SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
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*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday October 10. 2012
Recent updates of BMW’s 3-series sedans saw the engine range rationalised, four trim packages to add to the entry level version and the almost mandatory body resizing. The 1995cc diesel motor continues unchanged, a 328i version of the 1997cc four-cylinder petrol motor replaces 325i and 330i options and the 3,0-litre, six-cylinder 335i is still in service. During May, a 320i version of the four-cylinder petrol was brought back, but with an added 10 kW of power and 60 Nm of torque. Styling tweaks to front, side and rear are more subtle than revolutionary, with only true blue-and-white fans likely to fully appreciate them.
The biggest news is that while a six-speed manual box is still standard across the range, the automatic shifter has gained two ratios, bringing its cog-nizance (sorry) up to eight. The spread is wider and the ratios are closer for a more entertaining drive with improved fuel economy. Manual override is courtesy of the shift lever or paddles behind the steering wheel. Buttons next to the lever allow fine tuning of the driving experience with selectors for eco pro, comfort, sport and sport plus settings. Want more? A Sport version of the box, with added features, is available as an option.
Trim levels include Sport Line, Luxury Line, Modern Line and, naturally, M Sport. The differences are mainly in seat and wheel variations and some coloured trim items. Cutting to the chase, Modern level, provided on our test car, consists of some chrome details being satin, rather than bright chrome or glossy black, a pale tan upper dash and instrument faces, an oyster coloured steering wheel and similar colouring on the key fob. It’s obviously a matter of personal taste, but we would probably buy an entry-spec car if we were in the market for one of these.
The body resizing mentioned earlier includes 93mm more body length, a wheelbase 50mm longer and track increases, front and rear, of 37mm and 48mm respectively. Spinoff for you is more interior space and better handling. This one arrives with fully manual seat adjusters, which is hardly a problem if it is to be a one-person machine, so why waste money on gadgets that will never be used? As befits executive transportation, rear seat headroom gets a solid 8/10 for tall passengers, with 10/10 for knee space. With the driver’s seat adjusted all the way down, the passenger immediately behind will find foot space a bit cramped.
The 480-litre boot is square and practical, loads at just above knee height and has a shallow sill. Two side nooks, one with a tray for the basic toolkit, four lashing rings and a cargo net help keep loads tidy. Under the floorboard, BMW provides the usual tyre pump kit and first aid pouch.
Performance and handling is as expected of any BMW. With 380 Nm peaking at 1750 rpm, it drives and accelerates strongly in all gears and from almost any rpm. The gearbox shifts quickly and smoothly and kicks down readily when called on to do so. It really can’t be faulted. Gearing is set at about 1900 rpm in top at 120 which is good for economy, while being neatly in the torque band at that speed means the power remains on tap if needed for emergencies. Road manners are impeccable, with the suspension soaking up all but the most demanding punishment.
Readers complain regularly that they cannot get near the consumption figures claimed by manufacturers. The reason is simple: Those numbers are derived under laboratory conditions and serve only to compare one with another under ideal circumstances. A more repeatable yardstick would be the maker’s claim plus 20 to 25 percent to allow for wind, rough surfaces, hills and all the other little facts of life. The real figure obtained during this review was an eye-opening 5,7 l/100 km. This, for a powerful two-litre engine hauling almost one and a half tons dry, without hanging about, proves that technology has come a long way. Some little cars have reason to be envious.
The numbers
Basic price: R408 500
Engine: 1995 cc, four-cylinder, turbodiesel
Power: 135 kW at 4000 rpm
Torque: 380 Nm between 1750 and 2750 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 7,6 seconds
Maximum speed: 230 km/h
Fuel consumption: 5,7 l/100 km
Tank: 57 litres
BMW Motorplan: 5 years/100 000 km
This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.
What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
My articles appear every Wednesday in the motoring pages of The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles most months of the year (press cars are withdrawn over the festive season - wonder why?) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police. Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.
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So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8