2016 BMW 328i

BMW is known to make some great cars and the car which is responsible to shoot BMW to the top of the luxury/performance heap of cars is unarguably the 3 series. The 3 Series was introduced in the United States back in 1970 and has dominated the mid-size luxury performance segment ever since. Today the 3 series comes in multiple flavors from a 4 door sedan to a 5 door wagon. One can get a 328i GT if back seat space is what’s important for you. One can get them in rear wheel drive or the X drive all-wheel drive. There are almost a million ways to customize this car and BMW makes sure that they get you in a million ways as far as pricing and options are concerned.

The base 328i will cost you $37,000 but at that price you won’t get any creature comforts. Not even a backup camera. A Hyundai Elantra comes better equipped than the Bimmer in its base form. Once you’ve added all the options like leather, navigation, sports package etc, you are easily looking at a car which is pushing 50 grand and that’s a lot of money for a 328i. It comes equipped with an inline 4 cylinder engine which makes 250 HP and 260 lbft of torque which on paper doesn’t sound very impressive. Drive this car and you’ll realize how grossly mistaken you were underestimating this car. In the lower RPM’s, the car feels adequately powerful, thanks to that lovely motor which makes peak torque at just 1300 RPM and that gorgeous 8 speed ZF automatic gear box. You can get a manual too if you so desire and you certainly won’t complain about it.  The handling is that of a typical BMW, which means it’s great!! You can get this car nicely optioned with an amazing heads up display, upgraded Harman Kardon music system, leather seats which are heated, back camera with a top down view and so on and so forth. Just prepare to open up your wallet.

The interior on this is good but nothing exceptional. There are hard plastics at places you won’t expect them to be. The leather quality according to me isn’t great. Audi and Lexus leather quality is exceptional. The stock seats are just fine. I felt a lack of support as I kept flopping around corners and felt a lack of side bolstering. The M sport package with the M sport seats resolves this issue but costs almost $2500. For that you get an upgraded M sport steering wheel which is a delight to use along with M sport seats and a few body kits. It’s an expensive option but one which I would highly recommend even though it’s a bit of a rip off.

If luxury is what you want, look elsewhere. The Lexus IS 350 and Mercedes C300 smoke the 328i as far as luxury and interior built quality is concerned. There is a new Audi A4 on the horizon that promises to create new standards as far as interior is concerned. The Infinity Q50 makes 329 HP and well equipped will cost as much as a moderately equipped 328i. Overall, I think that this is a slightly overpriced car…but then so are most German cars out there. If performance is what you desire, then go for the more powerful BMW 335i which is an absolute joy to drive. The 335i will soon be replaced with an even more powerful 340i and hopefully the pricing won’t change much. I know that you’ll end up spend more money on the 335i, but then it feels like a $55K car. I would highly recommend the 328i if this was a $45K car when moderately equipped but not at this price point.