[MarkW83]

I once made a similar mistake and moved from a 335d to a 123d; it was for financial reasons at the time, and I thought I would be more than happy with the 123d. But after a couple of months I found myself in the position that I really didn't like it at all, as it was very underpowered compared with the 335d (which I should have expected). Things thankfully picked up again, and I got out of the lease and into a 135i, which I have had for a year. I learnt my lesson - and I think it's that, once you're used to something, that's obviously where your benchmark is set, and it's very difficult to get away from it. I don't consider the 135i amazingly fast; just a normal, nice performing car. But the reality of course is that it is - with 0-62 in 5.2 secs with the DCT - extremely fast. But I can't imagine anything being much slower, as I've had pretty fast cars (except the 123d) over the past few years, so you just get used to it.

The other side of this, is the fact that you'll always want more when you get used to something. I wanted my 135i to be faster initially, as I'd just got used to the power; it didn't wow me anymore, as its performance had become the norm for me. It was the same in my 335d, and my Mini Cooper S Works before that.

I'm currently waiting for my F30 330d to arrive; I've also had buyer's remorse before when ordering new, when I wished I'd added certain options; so I made sure to get some decent options with the car so that I'd be happy with it for a long time. I've "calmed down" a bit now in terms of my driving and the sort of cars that I go for, so the 330d will be fine for me (though its performance figures are still outstanding) as it's a 6-cyl and has great torque; so combined with all the tech the car will have, it will be more than enough for me in terms of power. There was a time when I would have been worried about the release of the 335d or 340d or whatever it will be called, because I used to always go for the top models; but I think the 330d is a great all-rounder for economy and performance, and it's still in the same ballpark as the 135i and 335d, so I'm sure I won't be left wanting for more when it arrives, hopefully next week.

I think the main thing for you is: even if you do get a 320d, there will likely also come a point when you're used to the performance of it, and start wanting more again; which will happen whatever car you "upgrade" to, it's just human nature when we get used to something. So, if it was me, I would just enjoy the car you have: sure, do some things to it to make it a bit faster and add some retrofitted options; but even a step up to a 320D isn't that huge, it's still a car very biased towards economy rather than performance; so just be happy driving your BMW; which is still a fantastic car, whatever the engine!