BMW 3 Series review

The new-generation 3 Series is excellent to drive and has a superb interior, but practicality is questionable

RRP £41,945

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BMW 3 Series

Expected annual mileage 6000 Term months 60 Deposit months 12 Monthly payment £480.69 Initial payment £5,768.28

Step-by-step

Leasing works a bit like a long-term rental. You drive it, but you don’t own it.

• Choose your car, pick your terms and apply for lease credit online
• Pay monthly rental payments for your chosen term length
• Drive it, enjoy it, then give it back at the end

What you get

When you lease with Autotrader you get all of this:

• Full manufacturer’s warranty
• Road tax and roadside assistance included
• Free returns within 30 days*

Excess mileage charges and return conditions apply. Subject to availability and credit status. 18+ T&Cs apply.

In partnership with

£6,013 total upfront (£5,768 initial rental plus £245 processing fee) | 6000 miles | 60 months

• Lower total monthly cost than PCP/HP
• No balloon payments
• Road tax included

Executive

Hybrid

Saloon

Jump to:

Introduction

Performance & drive

Interior

Passenger & boot space

Buying & owning

Dan Jones

Updated: 29 October 2026

How we test cars

The BMW 3 Series has always done the business for business people, and this latest version is no exception. It's an executive car that’s sporty to drive and has all of the latest tech from the German marque. 

It has moved with the times in other ways too. For example, this latest iteration can even be had as the BMW i3, an all-electric version of the 3 Series. In this review though, we’re focusing on the petrol version, which gets the same Neue Klasse styling inside and out but gives you two petrol engines to choose from. That list will increase in the future to include a super sporty M3 and, likely, a plug-in hybrid (PHEV). 

New car deals

Best price from £39,995

What is What Car? best price?

The What Car? best price shows you the cheapest way to buy your new car, whether it's by choosing an in-stock car through our partner Autotrader or placing a factory order.

Available now from: £39,995

RRP from: £41,945

Available now

From £39,995

Leasing deals

From £481

About our price indicator

What Car? indicative Personal lease example (subject to status)

BMW 3 Series

Expected annual mileage 6000 Term months 60 Deposit months 12 Monthly payment £480.69 Initial payment £5,768.28

Step-by-step

Leasing works a bit like a long-term rental. You drive it, but you don’t own it.

• Choose your car, pick your terms and apply for lease credit online
• Pay monthly rental payments for your chosen term length
• Drive it, enjoy it, then give it back at the end

What you get

When you lease with Autotrader you get all of this:

• Full manufacturer’s warranty
• Road tax and roadside assistance included
• Free returns within 30 days*

Excess mileage charges and return conditions apply. Subject to availability and credit status. 18+ T&Cs apply.

In partnership with

£6,013 total upfront (£5,768 initial rental plus £245 processing fee) | 6000 miles | 60 months

• Lower total monthly cost than PCP/HP
• No balloon payments
• Road tax included

BMW 3 Series video review

Once you've factored in all the infotainment goodies you get as standard, the new 3 Series looks like it's in with a shot at topping our best executive cars list. Let's not be too hasty though – there are a few other models that give it a run for its money, starting with the 3 Series' long-standing rival, the Mercedes C-Class. You might also be considering the Audi A5 Saloon or the great-value and practical Skoda Superb.

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Read on to find out how we rate the BMW 3 Series in all the important areas...

Verdict

The BMW 3 Series is still one of the best cars in the executive car class. Its primary appeal is its engine and the way it drives, but the interior and infotainment system are first-rate too. We’re yet to try the 320, but if it’s even half as good as the super sporty M350, we suspect it’ll retain its title as the near-flawless leader of the class. 

What's new?

• October 2026: we get behind the wheel of the new BMW M350 xDrive for the first time
• September 2026: all-new G50-series BMW 3 Series revealed, with two petrol engines to choose from

Pros

• Intuitive infotainment suite
• Great to drive
• Impressive interior quality

Cons

• Some rivals are more practical
• Almost no physical controls inside
• BMW’s poor reliability rating

What's new?

• October 2026: we get behind the wheel of the new BMW M350 xDrive for the first time
• September 2026: all-new G50-series BMW 3 Series revealed, with two petrol engines to choose from

New car deals

Available now

Leasing deals

Performance & drive

What it's like to drive, and how quiet it is

Strengths

• M350 is quick in a straight line
• Great to drive
• Natural brake feel

Weaknesses

• No plug-in hybrid variant (yet)
• M350 feels firm around town

How fast is it and which engine is best?

There are two different versions of the petrol-powered 3 Series, starting with the 320. It gets a 208bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine with a 48V mild hybrid system to help boost efficiency. 

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Officially, it’ll get you from 0-62mph in 7.4sec, which is slightly faster than the mid-spec Audi A6 Saloon and almost identical to the Mercedes C-Class C250. Either way, we suspect this should be enough performance for most people in everyday driving. 

Version

0-62mph

Max speed

320

7.4sec

149mph

M350 xDrive

4.1sec

155mph

If you’re after more power, you’ll be interested in swapping for the M350 xDrive. With a larger 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine, it feeds 437bhp to all-four wheels (as opposed to just the rear wheels in the 320) and cuts the sprint time to 4.1sec. For context, that’s faster than the Audi S5 Saloon and any version of the C-Class. 

So far, the M350 is the only version of the new 3 Series that we’ve driven and we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s actually quicker than that 0-62mph sprint time suggests in real life. Put your foot down and it feels properly fast, firing you out of corners as you tackle a country road. 

In the future, more versions are set to join the range, with an M3 variant already confirmed and, we suspect, a PHEV at some point too. 

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Is it agile and is the ride comfortable?

As standard, the 3 Series comes with passive suspension but you can add M Adaptive suspension as an option, if you go for M Sport or M Sport Pro trim. That option gives you the ability to flick the suspension into three different modes, which varies the firmness.

The suspension comes as standard on the M350 xDrive and that’s the only version we’ve tried at the time of writing. Along with the adaptive suspension, it gets various performance-focused tweaks to give it a sportier-feel than other versions. 

At gentler paces around town, it means you’ll feel more road imperfections than its softer rivals, especially a C-Class with the optional air suspension equipped. We suspect the lesser model variants will deal with things better, particularly on smaller wheels. 

The trade-off with the M350, though, is excellent body control at higher speeds. Pop it into either Sport or M Mode and the suspension tightens up, the steering gets heavier and the soundtrack increases (ok, the latter doesn’t help the handling, but it adds to the experience). 

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In either of those modes, there’s almost no body lean through fast corners and the 3 Series feels balanced and controlled, even shrugging off mid-corner bumps with ease. In its firmest setting, the steering is arguably a little too heavy, but it’s accurate and allows you to place the car where you want it. Combine all this with the grip afforded by the all-wheel drive system and you have a car that both fills you with confidence, and is super fun to drive. 

Is it quiet and how easy is it to drive smoothly?

Equipped with the biggest alloy wheels, the M350 creates more road noise than the C-Class at motorway speeds but barely any wind noise. Unlike previous versions of the 3 Series, this latest generation doesn’t suffer from heavy suspension noise either, which is a welcome improvement. 

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The six-cylinder engine bursts into life when you hit the start button, but does quickly settle to a whisper. On the move, it produces a lovely engine note that gets louder as you swap into ever-more aggressive driving modes – partially thanks to extra noise being fed into the interior. 

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Unlike the A5 Saloon and C-Class, which both have PHEV versions, you can’t drive around town in any 3 Series in a completely silent electric mode. If that’s what you’re after, you’ll need to go for the all-electric BMW i3 instead.  

The brake pedal feels progressive and natural as you press it, making it easy to slow down when driving spiritedly and come to a smooth stop. 

Being great to drive is a staple of the 3 Series, so I’m glad the latest instalment continues the trend.

Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Interior

The interior layout, fit and finish

Strengths

• Good interior quality
• M Sport seats are really supportive
• Intuitive infotainment system

Weaknesses

• Almost no physical controls
• Adjustable lumbar support is optional on most

What does the interior look like and is it well made?

At first glance, the BMW 3 Series’ interior looks exactly like that of the BMW iX3, with the same two-tier dashboard design. When you start to look around, however, you soon notice that there are differences – in fact, there are even differences from the BMW i3, the electric variant of the 3 Series. 

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For starters, the stylish dashboard is no longer split by full width air vents. Instead, the vents are now positioned at either end, and below the infotainment system. The fact the petrol 3 Series has a gearbox also means it misses out on the handy cubby created by the iX3 and i3’s floating centre console. 

Even so, the 3 Series has a stylish interior that features plenty of soft touch materials. Indeed, you’ll find them all over the dashboard and on the doors, with any hard or scratchy materials hidden lower down and out of sight. 

As standard, the 3 Series has a light-coloured interior with cloth seats in blue and grey. If you want a darker colour, faux leather or real leather, you’ll need to either pay for one of the optional interiors or upgrade to M Sport trim.  

Is the driving position comfortable and is it easy to see out?

With the M Sport Pro’s seats equipped, the 3 Series is supportive and holds you in place really well even through fast corners. Those seats even get inflatable side bolsters to ensure that drivers of all shapes and sizes are kept tight and secure.

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To help you get comfortable behind the wheel, every 3 Series comes with electrically-adjustable front seats with a handy memory function. The only shame is that you don’t get adjustable lumbar support unless you go for the M Sport Pro – or add those sportier seats as an optional extra. 

You sit quite low down in the 3 Series but visibility is still good, with thin windscreen pillars that don’t get in the way at junctions and a good view out across the bonnet. In the BMW iX3, some people struggled with the panoramic iDrive (more on that in the next section) reducing the view out front, but that isn’t an issue with the 3 Series. 

The rear pillars are quite stocky, but the large rear windows mean you still have a great view over your shoulder, as well as out back when parking. 

Speaking of which, you get front and rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera as standard. You can upgrade that to a 360-degree camera by going for the top trims or by adding it as an option.  

Are the dashboard and infotainment system easy to use?

Arguably the most striking change that you find inside BMW’s Neue Klasse models is the new panoramic iDrive display at the bottom of the windscreen. It spans the entire width and comprises three different displays: one is a digital driver display and two for you to freely customise as you see fit. 

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Those two screens have six widgets that can be swapped to whatever you’d like, from temperature readings to performance readouts. New for the 3 Series are superwide widgets, which are singular widgets that span the length of three individual ones to show you information in a larger format. 

At first, the whole thing seems like a bit of a gimmick. But all of those displays are right within your line of sight, and the graphics are really crisp, making it easy to read key information at a glance. 

The infotainment screen takes the form of a 17.9in trapezoid touchscreen, slotted right in the middle of the dashboard. Like the panoramic display, the graphics are very crisp and, as you tap around the screen, it reacts really quickly. 

That’s good news because, as with its rivals, you’ll find barely any physical controls around the interior, making the touchscreen your main source of interaction when you need to make changes to the system. In the 3 Series, that even includes the direction that the air vents are pointing, which is less than ideal when you’re driving along and want to make a quick change. 

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You can also use the voice control to make changes, but we’ve found the usability to be slightly hit and miss (especially with those pesky vents). 

The system runs on the latest iDrive software, which is an improvement over the previous generation. You see, while there are still quite a few menus to deal with, they’ve been simplified and are now far easier to navigate. 

I really like that the standard wireless phone charger is Magsafe, because it means that your phone actually stays in place and charges while you drive.

Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Passenger & boot space

How it copes with people and clutter

Strengths

• Lots of front space
• Space for six-footers to stretch out in the rear
• 40/20/40 split folding rear seats

Weaknesses

• Huge central tunnel in the rear
• Small door bins
• Skoda Superb is more practical

How much space does it have for people?

There’s more legroom up front in the BMW 3 Series than you’ll find in the Mercedes C-Class. We’re talking a couple of centimetres at the most, but that might be make or break if you’re really leggy. Anyone tall shouldn’t need to worry about the amount of headroom, and the 3 Series’ interior is generously wide, so there's also room to stretch sideways.

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In terms of storage, there’s door bins with enough space for a water bottle each, a pair of cupholders and a cubby beneath the central armrest. 

There’s lots of space in the rear for six-footers, with a good amount of headroom, legroom and space underneath the front seats for their feet. Surprisingly, there’s actually more foot space than in the all-electric BMW i3. 

Shoulder room is more than sufficient for three adults, but headroom is compromised by a bulge in the centre of the panoramic roof above the middle seat. Worse than that, though, is the huge central transmission tunnel that the middle seat passenger will need to straddle – it’s far taller than what you’ll find in rivals. 

If space is really important to you, remember that the executive car class also includes the whopping great Skoda Superb.

How much room does it have for luggage?

Every 3 Series has a 450-litre boot, which is bigger than the A5 saloon, slightly smaller than the C-Class, and a whole league behind the Superb. 

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The A5 and Superb also both get hatchback boot openings, while the 3 Series has to settle for a much tighter saloon boot opening. That greatly limits the height of the objects that you can fit in.

Car

Boot size

BMW 3 Series

450 litres

Audi A5 Saloon

445 litres

Mercedes C-Class

455 litres

Skoda Superb

645 litres.

The 3 Series’ boot flat doesn’t move, unfortunately, so its height can’t be varied, and there’s no space underneath. The space is at least wide, and there are a couple of deep storage compartments on either side, one of which has a handy net to hold items in. 

If you need to load long items, the 3 Series gets rear seats that split 40/20/40 and handy levers in the boot to fold them down. Weirdly, said levers are the only way to fold the seats, because there are no levers on the seats themselves. 

Those after a really practical boot might want to wait until the estate version of the 3 Series appears on the scene. Although, there’s no word yet on when that’ll be. 

I found the central tunnel to be a real issue, because not only does it limit foot space, but climbing through the car becomes more troublesome.

Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Buying & owning

Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is

Strengths

• Competitive pricing
• Plenty of standard equipment

Weaknesses

• No EuroNCAP rating yet
• BMW placed low in our reliability survey

How much does it cost and what equipment do you get?

You have four trim levels to choose from, including the M350. The first version is literally just called the 3 Series, and it’ll cost you more than a Skoda Superb or entry-level Audi A5, but a little bit less than the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. 

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It gets plenty of equipment, including 18in alloys, cruise control, a head-up display and automatic air conditioning, plus the other bits we’ve discussed like the parking sensors and heated electrically-adjustable seats. 

Ways to buy

Cash from £39,995 Own the car outright. No monthly payments.

Lease from £481pm Drive a new car every few years. Lower upfront costs.

£5,768 initial payment , 60 month contract , 6000 miles p/a . Subject to status and conditions.

Available Now from £39,995 Choose a car from stock. Drive away today!

M Sport and M Sport Pro are your next two. They bring sportier styling and better brakes, and in the case of the M Sport Pro, fancier seats with extra lighting around the kidney grilles. 

Then there’s the M350: the super sporty one that gets the more powerful engine and loads of performance-focused tweaks to make it the best to drive out of the bunch. 

Is it reliable, and how long is the warranty?

With the 3 Series being so new, we don’t have reliability data for it. We do, however, have data for BMW as a brand. 

In the 2026 What Car? Reliability Survey, it placed 19th out of the 30 included manufacturers. That isn’t a great result, but it’s still higher than Mercedes (21st) and Audi (29th).

Should anything go wrong, BMW matches Mercedes by offering a three-year/unlimited-mileage standard warranty. Audi equals the three-year duration, but only covers up to 60,000 miles.

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How safe is it, and is it easy to steal?

As with reliability, being a brand new model means that the 3 Series is yet to be tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP. 

Even so, it comes with plenty of standard equipment, including automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane-keeping assist, speed sign recognition and even a system that can automatically slow the car down when you approach a corner or roundabout. 

Buy it if…

- You want an executive car that’s great to drive

- You’re after a modern, high-quality interior

- A sporty driving position is key

Don’t buy it if…

- You want a practical boot with a hatchback opening

- You need to regularly carry three people in the back

- Having physical controls is a must for you

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There are no shortage of optional extras, but for anyone that’s into music, I’d recommend the optional Harmon Kardon stereo system.

Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

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If you're interested in finding a BMW 3 Series, or any of the other executive cars mentioned here, head over to our Cars available now pages to find new cars listed for sale at great prices.

BMW 3 Series specifications

RRP price range

Available colours

FAQs

Is it worth buying a BMW 3 Series?

The latest 3 Series remains one of the very best executive cars on the market, which majors on sportiness and having a great interior. 

Is the BMW 3 Series a reliable car?

We don’t have reliability data for the new 3 Series, but BMW placed 19th out of 30 brands in our survey. That isn’t great but it’s still better than Audi and Mercedes.

Will the 2027 BMW 3 Series be redesigned?

Yes, the latest 3 Series has been entirely redesigned using BMW’s Neue Klasse design language. 

How much will the new 3 Series cost?

The latest 3 Series will cost you more than the Audi A5 Saloon and Skoda Superb, but less than the Mercedes C-Class. 

New car deals

Best price from £39,995

What is What Car? best price?

The What Car? best price shows you the cheapest way to buy your new car, whether it's by choosing an in-stock car through our partner Autotrader or placing a factory order.

Available now from: £39,995

RRP from: £41,945

Available now

From £39,995

Leasing deals

From £481

About our price indicator

What Car? indicative Personal lease example (subject to status)

BMW 3 Series

Expected annual mileage 6000 Term months 60 Deposit months 12 Monthly payment £480.69 Initial payment £5,768.28

Step-by-step

Leasing works a bit like a long-term rental. You drive it, but you don’t own it.

• Choose your car, pick your terms and apply for lease credit online
• Pay monthly rental payments for your chosen term length
• Drive it, enjoy it, then give it back at the end

What you get

When you lease with Autotrader you get all of this:

• Full manufacturer’s warranty
• Road tax and roadside assistance included
• Free returns within 30 days*

Excess mileage charges and return conditions apply. Subject to availability and credit status. 18+ T&Cs apply.

In partnership with

£6,013 total upfront (£5,768 initial rental plus £245 processing fee) | 6000 miles | 60 months

• Lower total monthly cost than PCP/HP
• No balloon payments
• Road tax included

BMW 3 Seriess available to buy

In partnership with

BMW 3 Series

2.0 320i M Sport Auto Euro 6 (s/s) 4dr

RRP £44,670

£39,949

BMW 3 Series

2.0 320i M Sport Auto Euro 6 (s/s) 4dr

RRP £44,870

£39,990

BMW 3 Series

2.0 320i M Sport Auto Euro 6 (s/s) 4dr

RRP £45,570

£39,998

BMW 3 Series

2.0 320i M Sport Auto Euro 6 (s/s) 4dr

RRP £44,620

£40,998

BMW 3 SERIES

2.0 320i M Sport Auto Euro 6 (s/s) 4dr

RRP £44,620

£41,199

BMW 3 Series Saloon

2.0 320i M Sport Pro Auto Euro 6 (s/s) 4dr

RRP £49,070

£41,495

BMW 3 Series

2.0 320i M Sport Auto Euro 6 (s/s) 4dr

RRP £45,870

£41,995

BMW 3 Series Saloon

2.0 320i Sport Auto Euro 6 (s/s) 4dr

RRP £46,945

£41,995

BMW 3 Series

2.0 320 M Sport Auto Euro 7 (s/s) 4dr

RRP £46,845

£42,090

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About the writer

Name: Dan Jones

Title: Senior Reviewer

Follow Dan Jones on

Dan joined What Car? in 2021 and is now the road test team's Senior Reviewer. In that role, he produces new car reviews for Whatcar.com and What Car? magazine, alongside occasional contributions for Autocar and Move Electric.

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