Faults:

Rear spring broke after 14000 miles at cost of £200.

The agent blamed English roads. I told them I handle the car with kid gloves, I am usually the only person in the car and it has never carried any heavy cargo. I said they'd been making cars for English roads long enough to design a decent spring. On a previous BMW compact both of the door locks went at about 30000 miles at a total cost of more than £200 including a bit of BMW "goodwill".

General Comments:

The car is sluggish (I was reluctant to pay another £1500 for the faster version having already paid £20000+)

I was once overtaken by someone on a Vesper scooter who now, I imagine, thinks a lot more of his scooter than I do about my BMW. Although designated a 1.6 the engine is actually a 1.8.

Faults:

One Xenon light failed at 34,000 miles and 3 years.

Full set of new tyres were fitted at 28,000 miles.

General Comments:

I went for cloth seats and have no regrets; the sports seats are incredibly comfortable for long journeys and they hug you well on windy roads.

The driving experience is superb; good handling and I feel safe and secure when driving at speed compared to my earlier cars.

These BMWs are worth the premium over the mas produced cars as they are so well engineered and road noise is subdued.

I get 52MPG on long runs and 43mpg about town.

This is a leased car, and it has been my best to date.

Faults:

Rattle from the rear - fixed under warranty.

General Comments:

Excellent build quality

Handling is superb - very stable at speed & around corners. Has next to no body roll

Engine is very economical, smooth and free revving.

Power delivery is linear and is fairly nippy for a 1.8.

Should have bought this car earlier!!

Faults:

None.

General Comments:

Simply Superb

A true head-turner, and a car-lover's dream!

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong.

General Comments:

Has surpassed every expectation.

The engine is incredible, giving true sports car pace whilst returning 31 mpg average. How do BMW do it? I used to have a Mazda MX-5 which was 1200cc smaller, 300kg lighter, had only 60% of the power, yet returned 1 mpg less. A remarkable feat of engineering on BMW's part.

The car is fun to drive, although my only real criticism of is that it does isolate the driver a little from the action. Cocooned in a comfortable cabin with lots of noise insulation, it's not until you look at the speedo that you realise just how quick and capable the car is. This isolation however makes it a superb long distance machine. My job regularly takes me from the South coast up to Tyneside, and the car will munch this 400 mile journey so effortlessly that I rarely need to stop en route.

It's a fast, good looking, reliable, beautifully built and incredibly economical car which has a real feel good factor about it, even if they are pretty much everywhere these days. Exclusivity does not come with 3-series ownership any more, but that's a mark of the excellence of the car. I struggle to see how BMW will improve it in all honesty.

Faults:

None.

General Comments:

WOW, what a car. We took delivery of the car yesterday, and we had to go and pick the tax disc up today for it in Shrewsbury.

God, what a drive down, FANTASTIC in every way. It corners so good, it's not even a harsh ride with the 18" wheels. Sounds great, looks great, drives great.

I think we will be sticking to our BMW instead of those crap Audis and Mercs.