Instrumented Test
TESTED
Here at Car and Driver, we generally prefer thoroughbreds to Clydesdales. It isn’t that we don’t respect the beer-wagon-pulling ability of oversized and muscular equines; we’d just rather saddle up something that can cut and run. It can be like that for the general public with diesel and gas-powered cars as well. Turbocharged diesels are often equated with efficiency devices or stump pullers, whereas turboed gasoline engines enjoy a saucier rep. And for all the digital ink we spill on diesel cars, there still aren’t a lot of them on U.S. soil.
But with carmakers facing aggressive fuel-economy and emissions mandates, compression ignition, along with downsizing and electrification, is garnering more stateside attention. The last time BMW tried mixing oil and rubber in a U.S.-market car was the E90 335d of 2009. That Bimmer’s 425 lb-ft of tire-smoking thrust tickled our collective fancy by enabling a fleet 5.7-second run to 60, but its 3.0-liter six didn’t turn heads with its EPA mileage (23 mpg city, 36 highway), and its near-$50,000 base price placed it awfully close to 5-series territory.
Ultimate Diesel Driving Machine?
Enter the 328d. Bumper to bumper, it stretches about as long as a VW Jetta TDI but weighs roughly 400 more pounds with the xDrive all-wheel drive of our test car. (The gap shrinks to 205 pounds with the rear-drive version.) In place of the burly but thirstier six of the 335d, the 328d employs a 2.0-liter four-cylinder, and it tips the fuel-economy/performance ratio in favor of the former. The new diesel has EPA estimates of 31/43 for the xDrive model (or 32/45 with rear drive) actually exceed the Jetta TDI’s 30/42 numbers. We saw 35 mpg over the course of 874 miles. Our most recent Jetta TDI test netted 40 mpg observed, but the Bimmer’s miles were mostly suburban, whereas the last Jetta racked up many of its mile markers on an interstate slog to Iowa and back.
The flip side is that the 328d’s 181 horsepower just barely exceeds that of the 180-hp gas-fed turbo four-cylinder in the entry-level 320i. At 7.2 seconds to 60 mph, the 328d xDrive is about as quick to 60 as is a rear-drive Cadillac ATS with its base 2.5-liter four (7.4 seconds), but it’s still 0.7 second slower than the rear-drive 320i. That makes the 328d the slowest new 3-series BMW one can buy.
