Comments on: BMW 320d Touring Test Drive

By: importfan

importfan — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 03:26:21 +0000

I’m a E90 owner. Although my other car is a luxury MPV, I would never consider buying a bimmer station wagon coz 3 series is supposed to be a sports sedan and it behaves like one too. IMHO if utility vehicle is what you looking for, you might as well get one of those X series bimmer SUV.

BTW Paul, I can tell where in KL these pictures were taken at since I live in the same neighborhood. Do you stay around here too?

By: International Engine Of The Year 2007 Results

International Engine Of The Year 2007 Results — Mon, 21 May 2007 21:24:46 +0000

[...] list. BMW’s 2.0 liter turbodiesel comes in second place, something I’ve tried in the BMW 320d Touring test drive I wrote about [...]

By: raz_R

raz_R — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 18:27:59 +0000

people always forget about the Saab 9-3 SportHatch Aero when talking about estates, to me the Saab looks absolutely fabulous

By: Updated price list for BMW in Malaysia

Updated price list for BMW in Malaysia — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:05:51 +0000

[...] 320d Touring [...]

By: hameed koyakuti

hameed koyakuti — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 04:26:09 +0000

Paul,

Driving fast is just one of test categories, they are a lot of other categories to test/review……
response, behaviour, ergonomics, handling, acceleration, user friendly, consumer friendly, chic friendly………..

BTW, im not so much stressing on the test, but more on the Paul Tan’s endorsement………….hehehe………

By: auctioncenter2u

auctioncenter2u — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 23:40:55 +0000

Owner is BMW Malaysia, If its a company car It doesn’t meant the owner of this car is a GERMAN. Anyway, thanks for your information.

I found a mistake on my previous comment,
Correction -> “Plant No.”

By: tishaban

tishaban — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:12:47 +0000

It could be argued that the very popular Toyota Wish and Honda Streams are being used mostly as wagons in Malaysia. They just don’t look like the traditional estate or wagons.

Wagons/estates are very popular in Germany. Every car I was in while I was there (Audi, Merc, Volvo, Citroen) were wagons, manual transmission and diesel powered

By: transformer

transformer — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 13:48:29 +0000

mmmmm…… DELICIOUS!

but i prefer Volvo V-series, Audi RS4 or Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Wagon
http://www.automobilemag.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0702_hot_wagons/index.html

but wagon are not popular in bolehland!

By: lowprofile

lowprofile — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 11:12:51 +0000

wagons are very slow to take off in sales. ppl always seem to get ‘pasar malam’ with wagon in the same sentence (or in thought). wagons are nowadays fast practical and have equal levels of equipment as the saloon counterparts. in handling, very little separates the wagon of today from its saloon counterpart. they may also cost more due to more features in the back. sadly, the buying public will never be able to separate the wagon from the night market. sad.

on another note, i really salute bmw for bringing it in knowing full well that it will not sell in big numbers. same respect for volvo, chevy, audi, saab, not sure if benz brings in wagons officially though. honda also has a nice (somewhat affordable) wagon in the airwave (city based car) but i guess they are not interested in offering an additional variant to the market. sad.

By: sutheshkumar87

sutheshkumar87 — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 08:52:01 +0000

to chris the germ,
u staying in msia?
coz i dun recall any diesel 3-series here in msia.
hope u dun mind me asking.

By: proton GL

proton GL — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 08:30:12 +0000

estate is good, …family and some professional need it,

5 series having estate/touring for its M5,

By: chris_the_germ

chris_the_germ — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 07:36:54 +0000

Paul, thanks for the honest report.

I would always prefer Diesel…

We used to have a 320d in the family, a 2004 model. Never realized a turbo lag like this, maybe if you drive it for a while you would get quite used to it. However, the transmission didn’t even shift back under kick-down if the engine rev is somewhat above 2000. Sounds horrible, but works quite well, there is enough torque to stay in the same gear.
I am missing a comment on boot space: this car doesn’t have any, despite the fact that this is a station wagon.

The best thing about our old 320d: quality was really good, nothing ever broke… for us it was the best quality car ever.

By: mazranz

mazranz — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 06:50:53 +0000

Difference between CBU and CKD is actually the trim level. 325i CBU has better rims/tires and different size also as compared to CKD. I think the build quality is the same though… the 320d has that rims because it is CBU. if CKD, I think the rims will be smaller… 16in like CKD 320i

By: MrScuderria

MrScuderria — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 06:33:15 +0000

once again, the Germans have swept us off out feet. it surely looks menacing enough to me. the wagon market is slowly peaking up. and this is greatly attributed to Volvo’s new make and marketing strategies in Malaysia.

if and when it comes to malaysia, i do expect it to be greatly welcomed, especially after Paul described the fuel consumption in a surprising fashion. Even i, the average joe public is truly surprised that such a powerful machine could be giving out pretty impressive mileage.

In general, i feel that the rims could be changed. perhaps a more modern or fierce design?

By: Paul Tan

Paul Tan — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 03:35:30 +0000

motherker: no diesel 5 series only cos finish stock

auctioncenter2u: this car belongs to bmw malaysia, part of it’s fleet. so i guess you could consider it has a german owner.

hameed: what is a formal test driving class? is there such a thing? you dont need to know how to drive a car fast to review it.

honda_driver: it is turbo lag because the engine does respond fast, and the revs start to move, but there is a delay before power kicks in. i also noticed that diesel bmws have a different throttle feel than petrol bmws, petrol’s throttle feels harder, like there is more weight to push.

By: hameed koyakuti

hameed koyakuti — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 03:12:29 +0000

Dear Paul,
Are u trained to do a test drive? Have u go into any formal test driving class to evaluate a car? Hehehe, i think there is an opportunity to grab.
Maybe u can endorse some of the cars u test drive.
eg. Proton Savvy 1.2 AMT ” Endorsed by Paul Tan “…………since u already a brand in our local automotive industrie.
Hehehe, i can be your agent also maaaa…………

By: motherker

motherker — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 02:40:58 +0000

paul,
i thought u said that bmw msia isnt bringing in any of its diesel models here?

By: bolo

bolo — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 02:32:02 +0000

I love wagon. We should see more on the raod here. Just don’t understand why most Malaysian has a aversion to wagon.

By: alexbaby88

alexbaby88 — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 02:15:20 +0000

RM300k for a poverty spec BMW? They should improve the equipment levels.

By: mycar_stolen

mycar_stolen — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 01:38:26 +0000

same la with other 14 number, but some of them sound nice DAM14, DAN14, DAL14,TAL14,TAN14,TAM14 the k’tan and trg becaused it recently come out other states long time ago.

about the BMW, love the car, like to be specaial, ye la special la other people compact car/sedan suddenly you drive a stationwagon BMW some more but…BUT big but

4 cylinder/and other like not the best deal la.

By: honda_driver

honda_driver — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 01:14:47 +0000

personally, i think its a myth that imported bmw’s are better than CKD ones.

and bmw are probably only able to import in the touring because the volume of station wagons in malaysia is still very low, thus not making it feasible for them to startup CKD operations for them.

i’ve seen some fantastic looking modified tourings from hartge and ACS. very sporty.

btw paul, could the “slow response” on the throttle be due to the electronic throttle rather than turbo lag? I know of a modification for the electronic throttle whereby it makes the throttle more sensitive. Apparently, this is also a complaint on some of the petrol engined models.

By: V_NoZ

V_NoZ — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:26:43 +0000

i notice the sport rims on this particular model is bigger than the 320i sedan. look way much nicer. i think the price is right for model like this since is imported so the quality is much better. iam sure it will appeal to women drivers since it has a large boot to accomodate shopping items.
anyways iam waiting got the M3 to be launched soon.

By: auctioncenter2u

auctioncenter2u — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 23:20:11 +0000

I like the license plant No. XI ASEAN 14. I think the owner must be a MALAY not CHINESE. The funny part is…. XI= (9) ASEAN 14 = (mesti MATI) lah. The meaning is like….. If you have 9 ASEAN seated in this car, they all must be dead soon.

Other than that not thing interesting me, I rather buy the 3 series Sedan. Its looks much sporty and cool compare to a WAGON.

I don’t want to pay RM300k for a WAGON or TRUCK looking car.