The E90 328 sedan really suprised me... this car is by no means slow. When I picked up the car... I was expected it to be slow and even slower because it was equipped with an automatic rather than a manual. Talk about pleasantly suprised.
Stab the gas pedal from a stop and the car accelerate quite quickly... it may be the smallest of engines available from BMW in the US, but it is quite powerful... enough to earn a mighty mouse title in my book. Accelerating from a stop to highway speeds happens effortlessly as quick and smooth shifts are done with the six speed automatic transmission. Granted, the mighty mouse motor starts to run out of breathe as you enter the triple digit arena, but think of what you are asking for this motor.
Move the shifter over into the sport mode and shifts become that much more crisp and gear changes happen at a much higher RPM. Stab the throttle ever so briefly before entering a corner and the transmission downshifts to a low gear as your proceed to then put the car through the corner.
Disable the first level of traction control and even tho the car does not have a limited slip differential, the brains behind the DSC try to simulate one as you attempt to power yourself out of a corner. With the DSC turned down a bit, power induced oversteer is available at slower speed and if you ask for too much throttle prompting the car to get out of wack, the car steps in to push you back in line. Physics are still very present, but with the DSC on a looser leash, it makes driving this car quite a bit of fun. Disable all of the traction control features and you'll find that the lack of limited slip differential is ever prevalent as the inside tires starts to smoke as you try to power out of corners prompting so quite flagrent tail wagging scenarios... while fun, not fast or comforting.
Even when equipped with the smallest tires available which sport some high profile tires, handling is quite nimble and communication to the drive is still present through the seats and steering wheel. The handling is excellent given this is a base model sedan which is supposed to just be basic transportation for those in the BMW family. The bumps are soaked up with ease, but grip is ever prevalent and with better tires could rival that of some other sport sedans in the class.
The brakes were readily available each and every time they were called upon, however fade did become an issue after a few attempts to drop anchor from highway speed. Feedback was excellent and ABS was extremely effective when needed.
I won't go into the interior details as ... well, most of us have already seen and experienced the interior.
As for options... the 328 is stripped down base model car, no frills... but as transportation, it gets the job done easily. Some options could easily push it up to the price of a 335, so you may want to take a look at what options you are putting on the car as some of them come standard on 335 cars.
Next time around that I am looking for transportation... the 328 will definitely be on the list of cars to get info about. Excellent car!
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