BMW 330i 2023 Review

To get behind the wheel of the new 2023 BMW 330i you’ll now need $93,400 plus on-road costs.

This is a hefty $10,100 increase over the pre-facelift version, but the story doesn’t end there.

BMW had already applied a number of price rises to the 3 Series range since the G20 generation arrived in 2019, swelling its price by a massive $22,500 from its initial $70,900 plus ORCs launch sticker.

There is more equipment and tech, not to mention the fact the world is a very different place than it was in 2019. But for essentially the same car to undergo a 25 per cent price increase might be difficult to overcome.

Compared to the likes of the Alfa Romeo Giulia Veloce (from $71,950 plus ORCs), Audi A4 45 TFSI (from $75,700 ), Jaguar XE 300 Sport AWD (from $79,825) and Volvo S60 Ultimate B5 (from $66,990), the 330i today looks exceedingly expensive, though the picture is rosier when you look at its main competition, the Mercedes-Benz C 300 (from $93,500).

A five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty is now standard and servicing will cost you $2150 over the first five years/80,000km, though BMW uses condition-based servicing, so the car will let you know when it needs attention based on how it’s been driven.

You might hope that the large price hike would mean that the 2023 BMW 330i is stuffed to the gills with equipment, but that’s sadly not the case.

Not that it’s in any way sparse in standard form, with M Sport seats with lumbar support, a leather-wrapped instrument panel and electrically-operated boot all now included.

This is on top of keyless entry and start, triple-zone climate control, 19-inch alloy wheels, the M Sport Package, leather upholstery, larger M Sport brakes, wireless phone charging and a raft of tech I’ll cover in a moment.

That said, it’s easy for the as-tested cost to balloon further, such as to the $101,800 (plus on-road costs) of our test car.

This is courtesy of the $4800 Visibility Package (metallic paint, sunroof and adaptive LED headlights), $3100 Comfort Package (heated front seats, heating steering wheel and Harman Kardon stereo) and $500 for the M high-gloss Shadowline which turns the grille and tailpipe surrounds black.

Not that the spend ends there, with the $1500 Executive Package (remote engine start, tyre pressure monitoring, acoustic glazing and drive recorder) and the $2800 M Sport Pro Package (M seat belts, rear lip spoiler and extended black exterior trim) also available.

The value equation is made murkier by the fact the significantly more powerful BMW M340i is listed at $104,900 plus ORCs, but includes much of the Visibility and Comfort Packages as standard, narrowing the like-for-like price premium to less than $6000. Curious.

The updated 2023 BMW 330i continues to wear the G20 3 Series’ five-star ANCAP rating from its launch in 2019.

While the goal posts have moved since then, the 3 Series’ scores of 97 per cent for adult occupant protection, 87 per cent for child occupant protection and 87 per cent for pedestrian protection suggest you needn’t worry about its safety credentials.

It does lack the Driving Assistant Professional of the M340i, forgoing semi-autonomous driving capability via stop-and-go function for the cruise control, evasion assistance, lane centring assistance and blind spot collision avoidance.

Nevertheless, it still has lane keep assist and departure warning, forward collision alert, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert keeping a watchful eye on proceedings.

Headlining the upgrades to the facelifted 2023 BMW 330i is the giant curved screen that incorporates the 14.9-inch infotainment display and 12.3-inch digital instruments.

It’s a complex unit with dozens of apps and the ability to alter and adjust every facet of the car.

You can dive as deep as you wish but thankfully on a more superficial level it’s quite easy to navigate and there are a multitude of ways with which to interact with it.

Voice control has been expanded with most functions able to be operated via “Hey BMW, command XYZ”, but there’s also greater touch functionality and happily the rotary controller has been retained as when it’s gone (a la BMW X1) it’s soon missed.

Many will use the Apple CarPlay (wireless) or Android Auto (wired) on a daily basis, and the fact it goes full screen means the icons are nice and large and menus are swiped and tapped through quickly.

The digital instruments are an improvement on BMW’s recent efforts in terms of legibility, with a couple of bar graphs for the tacho and speedo flanking the central section that displays navigation or media or vehicle functions.

The handy head-up display also has four different views and you control all this via the buttons on the right-hand steering wheel spoke.

A 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine powers the 2023 BMW 330i, sending 190kW/400Nm to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox.

It performs the neat trick of providing both performance and efficiency, with a 0-100km/h claim of 5.9sec and a combined fuel consumption claim of 6.5L/100km.

Excellent. There is almost no driving scenario in which the 2023 BMW 330i dips below excellent.

As an everyday driver the effortless torque of the engine, smooth automatic gearbox and compliant ride – on the firmer side, sure, but still more than comfortable – make it an ideal companion.

The biggest issue is a lack of throttle response in Comfort mode, the accelerator needing a firm press for action to occur.

Selecting Sport mode solves this problem as well as firming up the suspension and adding weight to the steering, but you can mix ’n’ match these settings in the centre screen to have the more alert engine with the lighter steering and softer suspension, which would probably be my pick for day-to-day driving.

Lock everything in Sport and attack a twisty road and you’ll discover that for all the talk of EVs and SUVs, BMW hasn’t forgotten how to create a brilliantly capable driver’s car.

Well, it might have forgotten slightly with the previous F30 generation, which was too soft to ride or handle properly if adaptive dampers weren’t optioned, but it’s clearly remembered.

There isn’t outrageous grip – the tyres are a relatively modest 225mm wide at the front and 255mm at the rear – but there is balance and adjustability and communication.

Given it’s just a ‘regular’ mid-size premium sedan it’s outrageous how hard the 330i can be driven without it feeling in any way ruffled.

It’s a level of talent beyond all its rivals perhaps bar the Alfa Romeo Giulia Veloce. Even then, the Giulia’s conservative ESP puts a ceiling on its abilities that the 330i’s M Traction mode elevates above.

It’s a high-quality environment inside the 2023 BMW 330i with plenty of nice materials, a widely-adjustable driving position and reasonable storage solutions with a spot for your phone on the charging pad, duo of couple holders and bottle areas in the doors.

Despite not being a particularly large car, there is ample room in the back, too, with space for a pair of adults to fit comfortably or a couple of child seats to clip into the ISOFIX points on either side.

There’s also separate fan and temperature controls and a pair of USB-C ports for device charging.

The 480L boot also comfortably swallows plenty of gear. It’s obviously not as practical as the load space in a wagon or SUV but plenty of bags or a couple of suitcases should fit with no dramas.

It’s very easy to make a case for buying a BMW 330i but very difficult to make a case for buying this facelifted version.

Objectively it’s a fantastic car, so good it’s tricky to pick holes in, but the price is a problem.

Not necessarily in the context of the similarly-priced Mercedes-Benz C 300 or cheaper but inferior rivals from other premium brands, but compared to the car it just replaced.

Yes, the pre-facelift 330i does miss out on a couple of features (the new seats, for instance) and some of the latest tech, but you can have your pick of low-kilometre 2022 BMW 330i dealer demos for around $75,000 drive-away, a whopping $30,000-35,000 less than this new model.

And the big price hike isn’t exactly going to put downward pressure on used examples.

If you are in the market for a new 3 Series, may we suggest the M340i? It is around $10,000 more expensive in standard guise, but it comes with more features, greater safety and an extra 95kW/100Nm. Not to mention all-wheel drive.

If you need one car to do everything, that’s the one we’d recommend.

2023 BMW 330i at a glance:
Price: $93,400 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 190kW/400Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 6.5L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 149g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2019)