BMW 330d (2008) facelift CAR review

Since the current BMW 3-series was introduced it’s faced new competition from the Mercedes C-class and the Audi A4. BMW is fighting back with a revised version that benefits from refreshed looks and a few small but important tech tweaks. Question is, can these changes keep the class leader on top?

Small changes, you say. So what’s new on the facelifted BMW 3-series?

Well, the cosmetics are the most obvious difference. You won’t have to squint hard to spot the new fluted bonnet with shades of the gorgeous CS concept car. BMW has tried to make the car look longer, wider and more elegant. We’d say it’s succeeded: the new Three certainly has more presence and character than before, and the back end in particular looks much more upmarket.

There you’ll find new LED tail-lamps and a re-designed bootlid. Along the sides are new sill panels, while the bumpers are reprofiled front and rear and fitted with chrome strakes to each side of the front foglamps. The kidney grilles are bigger, more like those of a 5-series, and there are new headlamps and mirrors, too.

Any changes inside the new 3-series?

It all looks very familiar in here. Some of the switchgear’s been titivated with a new matt black and chrome finish, there are chrome bezels for the instruments, and some new trim materials.

But the big news is the new iDrive interface. It’s all based around an integral hard drive, so there are no more DVDs for the sat-nav and you can download up to 12Gb of music. That's a lifetime's tunes, since you asked.

There’s even internet access, too – an automotive first that this junior BMW shares with its new 7-series big bro (but the UK launch is pending while the telephone companies thrash out a deal). Best of all, the whole iDrive system is much simpler to use, with additional buttons arrayed around the controller so you can access the stereo, sat-nav and so on directly without having to pass through several menus.

In that respect it’s much more like Audi’s highly intuitive MMI system. BMW invented the concept, Audi refined it, now BMW’s is easier to use too.

Click 'Next' to read how the facelifted BMW 3-series drives