170 Avant or 320 M Sport Touring...

[mojo555]

Thoughts and experiences if you please, the S3 will soon be going and these are the two most likely candidates..

 

[Scotty]

I thought I'd be going for a 3 series touring but the boot it crazy small. I guess it depends what you need but that on it's own ruled it out for us.

 

[johnnythepie]

boot aint much bigger in my avant.The 170 drinks fuel.Go for the beemer

 

[mojo555]

Really!
I thought I remember the boot being bigger in the BMW....
Will have to check the sizes.

 

[mojo555]

Really!
I thought I remember the boot being bigger in the BMW....
Will have to check the sizes.

 

[mojo555]

I am test driving the BMW on Thursday so will wait and see, just struggling to find a 170 avant to try I went in the 136 the other day and found it quite flat..

 

[Scotty]

boot aint much bigger in my avant.

Eh?

3 series Touring:
460 litres seats up
1,385 litres seats down

A4 Saloon :
480 seats up
962 seats down

A4 Avant :
490 seats up
1430 seats down


i.e. 30 litres bigger seats up and 45 litres bigger seats down. Even the A4 saloon has more boot space than the 3 series touring!

Regardless of the figures, in the 3 series I couldn't fit out pushchair in widthways or lengthways. In the A4 it goes both ways.

The 3 series does have the nice split tailgate but the boot is noticably smaller with much bigger intrusions.

 

[johnnythepie]

Litreage maybe, but practically not.The slant of the back seat wastes a lot of room when trying to load suitcases, there is no way can i get three in the boot especially with the load cover attached.The load cover roller thing really restricts the height at which you can load.I have to have a case on the back seat....lucky reallly as theres only three of us.The seats when folded also dont lie flat (dont know about the bmw as space wasnt an issue in choosing the car).I guess it comes down to what you want to load, and both cars aint brilliant!!.A remap from a 140 to 170 would sort out the flatness, and in any case i wouldnt buy the 170 again purely for its thirst.A 140 is much cheaper to buy, even with a remap.If your passing my way youre welcome to have a go, although mines mapped to 200(and i still cant catch the 320's)

 

[Scotty]

If you want to keep the load cover on then you might as well have a saloon but yeah I agree the roller can obstruct.

I also agree that neither is brilliant due to the rear slant. That's why they get classed in "Lifestyle Estates". You need a Volvo or Mondeo etc if you want a real practicle one or move up to 5 series or A6 for more boot space.

It's all down to personal requirements of course.....oh and with two young kids and needing a travel cot etc I bought a roof box hehehehe

 

[Big Bird]

The thing that puts me of the BMW is the interior- it's cramped and not the best quality. That said, id prefer the engine over the 170 A4 personally. Try both and decide.......

 

[mojo555]

Test drove the 320d today and absolutley love the engine, but the interior is not a patch on the A4....

 

[johnnythepie]

Test drove the 320d today and absolutley love the engine, but the interior is not a patch on the A4....

Thats about the sum of it.Nail on the head.If only i could have the body/interior of my A4 on the bmw chassis and engine.I chose my audi cos its more of a jack of all trades, and it looks superb.But id kill for that engine.And yes, being a fat twunt i too found the cabin cramped.It was that that stopped me buying the beemer

 

[mojo555]

Will prob be the A4 136 but will remap to 180ish....interestingly the BMW only returned around 37 mpg on a hour and half test drive...