Category: Compact Executive 
Price Range: £21,525 to £38,060
Class best drive, excellent range of engines, improved looks.
Limited space in the rear, six-cylinder engines miss out stop-start, poor low-speed ride.
Nip and tuck further polishes what remains the most accomplished car in its class.
As class benchmarks go, few are as enduring as the BMW 3-Series. Now in its 33rd year and fifth incarnation, it still remains the default choice for those seeking out the best, most capable compact exec.
Make no mistake, it's not perfect, but its blend of top-drawer handling, fine quality and the best engines in the business mean, even after three years into this current fifth generation, it still has what it takes to top its class against stiff new competition.
Now the Munich brand has put its best-selling, but middle-aged, number under the knife to prepare it for the final few years before an all-new sixth generation car arrives.
As BMW facelifts go, it's a big one, involving sheet metal changes with a new twin-ribbed bonnet, front and rear bumpers and, perhaps more predictable new front and rear lamps.
Engineers have also widened the front and rear tracks. The overall effect is a marked improvement, although the combination of the squarer rear bumper and tail lamps now unfortunately apes the ancient Saab 9-5.
Under the bonnet the five petrol engines carry over as well as three excellent diesel, with the biggest news being the introduction of an all-new 242bhp 3.0-litre straight six diesel that not only is 14bhp more powerful but is 7% less thirsty and, according to BMW, is so clean it will meet Euro 6 emissions while others struggle to cope with Euro 5.
Price range: £21,475 - £35,295.
