[WhiteJames]

Seating Position:

It’s great that BMW allows the driver to drop the seat very low. It lowers the centre of gravity. It makes the BMW 3 series sedan feel like a sports car with the practicality of a four-door sedan. A real highlight of owning a BMW 3 series. Initially, I was lamenting not having the adjustable centre console that is offered in the Volkswagen vehicles. After some ongoing seat adjustments over time, my BMW seat is low enough to comfortably rest my left elbow on the centre console on longer drives.

A lower driver’s seat coupled with a wide transmission tunnel and relatively high centre console creates a feeling of a very snug cockpit in the sedan. I feel like a fighter pilot at times when sitting in the BMW. If offers a sense of occasion every time I hop into the vehicle. The range of seat adjustability fantastic. BMW provides for a wide range of fore/aft and height adjustability. The seat base also tilts upwards if you desire. The adjustable side seat bolsters offer plenty of support when set for their widest.

Seats:

The standard black M sport 3 series leather is tough but durable. The front seats feel like they are tapered in at the rear, creating a slightly offset seating position for the driver and front passenger. I’ve been told that this may be for added side impact safety. It creates a buffer between the B-pillar and driver. It may also be a factor of the wide transmission tunnel. This may limit a driver’s ability to become completely comfortable in the new G20 series BMW.

The top part of the M Sport leather seat, the seat-back, is sufficiently supportive for my needs. The side bolsters hug you when pushing on around corners. The lower part of the M Sport leather seat - the seat-bench - feels more like a standard seat. Like something that you’d find in a garden variety Toyota Camry. It feels to be a little narrow.

There appears to be a mismatch between the seat top and seat bottom. It’s great that the seat-bench extends forward to make the seat longer in addition to titling upwards for more support. The tilt function really slots your butt into the seat. Coming from a Golf 7 GTI with sporty hot-hatch seats, I’d prefer greater leg thigh side support and bolstering on the lower seat-bench. This would match the sporty nature & bolstering of the upper seat-back. It would also provide more support in faster corners. On the other hand, the snug cockpit, wide transmission tunnel and thick centre console does help provide support the driver during cornering.

If the harder core standard M3 seats were offered as an option on the 330i M Sport at a reasonable cost? I would seriously consider spending a bit more for the M3 seats. This would be on the proviso that the lower seat bench is wider with greater side bolstering, allowing the driver to sink deeper into the seat. This option is not available in Australia for the 330i. With the standard 330i M Sport leather seats, you tend to sit on them, rather than in them re: lower seat bench. The standard M Sport seats appear to be designed to cater for all tastes and body types keeping in mind the Sports/Luxury theme of the BMW 3 series.

Lumber Support:

The Lumber Support option is a must in my opinion. It’s a cost option on the 330i M Sport. This is despite all 330i sedan in Australia having the M Sport adjustable electric leather seats as standard equipment. The lumper support helps find that ultimate seating position. It also allows for adjustability between slow city driving and faster highway driving or smooth roads versus rougher country B-grade roadways. It greatly improves the adjustability and may even add to resale value or saleability come trade in time. Lumber support is highly recommended, especially in concert with the M Sport suspension tune and 19-inch wheel/tyre combination.

Wind Noise:

Wind noise suppression with the standard windows is very good. The only time I noticed any wind noise is when travelling above 100 kph with extremely gusty winds that are subject to weather wind warnings re: extreme gusts of wind. The wind was so strong on one day, it actually buffeted the entire vehicle within the highway lane. In this case, you may notice some wind noise. But it’s a seldom occurrence. Ironically, lane-keep set to high sensitively does not seem to intervene in higher speed - high wind buffeting situations. In most circumstances, the standard glass is sufficiently quiet. Overall, the BMW cabin is a nice quiet place to be.

Ownership Experience to Date:

The BMW 330i M Sport Plus grows on you over time. I’m really warming to this vehicle further into the ownership experience. This particularly includes driving in auto in traffic. The BMW 3 series is nicely executed vehicle. More than the sum of its parts.

Running on the M Sport package, 19” wheel and tyre package with adaptive dampers:

Comfort setting on the adaptive suspension on the BMW 3 series. Secondary ride - low speed compression suspension damping at lower speeds feels like somewhere between Normal and Sport in my previous Golf 7 GTI. The Golf 7 GTI was much softer in suspension tune compared to the G20 BMW 3 series M Sport at lower speeds under 60kph. The larger bump - primary ride compression damping of the BMW M Sport adaptive dampers is fantastic. Really well judged by BMW for big hit pot-hole comfort considering the stiffer run-flat tyre side walls. You do need to be carrying a bit a speed to activate the primary damping response.

Cheers

WJ