BMW 320d xDrive Touring Review

We would be lying if we said that this is the most comfortable car we have ever driven. Still, unlike the first edition (read: non-facelift version) of the E90 and E91 series, this seems to be much more gentle with your vertebrae. We suspect it has something to do with either an improved run-flat system for the tires or the fact that they were for winter, or the fact that the suspension has been tweaked a bit differently. Either way, the ride comfort is pretty decent, especially on longer trips.

Our ears were enchanted by a BMW Business audio system with MP3 and surround capabilities. Not exactly BMW's finest, but this was more than adequate and it didn't distort too much when we played some Louis Armstrong close to maximum volume.

Our test car was missing a lot of comfort features from the options list though. No leather trimming except for the steering wheel and around the handbrake and transmission lever, no electrically adjustable seats, no (thank God!) annoying iDrive, no navigation system and no electrically closing hatch.

Apart from the all-round electrically operated windows, the dual-zone climate control system and the audio system, the car didn't have much to brag about in the comfort area, albeit like we said, the ride wasn't exactly a kidney punisher.

Apart from the very precise and informative steering, we mostly liked the engine's capabilities, both in performance and efficiency. Between 2000 and 3500 rpm the car kicks like a mule, making you feel like you're driving something much lighter and less family friendly.

Its only major downside is to be found in the noise and vibrations area. In the few times we drove it without the Auto Start Stop system, while idling the engine made the gear shifter vibrate like an out of control vibrator on its highest speed. Despite that our female colleague probably appreciated this “quality”, we didn't quite establish a connection with the way the engine interacted with the interior at idle.

Also, the sound it makes is nothing like a modern common rail but close to an oldschool Volkswagen pompe duse engine, which didn't exactly tickle our “performance for the win!” gland. On the good side, it sips fuel like an Englishman over-saturated with tea would finish a 5 liter bottle of Nestea at breakfast. Plus, it helps haul the all wheel drive wagon from naught to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just a bit over 8 seconds.

The xDrive system is probably the only reason some of us would drive a BMW during a hard winter. It's not exactly a life saver if you intend to only rely on it and switch off the traction and stability controls, but it sure helps a lot against all the skidding and tree-hitting experienced by some of the more “courageous” BMW drivers.

The six-speed manual transmission is precise and with some very acceleration-friendly gear ratios. The only quarrel we had (actually our female colleague, not us) with it was the very BMW-like way to put it into reverse. Since females are less muscle dependent when they move, it was a bit hard on her to pull the gear shifter into reverse. Boo hoo.

On the whole, as it was to be expected, the techy bits are more than OK on just about any BMW, our test car included. We didn't get to witness the sensations induced by a howling over-revved inline six-cylinder under the hood, but this was pretty OK nonetheless.

Compared to your average premium automobile, the 320d xDrive Touring might appear as a gadget-free option for the Amish in you. Especially our test car, which wasn't exactly an example of Bavarian cornucopia of contrivance. Still, having a second look we managed to find a decent amount of gadgets or wannabe gizmos which we didn't expect to discover.

The most in-your-face was the Hill Descent Control button. We didn't exactly catch what BMW engineers were cooking when they decided to include the system on this car. It works good with something like an X3 or X5, but remember, our test vehicle could almost leave the front bumper as a souvenir on the first try at mounting a higher-than-usual kerb. Still, it's nice that the system is there, but we feel it's mostly for bragging about it to your first-time passengers.

Another useful addition, although not exactly new on a BMW Touring, is the separate opening for the rear window, together with the luggage compartment cover. This is most useful when doing some not-so-hardcore shopping or some bozo has parked too close for your car's whole rear hatch to open.

Apart from some regular-to-be-found-in-premium cars options, another helpful feature for slobs were the automatic lights. Sure, it may seem like a snobbish gadget at first, but if you're a forgetful creature like some of us here at autoevolution.com, it does come in handy. Especially when entering poorly-lit tunnels at medium to high speed.

The rain sensor for the automatic wipers is a bit too much though, we consider, especially since the car does lack other common sense features. We believe that someone who is too lazy or too blind to turn its own windshield wipers on whenever it starts to rain may shouldn't drive in the first place. This feature might may sense if you live in the fish'n'chips and five o'clock tea country, but not in the rest of the world.

As we said before, the xDrive all wheel drive system isn't much of an active safety feature since if you switch off the Dynamic Stability Control on a rainy day it becomes practically useless. Our best bet is that the system was designed for hardcore drivers who want almost the same thing from their BMW both in summer AND in winter time. It does its fair amount of job at keeping you out of the ditches but it's much more on-road performance oriented than safe.

The six standard airbags (front dual-stage, front side, front and rear head airbags) are advertised wherever they can be found in the cabin, thus contributing to a warm and fuzzy feeling in “teh safety part” of your brain. Also standard are the over-intruding DSC (Dynamic Stability Control), DTC (Dynamic Traction Control), CBC (Cornering Brake Control) too keep you on the road even if you have a heavy right foot and the reflexes of a sloth on opium.

The car's safety cage was tested by the EuroNCAP organization only in its sedan form, but we believe it's OK to assume the Touring model would achieve similar results. The model achieved five stars for the adult occupants' protection, four stars for child passenger protection and one star for pedestrian safety, which isn't half bad considering the car's platform is now over four years old.

In the US, the National Highway and Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) gave the Touring the same scores as its sedan counterpart. This means four stars for the frontal and the rollover test and five stars for the side crash test. Not a bad feat, but this is definitely not the safest car you can buy today.

The biggest nice surprise about the 320d Xdrive Touring was definitely the frugal fuel consumption, This, compared to the more than decent push we got each time we pressed the gas pedal, the sports car-like steering and the best-in-class handling make it an offer we just couldn't refuse. Don Vito Corleone would have been a great announcer for the car in a BMW commercial, but portrayed in a slightly less tacky manner.

The 320d xDrive Touring drives like it's on rail most of the time. The pushed-back engine, battery at the rear and the near perfect front/rear axle weight distribution make it feel like almost like a sports car. A really unpleasant surprise happens if you're an oldschool family type whose brats somehow managed to switch off both the traction and the stability control. That's actually hard to do without the driver's knowledge since the engine has to be on and the DTC button must be kept pushed for a few good seconds, but still. If you happen to do that during winter driving or on low-grip surfaces you better hold on to the steering wheel and be very nice with the throttle, if you know what we mean.

The ugly side could only be the somewhat small interior space, considering this is still a station wagon. The engine is pushed so far back into the cabin for optimum weight distribution that it steals most of the extra space the longer wheelbase provides. The raked roof is no friend of practicality either, and everything about the car seems like a paradox. The xDrive is not as safe as you would expect from an all wheel drive system, the luggage compartment is not as spacious as the wagon-shape would lead you to believe and the engine doesn't drink as much fuel as its performance might incline you to think. On top of all this, the list of standard options is a tiny bit on the cheap side considering this is a premium car, but it more than makes it up in the performance and efficiency department.