The ultimate driving machine, great perfomance, fantastic features and a value for money deal.

I acquired a space grey BMW 320D (Highline) almost 4 months ago (July 2009). The car has done nearly 3000 kms so far (within the city and on highways as well). It has an exccedingly good performance and both low and high speeds and one is in complete control while turning corners and breaking. The car certainly lives up to it's image of the "ultimate driving machine". The handling and response of the vehicle is exceptional the DSC function keeps the vehilce in complete control while the breaking is effective at all speeds. The drive is smooth and comfortable and high speeds and external noise are hardly felt inside the cabin. I was keen on a manual drive version but unfortunately BMW has no immediate plans to lauch the same in India. However the automatic gearbox adds to the driving pleasure with well syncronised gear shifts and I now feel that it is much a better drive than the manual gearbox. The car has three drive modes regular, sports and sports manual and the gearbox smoothly transitions the engine from each mode to the other. The cabin is very comfortable with qualitiy climate control and a great sound system. The iDrive feature is great and extemely useful but requires getting used to in order to operate it while driving. It has so far delivered good mileage for a 2 litre diesel engine (14-15 kmpl on the highway and 10-12 kmpl in city conditions). The run flat tyres have not given any problem so far despite having travelled 3000 kms, in fact they add to the driving pleasure by providing fantastic road grip. The aftersales support provided by the local BMW dealers (Parsoli Motors) in Ahmedabad has been great and the BMW Secure and BSI packages cover servicing, repairs and spares well and although optional are highly recommended. This car is built to be owner driven only.

Superb handling, response and performance, good fuel economy, stylish design, useful featuresBit cramped in the back seat for more than two passengers, not a car to be chauffer driven in.