building the body. The car is so different from a regular Three that it comes down the 5 Series assembly line in Germany, where they apply finishing touches that include a back end with everything from 520 to 1600 litres of storage, a big storage bin under the boot floor, an electric tailgate, rear-view camera and more.I'm not convinced by the 'active' rear spoiler, which only rises from the tail at 110km/h and can hardly make much difference at legal Australian speeds. The GT still comes with runflat tyres that have been despised by the Carsguide crew, although these latest Continentals are easily the best I've tried - even on 19-inch alloys. All three models come with stop-start.DESIGNThe GT wears a 3 Series badge but it shares very few panels with the sedan. In fact, it could be just the boot, as even the front guards pick up an extractor vent to cut drag, and the roof, frameless doors, and everything in the tail is new. The proportions of the car are somewhat, well, stretched. And not always in a good way, despite the curvy coupe-style roofline. There is a lot of bulk around the tail, although it's needed to package a car that is a full 200 millimetres longer than the 3 Series sedan and also 81 millimetres taller. The best thing is the 110mm stretch to the wheelbase that means rear legroom to trump a 7 Series and a more compliant feel to the ride.Inside, the rear seats are set slightly higher in the latest 'theatre' style for a better view, and they obviously split and fold - 40:20:40 in this case - to maximise the choices for carrying, as well as offering a slight recline.SAFETYWe have no reason to question the competence of a car that's almost an automatic 5-star NCAP car. There are six airbags, ESP and ABS, an active crash-preparation system, dynamic braking lights that vary their intensity in a panic stop and automatic wipers.DRIVINGThe early mail on the Gran Turismo is not promising, based on the bloated back end and driving responses that are more leisurely than we expect from a 3 Series. Then again, the latest Three is being smashed in showrooms and was easily trumped by the Benz C-Class in our last prestige comparison.So it's time for a fresh look and some family time, which quickly highlights the advantages of the GT. The boot really is huge, there is great space for a four-year-old in the back seat, and the car is comfy and quiet.On some nasty, bumpy roads in northern NSW - not recommended in the BMW drive route - the GT is surprisingly compliant and enjoyable. I'm spoiled a little by starting in the 328i, which makes 180 kiloWatts of turbo power with 350 Newton metres of torque from its force-fed four, but time in the 320i with 'only' 135/270 shows the same pattern.It's not a car to hustle or fuss, but the extra length between the wheels makes it more stable and the suspension settings are firm but not too sporty. It's also nicely quiet, although there is more tyre thrum in the 320, and well equipped with a punchy sound system. But I'm disappointed not to find a digital speedo readout and - horror of horrors - there is no wiper on the giant rear window, which means zero visibility until you're moving fast enough for airflow to clean the glass. After time with the 5 Series GT, which is a car I'm happy to forget, the new 3 is a pleasant surprise and definitely suitable for nuclear family work. The boot is a treat, there is lots of flexibility in the cabin and storage, and I'd take it every time ahead of the Touring wagon.It's nothing like an M3, but sales of SUVs prove there are lots of people who put families ahead of fun. And the GT is definitely better than an SUV to drive, with a boot that even beats an X3 or any of BMW's rivals. I had come to the 3 Series GT expecting to be disappointed, but find myself surprisingly happy with the car. It could have been created by Frankenstein, but it's not a monster.VERDICTThe best of both worlds, once you look beyond the bloated body.BMW 3 Series GTPrice: from $69,500Warranty: 3 years/unlimited kmResale: New modelService interval: determined by onboard computerSafety: 6 airbags, ABS, ESP etcCrash rating: 5 stars (estimate)Engines: 2-litre petrol turbo, 135kW/270Nm; 2-litre turbodiesel, 135kW/380Nm; 2-litre turbo petrol, 180kW/350Nm.Transmission: 8-speed auto, RWDThirst: 4.9-6.5L/100km, 129-151g/km CO2Dimensions: 4.82m (L), 1.82m (W), 1.50m (H)Weight: from 1560kgSpare: none

Carsguide will next week head to South Australia to drive BMW's new 3 Series Touring. OK, the wagon is a marginal seller in this part of the world, but it’s been 13 months since the sedan lobbed and that’s quite a wait for a family friendly car that promises to be a good thing.Carsguide has just driven BMW's new 3 Series Gran Turismo, a car that redefines marginal. And mongrelised. Not a sedan, not a wagon, not a hatch, not a coupe, not an SUV - though it has elements of all - the so-called GT is coming our way in late June.    VALUESeldom has this question been so much in the eye of the beholder. You might consider that you're getting three cars for the price of one. Equally you could see it as too much money for not enough of anything.BMW is yet to finalise GT prices beyond saying it will come at premium on the wagon, which in turn is priced above the sedan. That means a price range of $70,000 to $76,000.Aside from Audi's A5 Sportback (a reinvention of the elongated lift back style which was also popular on the last Mazda6) there are no direct rivals, which says something in itself.While the GT ought, at that premium, to provide more, it provides only difference. Four cylinder engines and trim choices mirror the rest of the 3 Series range. The Sport line package - a monochrome interior partially enlivened by silver accents - is most popular. An M-Sport kit comes in late in the year with big wheels and sports suspension.Likewise the 320i with its fast but frugal turbo petrol engine. Yet that was not available to drive in Palermo. The X3 SUV, which has the GT's elevated driving position and storage uncompromised by a whimsical shape, starts at $59,200.The 320i and the diesel 320d open the local batting with the fully tuned 328i lobbing later.Our 3 Series sedans, with the exception of the hybrid, are made in South Africa. The interior quality of these has not impressed. The GT comes from Germany. Would that the proportion were inverse.TECHNOLOGYAs per the 3 Series sedan it’s a tech tour de force with class leading turbo engines and eight speed automatic transmission. The 320i is a case in point, smaller in size than the six cylinder engines for which BMW is famous, but as rapid and more efficient - so much so you wouldn't bother with diesel.Riding on a longer wheelbase version of the wagon platform, the GT requires the same optional enhancements to make it ride decently. It strikes a discordant note that the "sheer driving pleasure" brand no longer comes with an acceptable default setting.DESIGNWe’ve suggested Walter da Silva, the designer of the A5 Coupe was backed over by an outgoing 3 Series Coupe. Certainly its rear end made an impression on him.In designing its belated riposte to the A5 Sportback BMW can't be accused of knocking off anyone else’s work. They've  considered the Audi's appeal and taken the polar opposite approach. It isn't as overwhelmingly ungainly as the 5 Series GT, but that's only because it's a bit smaller.The Gran Turismo is slightly longer and taller than the 3 Series wagon. The front and rear passengers sit higher than those in the sedan but the swooping coupe roof compresses head room. Yet the backseaters can stretch their leg. So again, no real advantage, just a point (and not a very good one) of difference.The tailgate is another of the new wave that responds to a sensor in the proximity key fob. You open it by waving a foot under back end. Great if you're hands are full of shopping or a mountain bike. It's cleverly laid out too with extra under floor storage and space to stow the cargo covers.If only there was more space. Constricted as it is by the funky or fugly shape (take your pick) most self-respecting wagons or SUVs match its load capacity.  You can drop the rear seats, but that's so of any hatchback and doing so means you also drop three passengers. Again, the point is elusive.Are we making too much of this? I don’t think so. The GT demands to be judged on its design. Just as BMW has diluted the driverly virtues that distinguished the 3 Series, the GT suggests they've forgotten what one should look like.The shudder felt on seeing the malformed X6 quasi-SUV now seems premonitory. Far from being a elaborate practical joke that eluded only the Americans who build them and largely buy them, its malign influence has spread. Presumably the 3 Series GT is also aimed at them.Why then build it in right hand drive? Because more models means more sales? Good luck - the Yanks are ignoring the 5 Series GT in the same proportion as Australians. Releasing a new niche variant every five minutes works for Audi because although its entry models aren't much to drive, they look pretty good. At any rate they don’t look like this. The GT falls short on form and function.       SAFETYThe five safety stars earned by the sedan extend to this, although it’s customary to test crash cars by the front end not the back as seems to have occurred here. Indeed, such unfortunate serendipity might explain its shape.Standard is a reversing camera, optional is the full surround camera and head up display.  As ever with BMW there is no spare wheel, only run flat tyres, because driving conditions in Australia apparently mirror those of Germany.DRIVINGOf the available test cars only the diesel 320d is of interest to us. The same engine and transmission runs the 520d, to which we've awarded two stars from five.The 3 Series GT is by no means as poor as the marginally bigger, far heavier and more expensive model, but then it couldn't possibly be. On rutted Sicilian roads, all too like those at home, the GT was no more comfortable than any 3 Series without the expensive addition of M Sports suspension. Eight centimetres might not sound much, but that extra height over the sedan is felt when cornering.Still, it does get closer to behaving as a buyer has very right to expect from a car with this badge. Sending all the drive forces to the rear wheels leaves the front free to steer and this simple formula, of which BMW remains one of the few remaining practitioners, works in the form of fluency on back roads and a tight turning circle in town.The eight speed auto isn't easily caught out. It's almost always in the right gear, plucking the optimum from a great, grunty engine that is exceptionally refined and at its best doing highway cruising speed If you associate diesels with coarse agricultural devices, think again. You really ought to drive the 320d next to a 320i.But in another model line perhaps, because if you associate 3 Series with great driving and graceful design, this is not the 3 Series for you.VERDICTBuy the 3 Series wagon or X3 SUV. Or an Audi A5 Sportback.BMW 320D GTPrice: From $70,000Warranty: 3 years/100,00kmCapped servicing: NoResale: N/AService interval: 12 months/15,000kmSafety: 5 starsEngine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo diesel; 135kW/380NmTransmission: Eight-speed auto; RWDThirst: 5.8L/100kmDimensions: 4.8m (L); 1.48m (h); 1.8m (w)Weight: 1540kgSpare: none