Category: Compact Executive 
Price Range: £21,525 to £38,060
Superb refinement, superb quality, terrific detail design and general all-round ability.
Not the entertaining driver's car that BMW fondly claims. Pricey too.
The best in this class, if not as much fun to drive as the Alfa 156.
The 3-Series is a perennially popular used car buy, and while prices have eased since larger numbers of the revised 2001 models have been available, it can still be expensive for what it is: comparably-powered Audi A4 models come up much cheaper. The 3-Series will be easy to sell on at any age, however, as long as it has metallic paint and a nice set of alloy wheels.
