Around one-third of BMW‘s 3-series volume is either Coupe or Convertible, but it is the Coupe in particular that is the focus of attention for the German manufacturer’s fleet team because it has suffered at the hands of a rival young upstart.
For the first time, the 3-series Coupe faces a genuine challenge from Audi, with the latter’s A5 making serious inroads into BMW sector domination.
The response from BMW is a subtle facelift, designed to give the Coupe a perk-up in the face of competition from its prettier prestige rival. New front and rear lights, front grille, air dam and rear valence mark out the revised model, and the 320d is 7hp more powerful at 184hp, yet 1.2mpg better at 60.1mpg and 3g/km cleaner at 125g/km, although that won’t make any difference to the benefit-in-kind tax until the bandings change in 2012.
To drive, the 320d is still best-in-class, if lacking in ability to absorb bumps. But it’ll just about take four adults and a weekend’s worth of luggage, and a residual value of just over 40.0% equates to 61.8p per mile, which is excellent given the high asking price.
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