The BMW 328i has been selected as the winner of the
Cars.Com Sports Sedan Challenge [Full Review/Results]. The 3 Series emerged as the winner in a series of evaluations including race track testing, instrumented measurements, street driving and a long distance trip on different types of roads.
The BMW 3 Series and five competitor cars were judged by a panel of experts from Cars.com, MotorWeek, and USA Today. The cars were also judged by actual car shoppers who were in the market for a sport sedan and were invited to participate.
The final results were:
1st Place: 2013 BMW 328i M Sport sedan (859 points)
2nd Place: 2013 Volvo S60 T5 AWD Premier (793 points)
3rd Place: 2013 Acura TL 3.7 SH-AWD Tech (775 points)
4th Place: 2013 Cadillac ATS 2.0T Performance (762 points)
5th Place: 2013 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro Tiptronic (749 points)
6th Place: 2013 Mercedes-Benz C250 Sport (671 points)
Lots more results/scoring explanation of each model can be found at:
Cars.com, Motorweek, USA Today Review Article.
Here's what they had to say about the 3 Series' performance:
Quote:
It wasn't hard for the 2013 BMW 3 Series to win over our critics at our latest Challenge. The sedan was exceptionally well-balanced on the track and around town and was overall a blast to drive. It was when the tests came down to hard numbers, though, that the 3 Series separated itself from the pack.
We put each of the six contenders through an approximately 180-mile mpg route that included surface roads and highway driving across Southern California. We also tested each of the car's zero-to-60 and quarter-mile times as well as braking distance on the drag strip.
The 3 Series kept delivering the best numbers, no matter what the test.
The BMW hit 60 mph faster than the other five models, beating out the next closest Volvo S60 by a few fractions of a second, but it outperformed the other four significantly.
Distance proved to be no problem for the 3 Series, either, as it completed the quarter-mile run in 15.22 seconds, again just edging out the Volvo S60 and its all-wheel drive.
Braking was a slightly different story. The 3 Series topped the field, but this time the Audi A4 came closest.
Then came the shocker of the entire Challenge. A car can often dominate performance categories, but there's usually a sacrifice to be paid at the pump. Not so with the 3 Series.
It returned 28.1 mpg on our mileage route, easily outpacing the rest of the field. This time the A4 came in second again. The Volvo that had performed so well getting to speed paid the price at the pump with its last-place finish.
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