Currently thinking about replacing my Ibiza with something a bit faster and better handling. The 2 and 4 series look like good options.

When changing from the bag of sh1t Octavia to the current car I test drove the 2 series coupe as an M Sport 2.0 diesel. Handling and comfort were brilliant, a really enjoyable car to drive and noticeably better than the 3 or 4 series. In the end I went for the 3 series as more available used meant I could get a better equipped car for less. Not much between the 3 and 4 series expect 2 doors less and bigger prices.

Boot space isn’t too bad but you will struggle to get a bike inside and I think the rear seats are fixed.

the 2 series tourer really is a horrible thing. Still if Porsche are making SUVs then I guess you can’t really have a go at BMW for wanting sell MPVs to badge snobs.

Its still less gopping than an X1

They do sound luvverly though.

Tragically the sound isolation is really good, I previously had a Cooper S which was like being inside a lawnmower.

The BMW is really quiet and smooth, I must admit I do like how smooth the straight 6 pulls compared to any 4 cylinders I’ve driven though. I also convinced myself that the lack of filters, turbos and gizmos would mean it would last forever.

This is true, although I was initially demoing 350z/370z and Caymans, then suddenly my wife became pregnant and it became 3 Series and Mondeos 😐

I think it was the potential car I lost, which left me desperately seeking a 6-pot “dad” car 🙂 Probably why I mentioned a Mustang above or possibly a 911, the kings of 4 seater dad cars!

Test drive a 330e and you won’t want a petrol or diesel again!

I went from a 320d Touring to a 330e saloon and not missed the extra boot space at all.

The 330e comes with a new 2.0 petrol which is fantastic, then you add in electric boost to the equation and it’s so much nicer than diesel or petrol.

Round town electric makes you realise how awful diesel or petrol are.

On the open road power is instant, and sounds pretty reasonable for a 4 pot.

If you could get an electric 4 series I’d get that, lower and wider.

The 330e is slightly more than equivalent model, not sure if the government still contribute to cost of the car?

I’m now getting better mpg than my old 320d approx 55mpg overall, not bad for 6 second 0-60.

Of course you could wait until next year for the full electric 3 series

Toasty – so 50mpg in a car that does 0-60 in 6 seconds isn’t good in your book?

Name me one other car that can !?

Nick – it has, but only by me doing what it says you shouldn’t. You are supposed to use the sat Nav to intelligently make use of battery.

If you do that your fecked and get silly mpg if doing any reasonable distance. I now work on a rule that if I’m in built up slow traffic kick it in to electric, any out of town force it to combustion engine.

@Sbob

28 mpg on a ‘spirited’ day. 32 if I drive steadily. Yup, pretty good and far better than those Plug-in electrics that have a higher cradle-to-grave emissions amount. That is until we go fully nuclear.

My day-job will see me get through >50,000 litres per day so I can’t lose sleep over being 10mpg below so-called eco wagons. 8)

And to echo above: displacement plus a couple of turbos is the way forward.

PS when does the 318d get delivered? 😉

See my post above. You have not countered the argument in any way, but I will indulge you and paste from from previous post:

Not a ‘fact’……in any way. I challenge you (within the context of this thread) to argue otherwise! Unless you believe only your perspective is valid (it isn’t by the way :roll:), there is just no winning that argument. Whether an engine is ‘small’ or not is entirely subjective in this sense. You could take the statistical mean engine capacity of every car on the road as a benchmark, but in the context of this discussion that is entirely irrelevant. To a Bently driver, a 2L engine is small. Try thinking outside of your own frame of reference, if you can

In terms of what outputs you can get on a 3 series, the 318d and 320d are at the bottom of the range. Nothing at all wrong with them, but where they sit in that range is undeniable. Someone driving a M3 may well think a 1.8L is a small engine compared to their car, and from a subjective perspective that is difficult to argue against.

In other news, the pope is Catholic, and bears poo in the woods. No one has claimed different, have they? What’s your point? Either you have misunderstood everything in my posts and this thread, or you are desperately looking for an angle where you are not entirely wrong. I will indulge you and paste from my previous post:

A 2L Mondeo is top or near top of the range (engine size, ignoring trim level). A 318d or 320d is under a 325, 330, 335, 340 etc (M3 if we include petrol models), so clearly near the bottom of the range. No one is saying that these ranges are parallel

Genuine lol. It’s all falling into place….

Hang on ladies, just going to put the kettle on…

Looking like classic STW here…

I honestly can’t explain it any better than in my above posts, and it’s pointless to paste them a 3rd time. If you can’t see how a different range of values determines the relative low and high point within those ranges, there is little point in labouring the point further.

Your responses smack of being defensive about having a (near to) bottom of the range 320d, and genuinely that’s not what I am getting at.

I feel quite the same. Repeating ourselves isn’t going to resolve this I don’t think. I’m sure we each think we’re right.
If there is one thing I’m not defensive about, it’s my car. It’s a car FFS. I drive it, it gets me places. I like it and could not care less if anyone else does. I don’t post it on Facebook with #likeitsonrails11111 or some such shite.

Which is why I used ‘outputs’ rather than engine size in one of the previous posts :lol:.

Don’t push it 😉

I am in agreement, 2L petrol is not a small engine.

Name me one other car that can !?

Not only did I name one, I did it in the same post, it’s just not available for 18 months 🙂 If I was being even more pedantic I’d have said a Caterham! 😉 On a more sensible note, a 330d would match the requirements too wouldn’t it?

I don’t recall saying it wasn’t impressive, I’m just highlighting the fact that the claimed mpg is around 3x what people get in the real world.