BMW 3 Series GT Ballistic Performance

BMW 3 Series GT Ballistic Performance

First thing right off the bat, BMW 3-series GT is one of the most underrated vehicles from the brand in the Indian market. The car comes with enough legroom, nearly identical to what 5-series is offering and it’s a lot more practical than the standard 3-series. The 2016 facelift of BMW 3 Series GT bring a lot to the table. The car comes with adaptive full-LED headlamps, revise bumpers at front and the rear, restyled alloy wheels and revamped LED tail lamps. Inside too, the car has been given additional equipment including the latest iDrive infotainment unit which is actually a trimmed version of BMW 7 series sedan except the touchscreen and gesture control functionalities. But the most important aspect of this car is the ‘330i’ badge fixed on the tailgate and that makes a whole lot of difference. I was really flabbergasted with the performance of this car when my friend bought it just recently. The engine is a 2.0L 4-cylinder turbocharged unit with 252PS and 350Nm on tap which perfectly comes in line with Mercedes GLC 300 and Jaguar XE. The motor is terrifically refined so much so that while driving you might not differentiate between the idle and running state. The driver can tune the performance by choosing from one of the four modes including Eco Pro, Comfort, Sport and Sport Plus. And if you really crave for thrilling performance, the Eco and Comfort are not for you. The other two modes gives the vehicle more power and aggression, a firm steering and of course, additional noise from the exhaust. The added power can be felt in Sport and Sport Plus mode without any drama. The car goes absolutely ballistic with the 0-100kmph sprint in just 7.3 seconds of time. The exhaust note is muffled through the brilliant 8-speed ZF automatic transmission. The car happily cruises at triple digit speeds. The area where this car does extremely well is when riding over the patched roads. Despite of no adaptive dampers and air suspension, the carmaker has tweaked the suspension setup in such a way to provide supple ride quality. While I felt that the handling and body control were a bit tight, it is still better as compared to equally sized luxury sedans. However, I felt that the driving position was quite low that means short height drivers like me will need some time to get accustomed to it. Concluding the review, I would say the car gives you what you ask for, thanks to the clever strategies of the carmaker which include downsized and turbocharged engine, multiple driving modes and a fantastic gearbox. Calling it a dual character vehicle would not be an exaggeration as it starts off as a tranquil, refined cruiser to a high-speed missile the next moment. In my opinion, it is certainly bang for the buck.