BMW 328i Sedan
Complaints: None about the car.
Ride, acceleration and handling: Superior compact sports sedan in all three categories. If I had $30,000 to spare, I’d buy and drive it without having a single moment of guilt.
Head-turning quotient: It is a work of understated sensuality — sinewy and attractive, yet practical and purposeful.
Body style/layout: The BMW 328i is a compact, entry-level luxury, front-engine (longitudinally mounted), rear-wheel-drive sports sedan with a traditional notchback trunk.
Engine/transmission: It comes with an in-line, three-liter, six-cylinder, 24-valve engine that develops 230 horsepower at 6,500 revolutions per minute and 200 foot-pounds of torque at 2,750 rpm. The engine is mated to a six-speed manual transmission. Also available is BMW’s six-speed Steptronic automatic transmission with manual shift capability–for an additional $1,275.
Capacities: There is seating for five people. Cargo capacity is 12 cubic feet. The fuel tank holds 15.9 gallons of required premium unleaded gasoline.
Mileage: We averaged 29 miles per gallon on the highway and 20 miles per gallon in the city in the tested manual 328i.
Safety: Standard equipment includes side and head air bags, electronic stability and traction control, and four-wheel antilock brakes.
Price: Base price on the tested 2007 BMW 328i sedan is $32,400. Dealer’s invoice price on the base model is $29,810. Price as tested is $35,195, including $2,100 in options (eight-way power front seats, Dakota leather, onboard navigation system, Bluetooth telephone technology, automatically dimming/folding side-view mirrors, universal remote transmitter) and a $695 destination charge. Dealer’s price as tested is $32,414. Prices sourced from BMW, www.kbb.com, www.edmunds.com, and www.cars.com, an affiliate of The Washington Post.
Purse-strings note: A slam-dunk buy for people with the money who want a sports sedan that lives up to the "sports’ part of the name. Compare with Acura TL, Audi A4, Infiniti G35, Lexus IS250, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Volvo S-60.
