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.
All UK BMW 3-Series are rear-wheel drive, since BMW continues to struggle to make a business case for importing and adapting its X-Drive four-wheel drive 3-Series for our right hand drive market.
However, the two-wheel drive BMW is one of the finest handling cars a reasonable amount of money can buy. Whether it's the famed 50:50 weight distribution on an uncanny ability to maintain its composure at high speed, all 3-Series are gifted with a chassis that many still fail to compete. For the refreshed range we drove the new 242bhp 330d and on 17" wheels it carried indecent speed cross-country, shrugging off all manner of nasty mid-corner bumps that would unsettle lesser cars. Grip levels were also high, but even when the tyres' purchase of the tarmac eventually relented, careful adjustments with the throttle brought the car back into line.
The new 3.0-litre diesel is nothing short of a masterpiece. Some 5kg lighter than the engine it replaces, the new engine gains a variable vane turbo that helps boost torque to an incredible 384lb-ft, peaking from just 3,000rpm to help the 330d sprint to 62mph in just 6.1 seconds. Better yet, it does this without the rowdiness of the old engine, or even the more powerful 335d. Instead you're treated to a more pleasant, muted petrol-like six-cylinder soundtrack.
Is it the pick of the engine range? Almost, but we're still enamoured with the incredible 320d. That engine delivers 175bhp, sprints 62mph in less than eight seconds and hits 142mph while still knocking on the door of 60mpg.
