F30 test drive - 328i

[zhul]

On AB's invitation, I went for a test drive today at Oasis, Ara Damansara. They had two emcees introducing the cars and showed a presentation on the difference between their Luxury and Sport versions. From the outside, Luxury versions have chrome linings all over while the Sport version have Black stripes instead. The 328i and the 335i have both the Luxury and Sport while the 320d only had the Base version, which was not explained.Managed to get their 328i for test drive, which was good because I thought it was the logical upgrade from my 320d. The spec I got was the Luxury. Immediately after sitting I noticed the seats feel bigger and more comfy. The gearbox are similar to the F10's gearbox and has 8 gears. Driver's seating position was excellent :top:On the road, the car was well behaved and elegant, nicer to drive than the e90 at slow to moderate speeds. The nice feeling BMW gives its drivers was still there. Not much difference in ride and handling when you choose between Sport or Comfort mode but there were difference in engine response. During hard acceleration, the pull was smooth and nice. But it could not gain on the 320d which was in front of me even with hard acceleration. Brakes were smooth and excellent. Overall, I think the F30 is an improvement over the e90 and still the better choice when you compare with the A4 and the C class. In terms of exterior design although the e90 LCI is still the best looking car on the road (only the Ferrari 458 looks better), its interior design loses out to the F30.As for me, the new logical upgrade to my 320d will be the 335i since the power performance between the 320d and the 328i is very close.

 

[Bruce_Z]

I was there too at the AB so called "test drive". Frankly the session was too brief for me, since they did it convoy style, aka BMW driver training school style. But for me, a few things are a revelation to me: the ride quality is fantastic (even in sport+ mode), the N20 on the 328i engine is also so much better than the E90 325i's in terms of raw acceleration (although during hard accelerations, there is still a hair's breath of hesitation before the car lunges with all its turbo glory...). Actually, on such a short drives like this you cant really judge the differences in performance between the 320D and the 328i at all, during my session 320D and 328i seem to be overtaking each other at the slightest opportuniries but you cant beat the on paper specs of the 328i - 6.1 vs 7.6 secs to the century....328i is the one to go for if you can afford the 50k premium.Note also the 320d is sold in MYS in "base" trim for now. The only thing still not sure for me for the 328i are the "trims" level - sport vs luxury...you cant get the fantastic dark brown interior in sport trim... bummer. Anyhow lets see if the SKD brings up any pleasant surprises in July (on top of the slight price reductions).

 

[BlackCat]

Thanks for the reviews guys...

Anyone else? Would love to read more

 

[RH5]

I would wait for the M Sport package... with the 19" M sport shoes on it..

http://www.f30post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=598186

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwj4v1GBYdc

 

[BaddBoyz3]

In terms of exterior design although the e90 LCI is still the best looking car on the road (only the Ferrari 458 looks better), its interior design loses out to the F30.

haha... agree 200%:rock:

 

[zhul]

Ya, it's a quite short a test drive, but we have to make do with what we are given :wink:

Actually I had a few encounters with the current 528i's driven hard on the road recently and they could not pull away from me. I am sure the 528i drivers were as surprised as I was with this. So the similarities between the 320d and the 328i performance noticed during the test drive is likely to be true.

The 320d I was chasing during the test drive was really blowing black smoke I complained to the AB people about this because any potential 320d buyer seeing this would be put off by that. Told them I never noticed this on the e90 320d driven hard on the roads. For those interested in the 320i, it would be coming to showrooms sometime in the middle of this year and priced about RM250+k.

M-Sport versions are due end of this year or early 2013.

 

[Bruce_Z]

Oh yeah..one more thing, the F30s come with electric power steering (vs hydraulic in the E90s), big change to me, since this affects the "feel" of the car. They kinda feel light to maneuover at slow speeds compared to the E90 (boon to parking at tight spaces etc..) but at high speeds..not sure yet, since couldnt drive that fast during the drive. But I didnt feel less "committed" during the drive at any time, so should be good still, even without the variable steering (which is only available on the 335i).

 

[masuzu]

 

[astroboy]

After a disappointing test drive session from AB's Sime Darby Oasis gallery in Ara Damansara and with an empty stomach, me and my 13 year-old co-pilot was on our way Ingress where we felt more like home. Upon reaching Ingress, first stop was the coffee counter for a dose of free flow caffeine. Then off to the buffet counter to wallop some fried mee hoon.. not expensive luxury food but at 3pm skipping lunch, we enjoyed the buffet very much.

Met MSport who was waiting for his turn on the 335i.. I immediately sign up for the 328i Sport variant hoping it'll somewhat answer the quest in me to find out if this F30 is a worthy replacement of the Ultimate Driving Machine.

My name was called after less than 10 minutes, a sales rep was placed in the car to make sure I don't drive the car home.. :4:

FOB was placed in the central dash cup holder, it's a keyless car, so unlike E90, there's no slots plug the FOB. I fire up the engine, buckle up, adjusted the seat, steering, rear and side view mirror, off the radio, set drive mode to Sport+.. and ready to roll.

Reversing the car out from car park, I notice it has the a reverse tilt side mirror. Didn't notice reverse camera though.. I think don't have.. :4:

Slowly I roll the car out from the main building into the road outside the building, and on the left turn into LDP (those who went Ingress to test drive before should know which corner I'm talking about :4 There were loose gravel in the corner due to the nearby construction site. Since it's a merge into LDP, I stomped the gas pedal, full throttle while making the turn, the rear step out, I continue to max throttle with a slight countering of steering. It was a POWER SLIDE!! A big grin was in my heart, NICE!! The F30 does inherit the legendary cornering composure.. this is what 3-series is all about. Not the odd placement retina display iDrive, not the 4 drive modes user option.

We continued into Penchala link and did a u-turn to head back to Ingress.. Too bad there's many cars at the u-turn, if not, that's another one of my favorite turn to test out the cornering composure for the F30. With no Lead Car ka-ka-ciao-ciao, I weaved on the 3 lane Penchala Link back to Ingress, occasional full throttle... Power delivery was smooth, not even a slight lag was experienced. Releasing throttle too is smooth, not a sign of hesitation from the forced induction N20B20 to react. I leave the rest for those who are more familiar with 6-cylinder or forced induction power delivery to comment about this 245hp forced induction 2L 4-cylinder gem.

I like it very much.. :love:

Oh! I totally forgotten about the light steering.. during the short rempit session.. steering remain accurate during the high speed weave.. I guess that's why I didn't complain.. also very little body roll on the 328i sport.. any different in suspension or ARB setup compared to the Luxury model?

 

[morrogan]

Ya, it's a quite short a test drive, but we have to make do with what we are given :wink:

Actually I had a few encounters with the current 528i's driven hard on the road recently and they could not pull away from me. I am sure the 528i drivers were as surprised as I was with this. So the similarities between the 320d and the 328i performance noticed during the test drive is likely to be true.

The 320d I was chasing during the test drive was really blowing black smoke I complained to the AB people about this because any potential 320d buyer seeing this would be put off by that. Told them I never noticed this on the e90 320d driven hard on the roads. For those interested in the 320i, it would be coming to showrooms sometime in the middle of this year and priced about RM250+k.

M-Sport versions are due end of this year or early 2013.

I see the end of 320d......if 320i is priced at RM250+k. Turbo Petrol with similar performance figure as 320d....

 

[astroboy]

Here's the answer on my question.. Why the Luxury 328i handling is so horrible while the Sport is much better..

Quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_3_Series_(F30)

Sport line
Exterior line features
18” wheels, High gloss black front air intake surround with silver cross-bars, High gloss black kidney grille bars, Black exterior mirrors caps, High gloss black B-pillar, Black strip above front air dam and rear loading edge, Sport suspension, Black chrome exhaust pipe trim.

I wonder the 335i is sport or standard suspension..??!

Also 335i and 328i same max speed.. cool! :4:

Another interesting find.. the F30 328i despite bigger but is lighter than E90 325i..

 

[seewai]

I've been sick since Friday evening and didn't rsvp to any test drive sessions.
I woke up the 2nd time yesterday (yeah sleep few sessions a day) in a cloudy & lazy afternoon and decided to bring my family of three to Ingress for a look see.
I drove us on our E87 (hoping can get a trade-in quote) without appointment and reached Ingress in less than 10 minutes.
Saw a few familiar faces but couldn't name them. Anyway was immediately greeted by an SA Sonny (I can't remember where I placed his biz card, too much medications). Then he started all the introductory as most of you already shared here and a few other threads. Sonny stayed with us throughout our stay, even assisted my wife to purchase a merchandize, until we left the premises about 1.5 hours later. Below is what I learned during the short-stay:

1. AB / BMW Malaysia trying to keep 320d price low to attract more buyers ( to image 520d's success ), however this move has "demodded" 320d to become such a "basic", "unattractive", "nonsense", "WTF!" car. Marketing strategy they call it, I don't blame them. 320d no paddle shift, basic sport rims, iDrive w/o navigation BUT 380Nm of torque.

2. Spent a few good minutes comparing Luxury and Sport 328i, trims, front body kit, interior and exterior colour choices are the differences. I was told all other stuffs like suspension, engine, transmission... are the same in both luxury and sport.

3. Sport has either Red or Black leather, with a choice of red or black lining with while the exterior colour are the same as Luxury.

4. Sport has high-gloss interior and exterior trims & mouldings (right words??) whereas Luxury has "forest" trims and chrome mouldings.

5. Front bumper is different, don't know how to describe. 328i Sport and 335i has the same front bumper/bodykit, Luxury looks different, forgot to check out the one for 320d.

6. 328i Sport has high-gloss exhaust tip, nice! Luxury has chrome exhaust tip, also nice lah.

7. 335i has sunroof while the rest don't.

8. 320d is the only model without padleshift and navigation.

9. passenger door curtains might be available when the "Options" are made available "later".

10. all rubbers are RFT.

11. Display units are CBU.

12. Delivery end June 2012/ early July 2012 for orders made in Ingress.

Last but not the least, I was offered trade-in value of my E87 at RM11xk - RM12xk, by a 3rd party car dealer, wonder why Ingress couldn't trade-in directly.

End of non-testdrive report, going back to bed.

 

[BaddBoyz3]

I see the end of 320d......if 320i is priced at RM250+k. Turbo Petrol with similar performance figure as 320d....

Provided the accessories & performance are similar the 'i' would still lose out on mileage

 

[ALBundy]

Here's the answer on my question.. Why the Luxury 328i handling is so horrible while the Sport is much better..

Quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_3_Series_(F30)

Sport line
Exterior line features
18” wheels, High gloss black front air intake surround with silver cross-bars, High gloss black kidney grille bars, Black exterior mirrors caps, High gloss black B-pillar, Black strip above front air dam and rear loading edge, Sport suspension, Black chrome exhaust pipe trim.

I wonder the 335i is sport or standard suspension..??!

Also 335i and 328i same max speed.. cool! :4:

Another interesting find.. the F30 328i despite bigger but is lighter than E90 325i..

I believe both cars are electronically limited to 250km/hr.

Any car with more than 245hp should be able to hit more than 250

 

[eujinee]

test drove a 320d today....all i cam sum up...for diesel,alwiz thrill me is the awesome torque during low end...and amazing mileage... ride...is better thn e90...but the accessories wise is not that complete...no navi on the screen is a turn down...no paddle shift i can leave tht....but the high end...feel like the car lose breath...but is a diesel anyway...it tend to b good in low end..

steering is responsive...typical bmw...ride is awesome...doin 180kph on highway wind noise pretty loud.....idle..is quiet...cant hear the typical diesel....

overall...is good...and im getting it

 

[astroboy]

I believe both cars are electronically limited to 250km/hr.

Any car with more than 245hp should be able to hit more than 250

hehe.. precisely.. even the M Cars are limited to 250kph.. so based on seewai's field report, both luxury and sport 328i using similar suspension. Can anyone confirm this? or was it the body hugging sport seat with waist pump gave me a false sense of Sport variant has lesser body roll compare to the luxury line.. ?! :hmmmm2:

 

[ALBundy]

Yes sport and luxury have the same suspension. Sport and Luxury models are limited to differences in trimmings, ie; color of kidney grilles, door sill, rims and etc etc.

The M sport version which is rumoured to be launched soon, is the one with firmer suspension.

 

[t2ribena]

funny that ppl kutuk the spec and the basis of comparison is between CKD (e90) vs CBU (F30)...both at somewhat similar price...

guys, wait for the CKD F30 to be introduced and then make the comparison and the kutuking or praising...

remember the first batch of CBU E90 320i?? same thing all over again...its our taxing system at work...

 

[astroboy]

First batch of CBU E90 320i on 16" wheels and don't even have BiXenons.. haha!

 

[seewai]

F30s are SKD as I was told by SA.
so would F20s be at a later time of the year, or was I being bulled? hehe.
But definately no diesel for F20.