The 3-series' last redo brought attractive design to the interior and kicked the cheapness out; the new dash maintains the status quo. Most surfaces feel decently expensive and the burl walnut wood trim looks nice (poplar natural wood and aluminum are the no-extra-charge other choices). It's nice to see the clock, temperature, and trip computer all simultaneously present in the main displays.
Historians will note the window switches migrating over to the door, the cruise controls reborn on a lower-left steering column stalk, new temperature knobs on new dual-zone climate controls, the buttons for the locks and stability control now up high between the air vents (to turn off DSC, hold it for three seconds), and the four pods on the instrument cluster cluttering into two. The remote fob now serves as the key itself, and all 3-series now have that trendy engine Start button. Some of those are arguable steps backward.
An audible step forward is the stereo. All 3-series now have a 10-speaker (including two subwoofers under the front seats), single-disc, MP3-compatible system that includes an Aux input jack right in the center console. Hooray! Even this standard system actually sounds rich, in contrast to last time, when even the Harman-Kardon upgrade was garbage. The new step-up is a Logic7 surround sound piece with 13 speakers, which had better be phenomenal to top this.
The DVD-based navigation system continues as an option, with one long-winded string attached: BMW's universally-hated iDrive interface, which is surely ten times more frustrating than having to read a map. Maybe we should just be grateful that iDrive's an option, for once.
Gripes are minor: the rain-sensing wipers are cool, but give us a normal intermittent mode too, please. The turn signal is a dumb, counterintuitive device that bounces back to center whether it's on or off (often making you accidentally flip on the opposite signal to cancel it), and it always blinks a minimum of three times. Why do two flimsy cupholders spring out of the
right-hand side of the dashboard, why does the third done hide within the center console like a reclusive gopher, and why are they all so small in diameter? Finally, the glovebox's skimpiness forces the owner's manual to sleep outside in the passenger's door compartment, usurping the whole place.
The trunk is up by 1.3 cubic feet to 12 (pretty average), and that doesn't count the new handy 1.8-foot underfloor bonus bin left by the nonexistent spare tire. The lid is a little hard to get a grip on, but weighted well. Consistent with this car's sporty theme, the back seat doesn't fold down to expand the trunk, unless one pays the $475 BMW is asking, pathetically.
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