Some cars simply define their segment. Say compact sedan, and you think Civic. Say SUV and the Fortuner comes first to mind. And when it comes to sporty luxury sedans, the default answer remains to be the BMW 3-Series.
What we have this time around is the most basic version of the 3-Series sold in the country today. It’s the 318i Business, and we’re here to tell you that it’s still a car that hits the spot for both enthusiasts and the regular folk. Given BMW’s more recent design efforts, the current 3-Series is perhaps the easiest on the eyes among all the company’s other sedans.The exterior still looks great, but the interior does draw a more mixed reaction. See, the pre-facelifted version of the 3-Series still had proper instrument cluster with dials and all. However, the update got rid of that and tacked on a wide tablet on the dashboard.
One surprise was fuel economy. In heavy traffic, our tester still returned 8.2km/L at an average speed of just 17kph. Those are good numbers given that 2.0-liter engines typically have a reputation for being thirsty. In lighter traffic, those numbers go up to 12.1km/L while averaging 27kph.“The Ultimate Driving Machine.” It’s the tagline BMW used back in the ‘90s. But it wasn’t just a bunch of words for the company, it was a motto.