More power for diesel 3-Series

BMW has given details of revised diesel engines that will be launched as part of the 3-Series’ forthcoming facelift. Fuel economy and CO2 figures have also been improved, in some cases by enough to drop a company car tax band.

The BMW 330d gets a revised version of BMW’s all-aluminium 2993cc six-cylinder diesel engine, featuring piezo injectors and a variable vane turbocharger. Power goes up to 245bhp, a 14bhp increase on the current car, accompanied by 384lb ft of torque (up from 368lb ft).

Despite the increase in performance, BMW has managed to also improve both the 330d’s fuel economy and CO2 figures, with manual transmission version of the revised car offering a combined 49.6mpg and 152g/km compared to the outgoing model’s 46.3mpg and 160g/km.

The 330d automatic also drops its emissions, from 176g/km to 165g/km – enough to drop it from VED band ‘E’ to band ‘D’ – a £30 saving on road tax from next year.

Confusingly, BMW claims the revised 325d (which uses a downtuned version of the 330d’s 3.0-litre motor) returns identical fuel economy to its more powerful sibling – 49.6mpg for a manual saloon – but it’s CO2 figure of 153g/km is actually 1g/km higher than that of the 330d. Go figure.

The four-cylinder 318d and 320d continue as before, although the 318d will be offered with the option of a six-speed automatic gearbox for the first time.

BMW has also released more details of the revisions made to the cumbersome iDrive controller on range-topping 3-Series models. This will now get a ‘back’ button to make it easier to navigate out of a sub-menu. An optional hard drive navigation system will also allow users to store music tracks in the car, with its 8Gb capacity capable of storing more than 100 albums.