SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Most, but not all, the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

My most recent drive is on the home page. Archived reviews and opinion pieces are in the active menu down the left side. Hover your cursor over a heading or manufacturer's name and follow the drop-down.


Shadows of the past: 2016 BMW 318i a/t with Luxury Pack

Mixed signals

Pics from BMW-presse
Posted: 18 March 2016

The numbers
Basic price, with automatic: R446 400
Price as tested, with Luxury Pack: R469 200
Engine: 1499 cc, turbocharged inline three-cylinder with DOHC and 12 valves
Power: 100 kW between 4400 and 6000 rpm
Torque: 220 Nm between 1250 and 4300 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 9.1 seconds
Maximum speed: 210 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 9.1 l/100 km
Tank: 60 litres
Luggage: 480 litres
Warranty and maintenance: 5 years / 100 000 km

In January 1984 I became a fan. I had just bought one of the first 3-series cars to arrive in SA – a 320i with two doors, a two-litre naturally aspirated mill that whirred like a turbine and a body to kill for.

In my eyes, it had only two faults. Gearing wasn’t suited to our 120 km/h speed limit because fifth (top) gear was too long. The car only came alive over 140 km/h, so one had to be very selective about where and when one enjoyed it fully. The other problem was the front seats. They were too short and too flat so, as soon as funds allowed, I laid out the money for a pair of Recaro sports buckets.

Thirty-two years later, BMW’s entry-level (now 318i) Three-car has moved on with lots more kit and a 1500 cc turbo triple that lugs like a carthorse and gallops like a Met. winner. Build quality is still excellent and it remains a neat family car, but signs of cost cutting show through.

Gas struts for the boot lid have been replaced by ordinary hinges and the seats have reverted to flat, thin and not very comfortable. Further, the height adjusters on both front chairs provide just all-the-way-up or all-the-way-down with no settings in between. One expects better from a luxury car at this price level.

On the plus side, the little Beemer gives you fully independent suspension; vented disc brakes front and rear with ABS, dynamic traction control, cornering brake control, dynamic brake control, brake drying function and fade compensation; cruise control with braking; rain-sensing wipers; automatic headlamps; six airbags; start-off assistant; electric power steering and tyre defect indicator.  

Communication kit consists of TeleServices that automatically books your next service or calls for a tow if needed, intelligent emergency calling that notifies emergency services if you’re banged up in an accident, and hands-free with USB interface.

Its Efficient Dynamics suite includes braking energy regeneration, auto stop-start, EcoPro mode with coasting function, ancillary units operating only on demand, a differential with optimised warm-up behaviour and tyres with reduced rolling resistance.

Our test car arrived with an optional Luxury pack that replaces the original black “Leathertec” upholstery with real leather in Dakota Brown with brown highlights, a three-spoke, leather-covered Sport steering wheel, fine-wood trim in Fineline Anthracite and pearlised chrome highlights. This added R22 800 to the price.

The new B38A15MO engine is a DOHC, 1.5- litre, three-cylinder petrol unit with direct injection and a twin-scroll turbocharger. It’s the first application of BMW's modular engine programme for petrol and diesel engines; all using the same bore spacing and all producible on the same assembly line equipment.

Looking back, my 1984 car developed just 92 kilowatts of power at 5800 rpm and 170 Nm of torque at 4000, but it did zero to 100 km/h in 9.0 seconds and went on to 209 km/h. That’s close to what this new 318i does, but the secret is in the body weight; the old car weighed only 1060 kg empty versus 1400 kilograms unladen today.

While a six-speed manual ‘box is standard, our test rig arrived with an updated version of the eight-speed ZF8HP automatic introduced on Seven-series cars. Shifting takes place in one-fifth of a second and it can make non-sequential changes; from eighth gear, straight down to second, under extreme circumstances.

Improvements include a wider ratio spread of 7.8:1, reduced drag from the shift elements, lower oil pump pressure requirement and broadened use of coasting and start-stop systems. ZF estimates fuel economy improvement over first generation 8HP units to be three percent. Vibration was also reduced.

It works well enough with this little engine while you keep your brain in “Mom” mode and drive gently. Unfortunately it hesitates when pressured, giving delayed downshifts and weak acceleration. The answer, if you want to really enjoy all the car can give, is to select “Sport" and use manual override. I suspect that the torque output of this engine, 220 Nm, might be at the low end of the box’s specified suitability range.

This 318i sent mixed signals. While it’s solid and respectable with nice touches like double latches and twin gas struts for the bonnet, a very usable boot, doors and boot lid that thump closed the way those on a BMW should, pretty decent interior fit and finish (others are catching up) and modern-day BMW handling (my old car was a bit iffy, actually), the seats and gearbox let it down badly.

Test car from BMW SA press fleet

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

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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