Car UK May 2019

may 2019 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 67

lean, taut architecture looks like a geometry teacher snuck into the BMW

design department, and I love the reference to old-school BMW in the

tilt of the centre console towards the driver, and that the climate-control

functions are easily found on buttons set far up the dash.

But the stand-out is the infotainment – a 10.3-inch display that can be

controlled with the iDrive rotary controller, but also via the touchscreen,

steering-wheel controls, gesture control and voice control.

The low-set leather driver’s seat is perfection, with meaty bolstering

around your middle, and although there’s very little give in the squab,

backrest and headrest, they’re long-distance comfortable.

There’s no doubting you’re in a four-cylinder turbodiesel at idle, but the

clatter quickly evaporates once you’re running. Versus the old 3, mpg and

CO2 improve at 49.6-52.3mpg and 118g/km, but performance is unchanged

at 187bhp and 295lb ft. Throttle response is good, with generous muscle

from middling speeds after fractional turbo lag, and the eight-speed auto

flicks quickly between ratios. Of course the performance of a 320d won’t

make you whoop, but there’s plenty for normal driving.

On 19-inch alloys with adaptive M Sport suspension, there’s some

road noise, and the ride is definitely firm, more in the way it fusses over

secondary bumps than in larger movements being abruptly curtailed. But

combined with our car’s uprated four-piston brakes, which form part of the

£2200 M Sport Plus pack, Michelin Pilot Sports and xDrive transmission,

the payback is a chassis that’s a joy to drive. It pulls up quickly, has front

grip so heroic that only a little chirrup says you’re at the limit, and reassures

with precise and chunkily weighted steering, body movements always

kept in check. It also feels so rear-biased it’s easy to forget all-wheel drive

is working in the background. Even the steering seems mostly to avoid the

stickiness that comes with front wheels having to both turn and drive. It’s

definitely got point-to-point pace to upset more powerful machinery. But

with xDrive and 320d power, this 3-series doesn’t feel as alive as the new

330i I drove recently. It’s very good, but if I was driving one cross-country to

Wales it would be because I was heading there for a business meeting, not

driving for the heck of it.

But if I owned the Alfa I’d be tempted to up sticks and move to a Welsh ⊲

Audi A4 40 TDI S Line

PrI ce £36,445 (£42,105 as tested)
e ngI ne 1968cc 16v turbodiesel 4-cylinder,
187bhp @ 3800rpm, 295lb ft @ 1750rpm
PerformA nce 7.7sec 0-62mph, 150mph,
47.9-51.4mpg, 120g/km CO2

BmW 320d xDrive m Sport

PrI ce £39,495 (47,855 as tested)

e ngI ne 1995cc 16v turbodiesel 4-cylinder,

187bhp @ 4000rpm, 295lb ft @ 1750rpm

PerformA nce 6.9sec 0-62mph, 145mph,

49.6-52.3mpg, 118g/km CO2