[Msportman]

Now winter is here I wanted to gauge other fellow Xdrive owners on BMW's Xdrive in the wet now that autumn is here and winter looms.

I recently went to Wales on a very wet excursion to the beautiful Brecon Beacons where I good chance to explore the capabilities and compitence of the drivetrain.

I know most on here seem to be 330-335 owners but I own a 320d F31 running Msport (SE) style suspension.

When I bought the car I was impressed with the float and dip under brakes and a fair amount of roll.

To this end I added the ACS springs and a Steinbaur tuning courtsey of Lorcan and this has greatly improved the stats to 218bhp and 345lbs.

The car was never wanting for torque and I know these figure pale into insignificance comapred to the 330 and 335 owners but I deliberately choose the 2 litre model as a direct replacement for our ageing out of date derv Audi A4.


I find the Xdrive a great asset thus far and in Wales it came into it's own. The traction off the line in wet and dry is astonishing but I was interested on how compared to power in thru and out of corners under full load. The car is ultimately set up to understeer when tyre grip is breached at the front but you can definately feel more power apportioned to the rear. On a good spirited drive I found slow in and feathering throttle to full load on mid and exiting the cornering gave great pace in the wet. Unlike the A4 I should add! Being brutle is not this car's forte. The suspension and weight counteracts it's stability and poise where the car becomes somewhat more unsettled.That maybe due to the softer damper but a full blown coilover set is a waste on this car.

The slow in fast out is great fun in the wet watching others struggling for grip and considering it's a family hack for me I find it quite engaging and entertaining. It feels somewhat odd coming from a 2 wheel drive Audi where NSF wheel spin is order of the day in wet conditions.

Had the dealer had a 2012 335d for a similar money I would prpbaly gone for it but having the nagging thought of buying an M3/4 in the future I cannot complain. Funnily I was up for a Golf R but my missus was totally fed up and board of VW's and Audi's A4 and Q5 are out of date and due facelifts.

So far so good.