BMW 318d Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: BMW 318d range
Prices: £24,225-£28,695- on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 12-13
Emissions: 123g/km
Performance: Max Speed 129mph / 0-60mph 10.6s
Fuel Consumption: (combined) 50.4mpg
Safety: Twin front airbags, twin front side airbags, twin ITS side window airbags / ABS /DSC / runflat tyres
Dimensions: [4dr] Length/Width/Height 4520/1817/1424mm

SMART MONEY

Our Rating: 7.3 / 10

Is the latest 318d the thinking person’s BMW 3 Series? Andy Enright reports

If the BMW 318d were a pop star, it’d be Jim from The Corrs; the one you don’t tend to look at in an otherwise glamorous line up. The M3 and the more powerful diesel models may make car journalists hearts go pitter-patter and attract the flowery prose but the plain Jane 318d might just be the smartest buy in the recently revised 3 Series line up.

Costing from just over £24,000 and priced around £1,100 less, model for model, than the more powerful 320d, the middle child of the three four-cylinder diesel engines in the 3-Series is still capable of putting on quite a show. Although there’s very little in it when it comes to fuel economy or emissions, the 318d scores a decisive advantage over the 320d when it comes to insurance costs, being rated a couple of groups lower at Group 12. There’s not too much in it as regards fuel economy, all the cars managing around 60mpg, while the spec sheet says that the 318d will emit just 123 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilometre, putting it on par with some tiny superminis. The 316d is a more efficient option with 118g/km emissions but only has 116bhp.

The 318d’s outstanding economy and emissions figures come courtesy of BMW’s EfficientDynamics technology. While other manufacturers were messing about with hybrids and biofuels in their attempts to go green, BMW developed a programme that enhances a vehicle’s efficiency through a series of small measures that have a big combined effect. Features including Auto Start-Stop, Brake Energy Regeneration, high precision direct injection, active aero dynamics and optimum gear shift indicators go into EfficentDynamics and the results put BMW products near the top of the tree when it comes to environmental considerations.

So why should you pocket the grand over the 320d and suffer lower performance and a less elevated image? It’s a valid question. The issue is thrown into a different light when you consider that these two cars have much the same engine, with a few electronic tweaks on the ECU being the most effective difference between their respective power outputs. Some customers may be tempted to opt for the 318d and pay £350 at an aftermarket tuner like Superchips to have their motor boosted to generate more power than the 320d. You’d need to have a close look at your warranty small print, not to mention the effect it would have on your insurance premium but it’s certainly a way of circumventing this rather contrived model differentiation on BMW’s part.

In case you’re wondering, the software jiggery pokery limits the junior model to 143bhp and credits the 320d with the full 177bhp monty. The upshot of this is that the 318d will feel a little sluggish if you drive it back to back with the 320d, but otherwise it’s an agreeably swift compact executive model, notching off the dash to 60mph in 9.3 seconds and running on to a top speed of 130mph. The excellent six-speed automatic gearbox offered as an option on the 320d sadly isn’t available to 318d buyers. If you are dead set on this automatic, this could be the real deal breaker but otherwise although the heart may say 320d, the head more often than not opts for the 318d. The six-speed manual gearbox fitted to this Three is one of the best in the business, slick, oily, positive and wristy. Coupled with excellent pedal positioning, you’ll be changing gear just for the fun of it.

One of the eternal trademarks of the 3 Series is rear wheel drive and although the 318d doesn’t possess tyre-scorching power to capitalise fully, I’ve still noticed the benefits. Deploying the full quota of 300Nm of torque as you accelerate out of a side turning would, in a front-wheel drive car, generate copious torque steer, that raggedy tugging of the ste