320d SE 184 Auto 4dr Saloon

As Jeremy Clarkson says 'all the car you would ever want'

We bought this car with 300 miles on the clock and have owned it for 4 weeks now. This is the third BMW 320d we have owned and it is driven about 15000 miles pa by my wife. This car is a significant improvement over the previous model and is a delight to drive. Of course the car is bigger with more room inside but it doesn't seem any more difficult to park (nb we have the optional park assist pack with rear camera and all round sensors).
The seats are a great improvement ( I was never comfortable in the previous model) with a bigger seat and a higher back rest. The ride is very good over rough surfaces (that's the normal roads in Kirklees) and gives a great cruising ride on the motorway (17" rims). This car has the more expensive autobox with active cruise control.
The active cruise control is a revelation. As long as motorway traffic is normal you can use the distance control system to cruise along with very little input from the driver. The system responds very quickly if someone cuts out in front of you (I suspect its faster than you can react yourself) and once you are used to it then you just sit there monitoring whats going on. I have only driven a car with on of these systems before, a S class Mercedes, and it scared me to death. My wife uses it most of the time on the motorway - great for the speed controlled sectors. I have never seen a review of any of these systems but this one takes you close to automatic driving of the car.
The standard sound system sounds pretty good to me and is a great improvement on the previous model with DAB radio or FM
Lastly the boot has a neat feature where if you press a button on the key the hinge which is spring loaded opens the boot lid on its own. Much better if you've got your hands full of bags. You can pay for a system where you wave your foot under the boot but its not worth it - the standard system works fine.
Of course the engine and transmission are fantastic and combined with 50+mpg gives results that are still amazing to me
So its a great car that is not cheap but worth every penny if you want safe comfortable and reliable motoring

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