[hjs1971]

I am American owner of an '08 335xi (no perfomance mods, YET!) so I have some experience with BMW's. I've been in Germany for the last month on business and have rented 3 different BMW's as rental cars. Here's my review on each one...

First-'08 320d sedan 6MT. Decent little motor, great highway MPG, pretty good from a dig for such a small motor. No cupholders anywhere that I could find. Got it up to 220kph with not much problem, pretty stable at that speed.

Second- '09 525d Auto. Nice motor, very strong pull to it, good highway MPG, could pass with ease on the autobahn. No cupholders again. Pretty comfortable on a long haul with 5 people and lots of baggage. Very stable on the autobahn but would only do 220kph in D mode, did 242kph in DS mode. I have an auto with paddles on my 335xi and love it. This new fangled auto shift selector thingy took a long time to get used to and I didn't like it.

Current- '09318i sedan 6MT. Lackluster motor, no pickup at all. Have to downshift to pass everytime, even going up a small hill requires downshifting. Not too stable on the autobahn. Got it up to 200kph and didn't quite like the way it felt (it had more "all season/winter" type tires on it too). Did have cupholders though!

All nice cars that I could drive everyday but not the 318i, I couldn't live with that, maybe for the g/f wife but not for me. I do like the parking radar feature and I finally figured out most of the i-drive. All in all, just reinforces that BMW makes a good car and those diesels are good, if unknown/unsung motors in the U.S.

[bbimmer79]

cupholders are optional in Europe. In Belgium they are part of the storage pack , S0493 , which is a €150 option.

[I335]

Well, to keep the costs down it sounds like you should go with the 318 for both your g/f and your wife...












J/K - thanks for the insight, very interesting!

[voltron1011]

Nice review.

[jopa489]

Cool information.

Germans get into the car to drive and do nothing else, unlike most Americans who are too distracted.