Good choice OP
When went looking for our car we looked at the usual competion ie Jag XE, Audi A4 & Merc Class.
The below relates to the gen of competion that was out at the time the 3er was launched
The Jag tbh edged the 3 in terms of sheer driving fun but the cabin & tech was way more dated & reliability was reportedly way off what I'd want & so even though I have a bit of a soft spot for Jaguar it was quickly ruled out.
The A4 is a nice car but I did not like the driving experience compared to the 3er, although Mrs O LOVED it!(the light steering mostly) & it was a little sparse in spec. We were offered an absolute cracking deal on it that no one else could get near to but i convinced the other half that she would get bored of it after 3yrs and as were planned to keep whatever we bought for much longer this would be less than ideal.
The Merc was Mrs' O's idea and despite me telling her that i thought she wouldn't like it she wanted to give it ago so we went to look at one and it ticked most boxes apart from one crucial one and that was the drive. It was too soft & stodgy and the gearbox was slow to react & even though I'd say we had the best overall dealer experience the car ultimately didn't do it for us.
Likes? Pretty much everything, the handling is excellent, the fit and finish is, i believe to be top of it's class. Tech is good....if a little buggy at times. The engine suprised me in it having a decent amount of shove and response, in Sport & Sport Plus, quick to react & fuel economy is, like most modern engines tbf, great. It looks really good from stock but imo, even better when you MP up, especially so with sprinkling of carbon
Dislikes? Our car has at times refused to install the OTA's which has resulted in 2 trips to the dealer. The alternator recently gave up the ghost but that was replaced under warranty very quickly. Although BSM looks the best of all colours when polished it waterspots really easily and it drives me crazy at times
I wished the B48 had
just a little more drama to it, like if it sounded like it did from cold all the time, I'd be happy. The fake sound played in the cabin, is ok-ish until you get to the upper revs and then, again imo, you can really tell the inauthenticity of it.
Moot point here but i really wished the individual shadow lights were available when car was made
Xdrive v standard? Really you do not need xdrive. In your climes RWD is more than suitable and I'd just do what I have done if you think your ever going to need that extra grip and go for all seasons or winter tyres as spares( I swap mine around every six months)
As for tunes and exhaust's there are loads of threads on each and I'd suggest using the
facility for ideas and experiences.