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My pre-owned BMW 320d GT: Ownership review with 9 Likes & 3 dislikes

6th April 2023, 15:36 by Rahul Nagaraj

The 190 BHP / 400 Nm car really comes to its own on the highways and in Sports+ mode, the character of the car changes and the way it builds up speeds, is something else.

BHPian dieselhead01 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hey. I wasn’t aware that I’d be writing this thread here, such was the decision of bringing this beauty home, it was all unplanned. Long story short, an unexpected purchase turned out to be pretty great.

Coming from a family of competent turbo diesel, we weren’t initially planning for an addition or an upgrade. Our 530d E60 still felt superlative fast, with all the in-line 6 goodness, but felt a bit too old, and at some point we all thought, it would be nice to replace it with the newer generation of the 530d. But due to a lot of sentiment and attachment to a car that had changed our lives, and had brought me into the field of automobiles, we decided to quit the idea of selling the car after all, and that specific car is going through some major upgrades now, both performance and cosmetic, which I’d be writing about in a thread a bit later, stay tuned.

So with no plans of upgrading or adding any more cars further to the garage, and being extremely happy with all the torque and power my stage 2 Octavia TDI gave me, didn’t want anything more after all. Plus for city commutes, and short trips, we had the Jetta DSG as well, which proved to be one of the best purchases we’ve made. So in short, everything was at peace.

One day, my dad gets a call telling one of his acquaintances had decided to sell off their 320d GT (Gran Turismo (or) Grand Touring) Luxury Line. The car had caught us at the first glance. It was very well maintained, had proper service records, the interior/exterior was in immaculate condition, and the engine was smooth as new. It was too sweet of a deal to miss out on. My dad usually is a man who loves taking risks, and he took one this time, finalised the deal and closed it, and brought home that beauty once and for all. I loved the way it looked personally, I’m really a fan of such unique designs, rather than mainstream sedans. Took the delivery of the car, and the first thing had the plates changed and then straight ahead for a proper full body car wash.

Here are some pictures of the beauty, pardon me, I haven’t clicked a lot of them, will upload them soon enough, but for the time being:

What I Like:

The butter-smooth, absolutely refined 2.0 diesel engine from the Bavarians: The engine could barely be heard at idle and it gets a little loud under heavy throttle, and trust me it sounds nice. Very well insulated.
Amazing suspension: Took all of the undulations/potholes/speed-breakers/patches like a pro. In short, excellent ride quality.
Fast 8-speed gearbox: Shifts are very quick and smooth, and that too all this is coming from a DSG owner.
Fast performance: The 190hp/400nm car really comes to its own on the highways, and on sports+ mode, the character of the car changes, and the way it builds up speeds, is something else. Despite the weight, triple digits come up in no time. City driving is now easy, as power is always on tap and at your disposal. Nice low-end, strong mid-range and exciting top-end performance. A small remap on this car would mean ‘madness’. The stock would do 0-100kmph in 7.5-7.7 seconds on a draggy, and somewhere in the low-mid 15s for the quarter mile.
Drive Modes: City commute is easier with the ECO-PRO/COMFORT modes, and on empty straights, SPORTS/ SPORTS+ is right at the disposal of the enthusiast in you, to exploit all the 190 horses.
The unique styling gives the car a proper road presence and is a head-turner. The car is quite long, I mean as long as my 530d, or maybe a cm or two smaller. It really stands out from a sea of sedans.
Very spacious on the whole, quite a big boot at 520 litres, extremely practical.
Good right height and ground clearance.
Loved the 18” alloys from the Luxury Line trim, in fact, loved it more than the Sports Line alloys, and felt it was a class above.

What I don't like:

No spare wheel, which is a must according to me, I wouldn’t have minded if the boot space was lesser and there was a spare wheel inside instead.
Although I loved the performance, I wished for a little more punch, maybe it’s because I’ve been driving diesel north of 500nm on a daily basis, I’ve been feeling that something’s missing. Although not as thrilling or violent as the Stage 2 Octavia, or the 530d, it moves ahead with ferocity and is significantly faster than the Jetta (stock).
Personally, I don’t think there’s much to dislike in this car, so that’s it.

All the mods and upgrades on this car would be mentioned in detail on this thread, so, do stay tuned. And a thread for the 530d I’ve been mentioning is coming soon and that’s gonna be a killer, so stay tuned for that as well. Cheers.

Exterior

The front end of the car doesn’t resemble a 3 series from any angle. The front itself is very wide and feels more like the 5 or the 6 series, seems much bulkier than the regular 3 series, both F30 and G20. Feels more upmarket and a class above in my opinion, and clearly stands out from the other 3 series as well, which gives it a different road presence altogether.

Another favourite angle of mine would be the sides. The styling and the overall way the car has been shaped is just beautiful, especially the coupe-like design and the longer wheelbase just makes me realise how big this car is, at almost 4.83m long, this car is actually a big sedan. The sheer length itself lets the car stand out.

The rear end of the car is what makes almost all the difference I suppose, as this is what totally distinguishes it from a regular 3er. First off, the tail lamps look absolutely lovely, especially with the full LED tail lamps, and look absolutely stunning at night. And the GT badging alone tells one that it’s not a normal 3 series, and is a ‘Gran Turismo’. The rear of the car is actually quite tall, and wide and ends like a proper coupe. I love the chrome strip treatment on the rear bumper, subtle yet ‘nice’. I’m huge on dual-tip exhausts, and BMW has struck the right tone on this one, mixing sportiness with the overall luxury quotient of this car.

The front headlamps are fully LED and functional and come with the standard ‘BMW Adaptive LED’ and do their duties pretty well. The lights look brilliant during the night, it has a pretty decent range and exposure, along with strong high beam/low beam functions, and are adaptive as the name suggests. The fog lamps are also LED and are functional as well. Overall headlamp design is impressive.

I’m absolutely in love with the 18” alloys from the Luxury Line trim. Usually, I’m someone who prefers sporty over luxury, and this is the only instance where it was the other way around. These alloys look rich and perfectly sized, correctly keeping up with the name of the trim, ‘Luxury Line’.

Another cool characteristic of this car would be the frameless windows. It’s absolutely stunning and this alone makes sure that the car stands out from the crowd. Such designs often might have polarised views, but trust me I’m a fan.

Firstly I never felt that a spoiler on a car like this would look good, but this car completely changed my mind. The cool spoiler open/close feature is something that’s pretty unique and adds to the appeal of the car, I always prefer driving with that spoiler open.