BMW 330d Saloon review

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BMW 3 Series 330d M Sport Road Test

Test date 22 October 2008 Price as tested £35,570

For Unrivalled blend of performance and economy, chassis composure, iDrive system

Against Choppy ride quality, so-so rear room, styling tweaks can't hide dull looks

It’s all about E numbers. E21, E30, E36, E46, E90… this is how we distinguish the five generations of 3-series that have been with us since the original’s debut at the Geneva motor show in 1975. But it was not until the early 1990s that BMW offered the 3-series with diesel power.

The 325td had a straight six motor, just like the modern 330d, but it displaced just 2.5 litres and yielded a mere 115bhp, less than half the output of the today’s 330d.

It took almost exactly double the time to reach 62mph (12.0sec) and would return less than 40mpg. Were its CO2 emissions calculated today, it would probably earn itself a place in Band G.

The proposition this new BMW 330d makes can be summed up quite effectively by three simple stats: 155mph; 0-60mph in 6.0sec; 50mpg.

A mere five years ago this combination of numbers would have been pure science fiction, and even right here in the present day you find yourself reading them twice simply because they don’t seem to belong together.

But they do. BMW’s strategy to keep the already three-year-old 3-series ahead of its most direct and uniformly younger competition from Audi and Mercedes is, as ever, to engineer its way out of trouble.

Which is why so much effort has been spent on the 330d engine in particular and the entire 3-series operating system in general.

The E90 3-series quickly established itself as the quickest-selling 3-series ever to go on sale in the UK, and this latest version’s prospects seem more compelling than ever.

Here is a car with performance that not long ago would have been considered the province of a supercar, combined with economy and emissions that better those of a 1.4-litre Nissan Micra. Too good to be true? Let’s find out.