Post by Tim on Apr 20, 2022 13:48:36 GMT
The 430 was in for a recall last week so I got a courtesy car rather than just a lift into town.
It was a 1 month old 320i in a nice shade of blue, probably Portimao Blue.
I think I'm slowly getting used to the look of them but I still prefer the previous generation.
As far as I can tell not much time had been spent on options but it did have a rather nice set of alloys, albeit they were 20 inches in diameter which seems a bit excessive for something like this.
These don't actually appear on the configurator so I have no idea how much they cost.
Without them I think the car is just under £40k before discounts, assuming those are available.
I did 55 miles in it at 34.7mpg. I didn't really thrash it much as the engine is unimpressive. There's no pleasant noise from it at all and there was nothing to gain by a trip to the redline. Perhaps that would be sorted by more miles than the 700 that it had.
Considering the wheel size the ride was reasonable over sharp bumps but I did notice that it seemed to bounce off bumps, i.e. it would absorb the initial hit but then bob up straight after. Again it didn't really encourage hard driving.
I made a point of avoiding potholes and bad bits of road, apart from one hole in town caught at 20. That caused an unpleasant jolt. I'm sure the car would be much better resolved on non-MSport suspension.
I didn't think the driver seat was as comfortable as the ones in the 430 (or the 320 that preceded it), feeling a bit short in the base. Easily enough resolved by pulling the front of the seat squab forward but not something I find in my own car.
So overall to this point it was ok but certainly not enough to make me rush out and buy one. It'd be nice to try a bigger engined one though.
There is one thing that will certainly stop me buying one, and in fact any of the current BMW range, and that is the instruments and interior in general.
Compared to BMWs traditional instrument style the half octagonal design combined with the contra rotating revcounter is a complete dog's breakfast.
The most relevent speed range on the dial is at the extreme left and the most likely revs at the extreme right. For that reason you're pretty reliant on the digital numbers that are roughly where a pointer would rotate from.
Even the fuel and temp gauges are overstyled and not particularly easy to read at a glance.
I imagine you might get used to it after a while but none of it is pleasant to look at.
Add to that - on this car at least - the map being permanently displayed across the middle and the fact that someone had selected the sport display that shows power and torque (inside the rev counter arc) and there's just too much going on.
A couple of the interior fittings are quite poor as well.
The turnwheels for the centre vents are now very shiny chromed plastic (of a standard reminiscent of Airfix kits circa 1982) with little raised bits whereas for all previous BMWs of my experience they have been rubberised plastic and ridged. Much easier to use unless you have sticky hands.
In addition the fan and heat direction buttons are smaller than the previous gen car and harder to use.
Finally the default aluminium tetragon cladding around the gear selector and across the dash is nasty looking but you can opt for others for free.
I only took one other photo of the car to get the number plate so I could look it up to see which model it was.
It was a 1 month old 320i in a nice shade of blue, probably Portimao Blue.
I think I'm slowly getting used to the look of them but I still prefer the previous generation.
As far as I can tell not much time had been spent on options but it did have a rather nice set of alloys, albeit they were 20 inches in diameter which seems a bit excessive for something like this.
These don't actually appear on the configurator so I have no idea how much they cost.
Without them I think the car is just under £40k before discounts, assuming those are available.
I did 55 miles in it at 34.7mpg. I didn't really thrash it much as the engine is unimpressive. There's no pleasant noise from it at all and there was nothing to gain by a trip to the redline. Perhaps that would be sorted by more miles than the 700 that it had.
Considering the wheel size the ride was reasonable over sharp bumps but I did notice that it seemed to bounce off bumps, i.e. it would absorb the initial hit but then bob up straight after. Again it didn't really encourage hard driving.
I made a point of avoiding potholes and bad bits of road, apart from one hole in town caught at 20. That caused an unpleasant jolt. I'm sure the car would be much better resolved on non-MSport suspension.
I didn't think the driver seat was as comfortable as the ones in the 430 (or the 320 that preceded it), feeling a bit short in the base. Easily enough resolved by pulling the front of the seat squab forward but not something I find in my own car.
So overall to this point it was ok but certainly not enough to make me rush out and buy one. It'd be nice to try a bigger engined one though.
There is one thing that will certainly stop me buying one, and in fact any of the current BMW range, and that is the instruments and interior in general.
Compared to BMWs traditional instrument style the half octagonal design combined with the contra rotating revcounter is a complete dog's breakfast.
The most relevent speed range on the dial is at the extreme left and the most likely revs at the extreme right. For that reason you're pretty reliant on the digital numbers that are roughly where a pointer would rotate from.
Even the fuel and temp gauges are overstyled and not particularly easy to read at a glance.
I imagine you might get used to it after a while but none of it is pleasant to look at.
Add to that - on this car at least - the map being permanently displayed across the middle and the fact that someone had selected the sport display that shows power and torque (inside the rev counter arc) and there's just too much going on.
A couple of the interior fittings are quite poor as well.
The turnwheels for the centre vents are now very shiny chromed plastic (of a standard reminiscent of Airfix kits circa 1982) with little raised bits whereas for all previous BMWs of my experience they have been rubberised plastic and ridged. Much easier to use unless you have sticky hands.
In addition the fan and heat direction buttons are smaller than the previous gen car and harder to use.
Finally the default aluminium tetragon cladding around the gear selector and across the dash is nasty looking but you can opt for others for free.
I only took one other photo of the car to get the number plate so I could look it up to see which model it was.
