BMW 3 Series 320i Sport (2017) User Reviews

The BMW 320i LCI Sport Line is surprisingly a very comfortable car. The suspension is very balanced between comfort and sport. Since this is not an M-sport model, I can definitely feel the body roll on cornering, but it is comfortable to drive my family around.

BMW added some goodies to the LCI. The car came with BMW Connected Drive. It allowed me to connect with the car via a mobile app to perform the below commands:

1. Ventilation - turning on the fan remotely to ventilate the car for 30 minutes
2. Lock/Unlock the car
3. Turn on the light
4. Activate Horn
5. Locate the car
6. Call Roadside Assistant

The rear of the F30 is more spacious than the C-class W205 in both legroom and headroom. The rear seat bench is also longer than the C-class, this helps the rear passengers to rest their knee especially on long-distance travels. 

Another safety feature worth mentioning is the SOS Emergency Call. There is an SOS button located near the rearview mirror that I can press to connect to an operator when there is an emergency. In the event of airbag deployed, the car system will inform an operator to call to the registered phone number and if I did not pick up, the operator will send an ambulance to the known location of the car.    

Every car came with pros and cons. As part of the search of my ride, I will always segregate the cons into two categories:

1. Can be fixed after purchase
   • Example: reverse camera, soundproofing, audio system and other accessories
2. Cannot be fixed after purchase (or too expensive to fix)
   • Example: chassis, engine, gearbox, built quality and safety features like Airbags, AEB, LDW, LKA, etc.

For the cons on point 1 above, they are something that I can do to fix or mitigate it, hence it will not be an issue to purchase the car with these cons.

Those fall into the second category will be something that I must ensure that I am willing to accept it and live with it throughout the entire ownership of the car. The cons that fall into this category will be the deciding factor before purchasing the car.

The BMW F30 is with me for about 3.5 years now and it had been a hassle-free experience. It served me well and I enjoyed every moment driving the car.

I wouldn’t compare my “boring” dashboard against other makes including those from the non-premium brands like the Mazda, Peugeot or Volkswagen as I have made my choice in the first place. It is the same that I will not compare how the F30 drives against the Mazda 6, 508 or the Passat as each of them are unique and drives differently. Love what you buy and buy what you love.

Last but not least, I am aware that there is a stalk on the left of the steering that can tap up and down to blink some light, I am making use of it all the time and sometimes pushing the stalk.

The BMW B48 2.0 litre twin-scroll turbocharged engine pair with the ZF 8-speed gearbox provides a very smooth driving experience. Gear shifting is lightning fast, other than shifting from gear 1 to 2, I am not able to feel the gear change unless I take look at the engine rpm. I can barely rev the engine on day-to-day usage and gear changed at as low as 1500rpm. The engine is revving at below 2000rpm when travelling at national speed limit.

There is a famous issue with the B48 engine which is the water hose. There are quite a lot of units of B48 sent back to the service centre with water hose failure. So far it happened twice for me throughout the 3.5 years ownership on low water temperature. The service centre did pressure testing for me and there was nothing wrong with it, perhaps I am the lucky one (or maybe not lucky enough to claim a new set of hose).