BMW 3 Series 2010 Review - International

BMW 3 Series facelift

We liked
>> Astonishingly frugal Efficient Dynamics Edition
>> Crunching-yet-sophisticated TwinPower engine
>> BMW finally gets [non-M] gearshift paddles right

Not so much
>> Minimal visual changes
>> Ride still overly firm
>> Steering not yet back to BMW's best

Overall rating: 4.0/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 4.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 3.5/5.0
Safety: 3.5/5.0
Behind the wheel: 4.5/5.0
X-factor: 4.0/5.0

About our ratings

BMW has book-ended a raft of upgrades to its heart-and-soul 3 Series with a thumping new engine for the range-topping 335i and an incredibly frugal turbodiesel for the base 320d.

While the modifications to all those models in between might seem relatively minor (the design department, in particular, barely sharpened a pencil) and logical, the steps at either end of the scale are enough to make the whole range feel like it's back on the charge.

The arrival of the bullock-strong, sweet-spinning 400Nm TwinPower six into the 335i spells the end (at least for full-line BMWs) of the short-lived but much-loved twin-turbo version. The sacrifice is worth it. Couple this engine -- powerful enough to headline even the 7 Series and 5 Series GT -- with a seven-speed double-clutch gearbox and you've got an entire driveline of toys with which to play.

It's an engine that seems deliberately named to mislead people into believing it has two turbochargers -- just like the engine it replaces -- but it doesn't. Instead, it uses a variable geometry twin-scroll single turbocharger, direct fuel-injection and variable valve-timing and lift to generate its 225kW of power. Its peak torque arrives at only 1200rpm and it uses 8 per cent less fuel than its predecessor.

At the other end of the performance scale is the 320d Efficient Dynamics Edition, whose focus is so heavily oriented towards frugality that BMW expects it to swallow half of all 320d buyers in some countries. And, unusually (thanks to the UK's heavy 320d consumption), it will be available in right-hand drive from the off.

While at 120kW it's 15kW down on the standard 320d (itself no guzzler with a 4.7L/100km claim), its power peak arrives 500 revs sooner at 3500rpm (and stays until 4200). If that sounds like a negative, consider that mid-range torque is more critical in this style of car and its 360Nm of torque is near-identical to the 320d. And though that might arrive on both cars at 1750rpm, the 320d ED holds it 250rpm longer to 3000rpm, all of which promises a pretty broad performance spread.

BMW claims the new 320d ED will pull 4.1L/100km on the combined cycle, but we achieved a much better result than that. We were trying, for sure, but the 3.5L/100km we registered (at an 80km/h average on rural German roads) is attainable with a bit of focus.

But it's not what it does. It's how it does it. The new four-cylinder turbodiesel 320 doesn't actually ask you do to anything new as a driver to achieve its numbers. Instead, it refines every piece of nuanced BMW eco tech in one place, including low-resistance run-flat rubber, adjustable aero flaps, a 0.26 drag coefficient, energy regeneration under brakes and a disconnecting aircon compressor.

Besides refining its existing principals, the ED version has a couple of significant tricks up its sleeve, including a dual-mass flywheel, but it's the trick new pendulum system that makes the difference. The ED feels a lot like a normal 320d until you get too optimistic in pulling a higher gear without enough revs on board. And then nothing happens. There's no juddering, no vibrations and the car doesn't send you any of the usual messages that highlight your ineptitude. It stays smooth and the same odd thing happens as soon as you swing it up to cruising speed.

When you lift your foot to dial into cruise mode on the highway, the pendulum wobbles inside the new flywheel at the back of the engine and the four-cylinder, turbodiesel suddenly gets a lot calmer.

This effectively makes the flywheel heavier, maintaining the engine's momentum, but it also smooths out all the low-rpm tremors, encouraging you to hold tall gears longer and at lower revs... So low that we were cruising in sixth gear at 800rpm with no ill effects regards noise, vibration or harshness. It's a lot like driving down a long, shallow hill when you're actually on a flat road.

If the Efficient Dynamics edition 3 Series is the eco warrior, the road warrior is up at the other end of the range. With the TwinPower straight six and thumping torque from everywhere, the 335Ci has become something of an 'M3 Lite'.

It has a combination of sheer urge and engine note (something that begins with a smoothly gruff idle and continues to build in anger with each degree of throttle travel until it's howling and roaring for blood) that makes you wonder why you really need any more 3 Series than this.

With 306 horsepower (225kW) and 1525kg (DIN), it's going to go, no matter what else you do to it, but it's also been beefed up with 400Nm of torque from 1200rpm. Yep --1200rpm! That's roughly 450rpm above the idle point, and if that seems like a recipe for a car that will punch hard from anywhere, in any gear, any time you want it to, then you're right.

You don't sacrifice much to the M3. You could argue that 5.5 seconds to 100km/h might be slower, but is offset by a 6.3L/100km combined consumption rate.

The fact that it's also running the seven-speed double clutch gearbox doesn't hurt, either (largely because BMW's new system now copies M's left-down, right-up paddle system).

The gearbox is so slick, so fast and so easy to use that you change gears for the noise (that cracks on upshifts and blips and burbles on downshifts), not the performance.

BMW claims a new springing system inside the coupe's dampers maintains sportiness but improves the ride quality, but we didn't actually find that, even though we were in bump-free Bavaria. For us, it was still a bit choppy on low-amplitude bumps, especially from the front end. We'll revisit the car when it's back on summer tyres.

It barely matters, though, because with a gearbox this slick stuck to the back of an engine this smoothly brutal, all wrapped in the 3 Series Coupe's still-slinky body, it's a hard combination to go past.

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