BMW 3 Series Touring review

Driving position 

Getting comfortable in the BMW 3 Series Touring is a breeze. It’s probably one of the easiest to set up that we’ve ever experienced – it’s basically the perfect driving position. 

There’s loads of adjustment with the car’s electrically operated seats (fitted to our test car with the optional £1,200 Comfort Pack). It’s the same story with the steering wheel, and once you’re comfortable, you feel at one with the car. 

Everything falls to hand perfectly, from the gear selector switch to the infotainment control dial. It’s almost as if BMW has been doing this for over 100 years. 

The seats themselves hug you in all the right places and are supportive enough. It’s not as comfortable as its Mercedes C-Class Estate rival, we found, but certainly a sportier setup, which we like. 

All-around visibility is pretty good, though there are a couple of blind spots when merging or changing lanes on the motorway, but have a play with your seating position, and this may not be the case for everyone. 

Tech and features 

The first thing you notice after you buckle up your seatbelt is the new interior – a new addition as of 2024. 

A massive 14.9-inch curved screen dominates the top of the dashboard, connected to the 12.3-inch driver’s display to show your speed, etc. This large unit is fantastic to look at, making the old car and its 10.25-inch screen feel like a Blackberry in a world of iPhones. 

It’s also very easy to navigate, either by swiping on the screen itself or using the control dial between you and the front passenger. All the controls are straightforward, and the iDrive software itself is intuitive and crisp.  

Though we found ourselves using wireless Apple CarPlay (Android Auto is also available) 99% of the time for all our music and maps needs. 

Speaking of, our 330e M Sport Touring test car came with the optional wireless phone charger, but there are also a few USB ports you can use, too. 

Apart from the aforementioned Comfort Pack, it also came with the £2,100 Technology Pack, which adds a driving assistant, Parking Assistant Plus (self-parking) and Live Cockpit Pro with a head-up display. It’s a nice extra but not a necessity. 

Something else new BMWs come with is ‘Hey BMW’, which is a system to control a variety of functions through your voice, such as ‘make it three degrees cooler’ or ‘tell me a joke’. 

Engines and power 

Now that diesel 3 Series are a thing of the past, there are fewer options to choose from, or rather, a more concentrated selection. 

The 3 Series comes as either a mild-hybrid 320i, the powerful 374hp, six-cylinder M340i or the 330e plug-in hybrid. 

We had the 330e, and if you want the best car for all worlds, this is the one to go for. Under the bonnet is a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine which produces 178hp and 300Nm of torque. 

Mate this to the electric motor and you get a full 245hp and 420Nm, plus 60 miles of electric-only range. Otherwise, the engine and motor work together for maximum efficiency. More on that in the fuel economy section. 

When working together, the 330e has a 0-62mph time of six seconds compared to the M340i’s brisk 4.5 seconds. 

To drive on a daily basis, the PHEV is perfect. It uses a mixture of petrol and electricity most of the time but has several drive modes (Electric, Hybrid and Sport) to allow you to switch to EV-only up to 75mph and assuming there’s enough battery left. 

On the motorway, the engine feels very refined and never stressed. Around town, the electric motor and battery handle everything in silence, and Sport mode brings the family estate car alive on a twisty B-road. It’s no M3, but it’s still plenty to have a bit of (legal) fun. 

Handling and ride comfort 

The reason you buy any family car is for maximum comfort, right? Well, we’re glad to report that the 3 Series Touring lives up to its promise. 

Often, sporty-looking estate cars can be too firm on the road, but in the case of this BMW, it rides the bumps well and doesn’t ever feel too stiff, unlike most new MINIs these days, which sit under the BMW brand. 

Even with the added weight of the PHEV batteries, it doesn’t feel heavy or cumbersome at all – that’s some really clever engineering.  

And thanks to the battery’s placement closer to the centre of the car, it drastically improves weight distribution, and therefore makes cornering and overall driveability much flatter and more direct. 

As you’d therefore expect, driving around town is a doddle. It handles all the usual lumps and bumps in the road like a champ – even some really horrid potholes, and that’s even when sitting on relatively skinny tyres wrapped around its 18-inch M Sport wheels. 

Take it out of town and onto a nearby B-road and it’s the same story. This is probably when you want to flick it into Sport mode, and even then – when the suspension firms up – it doesn’t feel too stiff and instead tackles tight corners really well. 

Then, when you need to get somewhere faster and more directly on the motorway, there’s minimal road noise, it doesn’t feel floaty or harsh – we really found it to be the Goldilocks of ride comfort. 

Boot space 

For an estate car, the 3 Series Touring has a decent boot, but there's something else we need to point out first. 

Unlike most other estates, the 3 Series has a split tailgate, meaning you can either open the boot as normal or just flick open the rear window.  

This makes it brilliant for chucking last-minute bits in the back, or reaching items without stuff falling out the back. Why every estate car doesn’t have this, we don’t know. 

The standard 3 Series Touring has a 500-litre boot, though the plug-in hybrid loses 90 litres due to the batteries under the floor. 

By comparison, the Mercedes C-Class Estate has 490 litres (360L for the PHEV), and the Volkswagen Passat Estate has 690 litres (530L for the PHEV). 

This places the BMW as a strong middle point between the two, and it’s certainly the sportier car. 

Rear seats 

Rear space packaging is impressive, too. We found there to be enough legroom for taller passengers, even behind a tall driver. 

Headroom isn’t so good with the optional panoramic sunroof, but it’s to be expected. Most passengers will be absolutely fine on longer journeys. 

There are also two USB-C ports and climate controls to keep rear-seat passengers happy. 

Storage solutions 

Overall storage isn’t half bad. There are deep door pockets for bottles, a well-sized centre armrest storage section, and a couple of cupholders in front of the wireless phone charger compartment. 

The same goes for the rear seats, though you may want to put most bits in the boot. It is an estate after all. 

Safety 

The BMW 3 Series scored a full five stars in its 2019 Euro NCAP crash tests, so its safety rating is proven.  

This is mostly thanks to its standard safety kit, such as a whole host of airbags, electronic stability control, lane departure warning and front collision warning. 

As standard, you also get front and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera. Want the 360-degree view camera? You’ll need to fork out extra for that. 

Fuel economy 

BMW claims the 3 Series will get 41.5mpg in its most basic petrol form and up to 353mpg in 330e PHEV spec (though, this is based almost all on electric driving, so it’ll be lower in reality).  

We found our 330e test car got around 50mpg in the real world, and even when the battery ran out, we were averaging around 40mpg. This is about right for this class of car, and what most drivers can expect to get. 

Reliability 

Being a BMW, the 3 Series is generally a really reliable car. The fact that BMW’s been making it for so many years helps. 

Plus, every new BMW comes with a three-year/unlimited-mileage warranty, so you’re covered for a while. 

Even if you’re buying used, adding products such as cinchCover can give you added peace of mind.