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.
Those who appreciate a comfy ride will still be frustrated by the 3-Series. At speed it's fine, just about isolating occupants from the worst a poorly laid road can throw at you: but slow down and the standard run-flat tyres make their presence felt.
On motorways few will complain about the high levels of refinement offered by the small BMW - unless you're sitting in the rear. The old 3-Series bugbear continues with tall passengers lacking both head- and legroom.
With the frustrating exception of Bluetooth hands-free telephony, the BMW has a fair amount of standard kit, with even the base cars coming equipped with 16" alloys, six airbags, tyre pressure warning, air con, MP3 connection, a trip computer and a leather-wrapped steering wheel. Long gone are the days when a simple stereo was an optional extra.
We've left the best until last. BMW has finally had another go at refining the driver interface for its iDrive telematics system and may have this time finally cracked it. Now there is an array of handy shortcuts, while the display has been completely overhauled with an 8.8-inch high-resolution display. Mercifully thanks to its hard drive-based sat nav it's quicker too and soon will be able to offer unlimited access to the internet (for a monthly fee).
