Drove today a 330i...

[BevoRules]

my wife had her X5 in the shop last few days and the dealership gave her a brand spanking new 330i as a loaner. so i obviously had to take it out for a test drive myself one time. car had nice (not great) acceleration and very solid handling i thought. when you got on the accelerator from 1st gear starting from a dead stop, the car would hit it quick. but when i was already moving and had car in 2nd gear and then hit it, there was a very slight delay before the engine got on it.

with the interior, the seats were comfortable and had very slek look. the steering wheel also fit in the hands very nicely. the vehicle was decked out with the quasi-wood paneling (i forget the actual name per BMW) and that i must admit in my opinion was not appealing at all. definitely will not be the option i go with in my M3 next year. the only other item of the interior i noticed that i didn't particularly like was the armrests on the doors. the armrests were shaped with a curve and as the front of the armrest approached the dash it actually sloped downward toward the floor. this actually made it a little weird in reaching for the window and door lock buttons as they almost felt like they were tilting away from driver. hopefully the interior of our Ms will have a little different armrest style.

anyway...all in all i like the car and enjoyed the drive. i can only imagine how much of a step up the M3 will be.