Each BMW 3 series is the best car of its generation

[233]

infidels stone them to death non Bayerische Motoren Werke loving fools

(says he with an audi and a gander of octavias parked outside)

 

[rare]

Oh the irony

You cant tell with this forum these days, everyone likes to take the urine.

 

[mrk]

I'd wager at least half of the 3 Series drivers on the road neither know, nor care, quite how good their car is. It said BMW on the back, so they bought it. Sad fact unfortunately.

To be honest my old man tangled me into buying this as I was set on a Prelude (I'm sure you can remember the endless moosings on irc about it back then ) - I was just worried about insurance on it all the way to the garage but the moment I sat in it and felt the quality of the trim and the weight of the moving parts and everything I just went for it.

Also turns out this 3 was cheaper to insure than the civic!

Going from a Honda Civic it was like going from a 1 star hotel to a 4 star one I guess.

Can't wait to get a Ci \m/

 

[Pleh]

Ford Mondeo's are better

Do I win ?

 

[[TW]Fox]

Actually the latest Mondeo is rather worryingly close to the 3 Series for BMW...

 

[therealnerd2]

Ford Mondeo's are better

Do I win ?

 

[barnettgs]

Hmm, I think it is a car you either love or hate! For me, I think it is a great driver car and I would love to drive a car with RWD which happened to be a BMW!

However, I come across an interesting customer's comment on BMW 320i:

I think the whole 'Ultimate Driving Machine' mantra is unduly overhyped. British car magazines buy into that hype hook, line and sinker.

Having driven the 320i with normal suspenion, I fail to see how a car can be satisfying to drive when it basically bounces and crashes from one road imperfection to the next.

Granted, roads in Kenya are worse than most, but even on the recently (and smoothly) surfaced highways, you are always fighting with the unnecessarily heavy steering to keep the car going straight.

My Subaru Outback has a far, far superior ride and even if it rolls a bit more in corners, the payback in ride quality far outweighs any agility the BMW may have. You can't even exploit that agility, because hit a bump mid corner and whole car jumps to the left or right, and picking up speed only serves to exacerbate all the faults mentioned above.

I love cars but I think this blind pursuit to offer the best handling is wasted on the vast majority of the car buying public, who are interested in comfortable transport from point A to B. That's why Mercedes sales in Kenya absolutely trounce BMW.

Based on that comment, it depends on where you live and Merc seemed to be more popular around here. Other side of the grass isn't THAT green now!

 

[Rambaud]

IMHO, BMWs have got got worse over the past few years (as a result of going mainstream) and others, particular Ford, have improved significantly - thereby narrowing the gap, and possibly even being surpassed by latest Ford Mondeo and Audi A4.

[I have owned 7 BMWs.]

 

[jamoor]

e46 handling in sport form is too comprimised imo.

 

[The_Dark_Side]

It's very true that nothing else can comes comes in terms of fluidity and the sheer way it flows like a BMW can.

Sorry but you're 18 and the OP probably around the same age.
How on earth can he even begin to think that you can make a comment like that from his own heart when he has almost no experience of driving?


The sad fact of the matter is if we all had subscriptions to a dozen motoring magazines, then this forum would be empty as so many members simple post what they've read elsewhere without understanding why it was said in the first place.

 

[leon4112]

had a e46 330ci 2 years back as a company car was ok nothing special wasn't fast more brisk thats about it really didn't love it in anyway just felt like every other bmw on the road wasn't it on topgear that said bwms are more common than fords now just not special enough

i love my fiat coupe 10x more than that 330 and it has better seats miles faster and nicer place to sit and not as common as my left black sock!

think the only bmw i would have now is a e39 m5 think thats my next car next year sometime gonna put 15k aside so should get a nice 01 reg for that maybe even 02 by the time i do

 

[Muncher]

It's a pretty facile statement as the Porsche 911 is better than every generation of 3 series. As is every V8 Ferrari, as is the Mitsubishi Evo, and the Subaru Impreza. Every car produced by Lotus, Noble, Caterham, TVR are better drivers cars.

Every generation of MX5 is a better drive, loads of Golfs were better. What you are really saying is that a few BMW range toppers were pretty good cars compared to a load of other mediocre stuff churned out by volume manufacturers like Peugeot, Citroen, Renault, Ford, Nissan and Vauxhall....

 

[Lopéz]

Sorry but you're 18.

When I was 18 nothing else came close to the fluidity of my Mk 3 Escort.

 

[leon4112]

It's a pretty facile statement as the Porsche 911 is better than every generation of 3 series. As is every V8 Ferrari, as is the Mitsubishi Evo, and the Subaru Impreza. Every car produced by Lotus, Noble, Caterham, TVR are better drivers cars.

Every generation of MX5 is a better drive, loads of Golfs were better. What you are really saying is that a few BMW range toppers were pretty good cars compared to a load of other mediocre stuff churned out by volume manufacturers like Peugeot, Citroen, Renault, Ford, Nissan and Vauxhall....

i agree think i would rather have loads of other cars rather than a below m3 3 series and would have a rs4 over a m3 as well

 

[The_Dark_Side]

When I was 18 nothing else came close to the fluidity of my Mk 3 Escort.

When i was 18 nothing else came close to the fluidity of the bus timetable, mainly because when i was 17 i wrote my dads car off at just below 90mph while it was four feet off the ground.

 

[The_Dark_Side]

i agree think i would rather have loads of other cars rather than a below m3 3 series and would have a rs4 over a m3 as well

With the latest RS4, there are a lot of people sharing your opinion.

 

[[TW]Fox]

It's a pretty facile statement as the Porsche 911 is better than every generation of 3 series. As is every V8 Ferrari, as is the Mitsubishi Evo, and the Subaru Impreza. Every car produced by Lotus, Noble, Caterham, TVR are better drivers cars.

None of these cars are in the same class as a 3 Series.

Every generation of MX5 is a better drive, loads of Golfs were better.

Which Golfs would they be?

 

[Begbie]

I don't disagre they ain't good cars, but most people can't drive them!

Vauxhalls for the win!

 

[The_Dark_Side]

How do you end a debate with post#1 by the way?

 

[Tom|Nbk]

You are almost certainly right - for pure driving enjoyment, as a drivers car, nothing in its class beats the 3 Series which is usually why RS audi's get shown up by the M3.

Lots of people will disagree with you though, most of which having never driven a 3 Series.

Whats perhaps more of a question is... does this really matter?

But still, this is OcUK. So, a car celeberated every where as being the drivers choice and available with a range of some the best engines the world has ever seen (I wonder if any car other than a 3 Series has had more Engine of the Year powerplants in it) will be derided as crap and boring, based on the fact that:

a) They dont have one
b) Everyone who does is a **** anyway
c) Everyone in their road has a shabby E36
d) Golfs and stuff are interesting, RWD 6 pots are not

But then this forum is obsessed with image. This is a forum who would say a Ferrari F430 is crap and boring if Ferrari sold 100,000 of them next year. This forum is able to erase and forget every talent a car has and judge it purely on how it looks and how many they see each day.

Yet you felt the need to amass over 50k of post's in "this forum"

Agreed on the 3 series I really like them It's tempting to consider one as my next car.