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435 – BMW 320d EfficientDynamics: the art of the impossible

433_BeEmmAudi246x155
New BMW 320d EfficientDynamics, foreground: more expensive on list price than my bigger Audi A6 TDIe

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28 April 2010

Audi A6 TDIe and BMW 320d EfficientDynamics side by side
New BMW 320d EfficientDynamics, foreground: more expensive on list price than my bigger Audi A6 TDIe

Business Car Manager: Editor’s Blog

INTERESTING new car this BMW 320d EfficientDynamics. I can’t help thinking that the engineers at BMW must have dabbled in some sort of alchemy to get such a mix: full-on driving pizzazz and woefully small amounts of CO2 emissions.

It sort of upsets the laws of physics.

What’s interesting, too, is that BMW has ditched run-flats for this car and fitted some EnergySaving tyres to the 16 inch alloys. The result is a really cossetting ride. The sort at which BMW are masters: taut but supple.

The car itself has a double character. And that depends on you and your right foot. You can enjoy all the exciting driving dynamics of a BMW saloon; or pootle along in energy saving mode. It’s happy to do both.

However, I’m not sure you’ll see the claimed mpg. BMW says that the BMW 320d EfficientDynamics will do 68.9mpg. During the test drive with my co-driver Richard Lofthouse – a new road test contributor to Business Car Manager by the way – we averaged 45.5mpg. Now that involved much performance work too. But later we took another car and we were gentler and recorded 48.1mpg – similar to the reading in the car when we got in. So, if nothing else, there’s a degree of consistency there. But some way off nearly 70mpg.

In many ways I’ve been trying to knock the BMW 320d EfficientDynamics off its green performance perch. Find a gap in its eco armoury. But it’s tricky.

However, I did park my Audi A6 TDie next to it – see the picture above – for a reason. In pure financial terms, this new BMW is pricey. Let’s compare. The Audi A6, despite being much bigger, is actually cheaper: the A6 is £27,110 versus the BMW at £27,245. And, at that price, the bigger new BMW 520d SE saloon is only £28,155. So, despite its environmental attraction, this new 3 Series is deep into big executive saloon country.

However, of course, outright price isn’t everything. There’s benefit-in-kind taxation. And here the 320d holds a £600 advantage for a 40% taxpayer for the year at £1414 – the Audi A6 is £2048; the BMW 520 £2015.

However, perhaps the real killer is the contract hire rates. Early this morning I looked up some prices on Business Car Manager partner FleetLine’s website, although I had to request the 320d price (but check it out yourself – the quotations are brilliantly simple to understand, the best I’ve seen). The quotations below are per month over three years/10,000 miles a year.

  • Audi A6 TDie £428
  • BMW 520d SE £448
  • BMW 320d EfficientDynamics £292

 

Gulp! That’s some difference. “The first year 100% writing down allowance makes all the difference,” Richard Bunn, brand director of FleetLine, explained to me on the phone when I questioned him about the 320d’s advantage.

“It takes some £1500 out of the overall cost, and that’s before the effect of higher residual values come into play.”

Up until this point I had been inclined to opt for either of the larger cars, even if there was a slight premium – I like big saloons anyway – but that contract hire price is one compelling argument.

Anyway, back to the test launch of the 320d EfficientDynamics, with Richard Lofthouse where we were discussing the issue, the Audi and BMW side by side. When Richard made a very perceptive point.

BMW 320d M Sport Coupe
Much of the driving flair and looks of a BMW M3, but less of the cost – the BMW 320d M Sport Coupe, an ideal car for a successful small business owner

“If you’re the owner of a successful small business, surely you wouldn’t have the BMW EfficientDynamics saloon anyway,” Richard explained. “I think you would have something a bit special, while not costing that much more to run – like the BMW M Sport Coupe with its fabulous 19 inch alloys.” Too right.

BMW M Sport optional 19 inch alloy wheels
The BMW M Sport Coupe’s optional alloy wheels: surely a must have option at £520

Read Richard’s test of the M Sport Coupe here: M3 appeal, none of the cost.

I think you probably would. At last! A chink in the BMW EfficientDynamics’ defence. But only a small one.

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Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Business Car Manager (now renamed Business Motoring). Ralph writes extensively about the car and van leasing industry as well as wider fleet and company car issues. A former editor of What Car?, Ralph is a vastly experienced writer and editor and has been writing about the automotive sector for over 35 years.

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