I own a 2011 320d Manual. My car got hail damaged, and I had to drive a 323i Auto as a loaner for a month.
After this experience, I don't understand why people bother buying petrol BMW's at all. The 320d is by far superior to the 323i in ALL respects.
- Power delivery is far, far better in the 320d. Raw, exhilarating torque available from the get-go all the way through the power band. The feeling of effortlessness is great. Power on tap, whether you accelerate from 20km/h or 120 km/h or 150 km/h for that matter.
- The 323i feels like it is labouring all the way. To get any sort of good response from the car, you need to be really hard on the accelerator. It does not feel “sporty” at all. Compared to the 320d, it is stone dead.
I realise that on paper, the cars are not much different in kW (The 323i actually delivers a bit more), and I suppose if you floor the pedals of both they arrive at their destination roughly at the same time, but the 320d just “feels” far, far better.
I will also say, that overtaking other cars, I feel much safer and more comfortable, with the immediate availability of power the 320d supplies.
- Fuel economy. Pfffff.....this is a no-brainer. There is no comparison. My 320d is not being driven softly. Both my wife and I drive briskly, and we have no compunction about using the power under the bonnet to good effect. We drive an approximate 60/40 ratio of urban/highway. We get 6,0 l/100km. The 323i economy is putrid. We actually drove it sedately because we quickly realized that using power in this vehicle is EXPENSIVE. And even driving sedately, we got 11,5 l/100km.....yuck.
From reading this thread, it became clear that a lot of people still suffer from the old, preconceived ideas instilled by older generation diesels. They do not realize that the new generation diesels are a different animal all together. The “work-horse-like” characteristic of the old generation diesels is gone....totally. New generation diesels are awesome performance machines. I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would ever buy a 320i once they have been behind the wheel of a 320d....honestly....it just makes no sense what so ever.
So in short:
320d Power delivery > 320i/323i Power delivery (By a HUGE margin)
320d Economy > 320i Economy (By a HUGE margin)
The only reason some choose 320i over 320d is they totally out-dated pre conceived ideas mentioned above.
If people were properly informed the 320i would go out of production.
P.S.
One exception for buying a petrol BMW does make sense to me. If you can afford the sort of lifestyle where your expenditure on fuel matters little, then buying something like a 335i I can understand....to some degree. As the 330d is not quite equivalent in raw power delivery. ( I wish BMW would apply their minds to produce a comparable diesel a high-performance 335d or something...would be an awesome machine)
I must also concede, that the 2012 320i is a big improvement on the 2008 design. It compares a lot better to the the 320d, almost gets there......
