Attractively styled, yet immensely practical, the all-new BMW 3 GT should pull new buyers to the upmarket German marque
It’s just on 40 years since I first got to drive a BMW to assist one of our senior guys in road testing. What a revelation that 2800 sedan was to a young fellow who owned a beat up old Cortina at the time. The iconic German car was a sheer delight to drive, with excellent balance, sharp steering and a feeling that the car was aware of my every wish.
Since then competitors have caught up to some extent, but BMW’s heritage means it leans in a sporting direction and its cars still lead the way in dynamics.
In the intervening four decades I’ve driven just about every BMW model – and one piece of criticism has been come up many times. The fact that space efficiency in the passenger car range hasn’t been particularly good. The front seats haven’t been too bad, but the rears in all but the very-expensive 7 Series have been often been marginal.
It has taken a long time, but BMW has finally fixed the interior problem, at least in the all-new 3 Series Gran Tourismo. This BeeEm finally gives those in the back seats room to move.
The iconic letters ‘GT’ have become somewhat mixed up in Australia, thanks to the hot GT Falcon. Strictly speaking GT doesn’t refer to a sports sedan, but rather to a grand tourer. The phrase was coined in the 1930s to describe European cars designed to let you tour in the grand manner. Meaning they were fast point to point, but cosseted their passengers in luxury and provided good luggage space.
Which is exactly what the new BMW 3 GT does. Though it is loosely based on the 3 Series sedan, the GT is much larger inside and has legroom not far short of that in the big BMW 7 Series saloon, and with good headroom as well. The new GT also has a huge boot under that stretched hatchback tail.
With a price list that starts at just $69,500 the BMW 3 Gran Tourismo is far more affordable than its big brother the ‘7.
Though the 3 Gran Tourismo is taller than others in the BMW sedan and wagon range – to achieve maximum interior volume by increasing the height of the seats above the floor – it’s shape is excellent and it manages to look lower and sleeker than it really is.
A bonus of the higher seats is that my ageing knees have less of a struggle getting into the car than in regular sedans and hatches. Sadly, I still can’t afford a BMW of my own, but many in my age group are now in the fortunate position to do so and many will cite the GT for this accessibility.
Boot space is 520 litres with the seats in use, and up to 1600 litres with the 40/20/40 seatbacks folded down. That rear seat arrangement means you can carry one, two or three people, with more or less cargo space as required.
The 3 Series GT is powered by a choice between three four-cylinder 2.0-litre engines. The BMW 3 320i petrol has 135 kW of power and 270 Nm of torque. The 328i petrol produces up to 180 kW and 350 Nm. Finally, the 320d turbo-diesel gives you 135kW and 380 Nm. A responsive eight-speed automatic transmission is used behind each engine.
On the road we spent time in the BMW GT 320i and GT 328i, but weren’t able to get ourselves into a diesel. The turbo-petrol four-cylinder units have excellent smoothness and response, though neither is to the lofty standards set by my all time favourite engines – BMW straight-sixes. Even the best of turbocharged engines just don’t provide that immediate action to the throttle that non-turbo engines provide.
Naturally the higher tune of the 328 give it more performance than the 320, but the ‘smaller’ engine probably has as much grunt as many owners require.
The slightly higher centre of gravity of the Gran Tourismo compared with the standard 3 Series sedan and wagon wasn’t really noticeable in normal driving, though presumably at-the-limit track testing might have shown some difference. For the very serious driver there is the option of M adaptive suspension, variable sports steering and sport seats.
We wouldn’t anticipate the M options being big sellers – but many buyers will surely opt for the other car ‘lines’ offered by BMW Australia. These are Modern, Sport and Luxury. The names are largely self explanatory, but each offers such a comprehensive list of features that it’s probably best you contact your BMW dealer to get all the details.
We tested the BMW 3 GT with standard 18-inch wheels and optional 19-inch units. The latter had quite a firm ride and created a fair bit of road noise. The smaller wheels weren’t quite as noisy, but BMW is still working on perfecting run-flat tyres.
BMW is one of the leaders in the safety field and the Gran Turismo has DSC, crash preparation systems, six airbags, a rear camera and run-flat tyres and automatic wipers and headlights amongst many other active and passive safety items.
BMW’s clever new 3 Series Gran Tourismo offers a lot of driving pleasure and prestige for a comparatively modest price. Add the extra factor of practicality and we feel sure the company is on a real winner.
The complete BMW 3 Series Gran Tourismo range is:
320i Gran Tourismo: $69,500 (automatic)
320d Gran Tourismo: $71,800 (automatic)
328i Gran Tourismo: $76,500 (automatic)
Note: These prices do not include government or dealer delivery charges. Contact your local BMW dealer for driveaway prices.
