The 3 series is a well built car constructed from good quality materials. Unlike some other europeon cars ,does not shake and vibrate while driving leaving you wondering what piece of trim will fall off next. Or what will stop working next. Having driven mine to 99k without any major parts failures , I have to say i'm impressed. The car has been serviced at the correct intervals
and when the service interval is not reached but a year has passed i bring the oil service forward.
Behind the wheel the car is safe and confident on the road , steering is informative but not twitchy making it an easy car to drive on the motorway. The controls are well placed and all switch gear is easily operated and within easy reach. The gearshift is smooth but not lightning quick. The car is well balanced the ABS rarely activates as the car itself even under emergency braking is able to stop sharply in dry conditions in the wet and on an oily road the ABS gently engages and brings the car back under your control. The detailing of the car is what catches your attention the longer you own it. The all round tinted glass makes night driving better and reduces eye strain a great deal you'll notice on a long night drive on the motorway. The auto glare reducing mirror also helps a great deal as well. There are orange lights that illuminate the controls and centre console these work much better than back lights on each control ,you can see everything and still see clearly out of the windows this is because the orange light is directed downward and do not reflect of the inside of the windows as white light does. If you do
need white light inside the car there are plenty and at the rear there are 2 types of light on each side a general use light, this lights up the whole interior and secondly a directed concentrated reading light , with the reading light on i was still able to see through the rear windscreen to the back of the car quite well and
the rear passenger was able to read their book without impairing my view out the back of the car.
The performance of the car is good fuel consumption commuting to work 30% road and 70% motorway rush hour most days averaged out at 30mpg. If the car is driven hard and aggressively this does however drop as you would expect.
The cost issue for the car lies with the main dealer costs these are high so i found a competent third party agent to service and repair the car. This has brought the cost down and made the car
more affordable. The rear window regulator failed at 96,000 miles but i got a BMW replacement and got it fitted. The engine management light came on BMW had one look and suggested i replace the ECU at £750 i asked for a second opinion. Got that
and reset the code and cleaned a sensor and never had any problems since.
Apart from the dealer cost being high , the car is reliable and comfortable to drive. Town driving is ok but after a prolonged period in traffic your leg may get tired so if you'll be spending a lot of your driving time in traffic consider an auto.
I also found the seats a little hard , after driving for a couple of hours you may find your bottom has gone a little numb , however
this may vary from person to person dependin on age and weight
i guess. Also the leather trim is hot and sticky in the summer and
cold in the winter , so its not really the most practical but this is the same for all leather trimmed cars.
If you can live with the high main dealer servicing costs and you can find one with a full service history, then this is a nice car to own and drive. I have to say the customer service is good but it is rather expensive.