I attended a BMW 3 Series Comparison drive yesterday. We got to compare the new 328xi vs 3 of it's competitors on a short auto-x style course. We also had to opportunity to drive the 335i and the new 335d
The competition was an Audi A4 2.0T, Merc C300 AWD and the Lexus IS250 AWD. I think the course we designed to really showcase what BMW is good at and highlight what the competitors were really bad at but it still was fun.
My favourite car by far was the 335d. My god the torque! First gear isn't that impressive but when the autobox slotted into 2nd, whoa nelly! You can really feel the torque difference between the 335i and the 335d.
The 335d sounds pretty good too, a tiny bit diesely at idle but sounds like a proper car under throttle.
After the event they showed us the new Z4. Oh man is it ugly.
The folding metal roof is neat though...
