BMW 3 Series Problems

BMW's 320i has long been a popular entry-level prestige machine and, with its good looks, build quality, and engineering, it's not hard to see why. European cars often get a reputation for being unreliable when people used to driving basic Japanese cars don't take them for a service or drive them like a farm vehicle. Just like an expensive piece of clothing, or cooking an expensive piece of meat on the BBQ, you need to look after prestige European vehicles more carefully than you do a basic runabout. However, if you do look after them they should be perfectly reliable!

BMW's 3-series has traditionally been a rear-wheel-drive model in Australia, however the current 320Ds come in both RWD but also all-wheel-drive as the 320D xDrive model.

So long as you service it on the dot, change the oil at least every 10,000km or six-months, and drive it with mechanical sympathy the BMW 320D should be a reliable, comfortable, and safe daily driver.

BMW's F30-series 318i is claimed to average 5.4-litres of fuel consumed per-100km, measured on a combined cycle of city and highway driving. This is quite efficient for a large four-door car.

So long as it is serviced on time and looked after well, the BMW 318i can be a great, reliable and enjoyable mode of transport. Although it is no tar-burning supercar the 318i has been known for 30 years as a well-made, pleasant way to get around town. Older second-hand models should have a professional inspection before purchase to make sure they have been serviced regularly and not driven without car, as this can affect the car's long-term reliability.

Trade it in on an M3. Realistically, modifying your 318i is a legal minefield and doesn't really make sense given BMW produce higher-performance models in the 3-series line-up, starting with the 328i and going all the way to the ridiculously fast M3.

BMW offered two 3 Series wagons in 2007, the 320i and the 323i. The list price for the 320i wagon was $65,800; the 323I wagon was $71,500.

Trade it in on an M140 or one of BMW's many performance-oriented models.

While you can theoretically make a 318i faster, you're wasting money - and potentially making your car illegal to drive on the road - when there are faster models available from BMW.

While they've grown physically larger over the last 35 years, BMW's 3-series has been an excellent mid-size car and continues to be. While they aren't cheap they can be optioned from basic transport to luxury runabout, though servicing costs through BMW dealers can be expensive compared to Japanese rivals.

It is paramount to service them on time and look after them by driving sensibly.

The official combined cycle fuel economy of BMW's 318i is 5.4L/100km.