BMW 320d- what you don't get at 38 lakhs

I spent a day with BMW 3 series, the cheapest variant in 3 series family, which is 320d. This car costs about 38 lakhs on road to buy, but misses out on several features found in cheaper cars. Obviously a cost cutting exercise to save some bucks and offer a cheaper variant is evident from stripped features. 320d is for those budget constrained buyers who want premium BMW brand value and a nice drivable car, without some of the fancy stuff, found in other cars and deemed standard on a luxury car.

Listing 11 things you won’t get in a BMW 320d, for about 38 lakhs INR on road…

1) No spare wheel. This sounds odd for Indians, because every other car is sold with a spare wheel. However, BMW sells cars worldwide without spare wheels, because of advancements in technology. BMW tyres can run for 200kms at a speed of 80kmph, even after going flat. (Not sure if this 200kms is on German autobahn or on pot holl filled Indian roads) So because of this, it might be possible to manage without a spare wheel. Most of the BMW customers would use it as city ride and hence this may not be an issue. But  during a long drive, having a spare tyre adds to confidence. 

While BMW may have full faith in its vehicle, technology and support, to what extent we can trust the Indian roads is left to the judgment of each customer. If it is me and if I intend to use the car as my primary transport, then I would prefer to play safe and buy a car which has a spare wheel. May be I am just being skeptical, because 1000s of BMW customers continue to buy the car and seem to be comfortable without the spare, so let us give some credit to BMW for having full faith in their technology and sticking to their stand of not providing spare wheels.

2) No sunroof. i10 has it, Honda city has it, Cruze has it, Merc C class, A class and B class has it. But BMW 3 series cheaper variants miss on sunroof. During a long drive or when weather is nice, having a sunroof helps take nice photos, enjoy weather and adds to appeal of the car. But 320d misses it.

3) No rear view camera in 320d. A graphical sensor is provided, but no camera. Higher variants of 3 series get rear view camera + graphical guidance


4) No cruise control. 320d gets a limit switch, but no cruise control. I am not a fan of cruise control, as it tends to induce lazyness. But if you're keen on this feature, watch out.

5) Uncomfortable seating for 5th person. BMW 3 series is comfortable for 4 passengers only (several other sedans, including Renault Fluence have this problem) and for 5th passengers, long drive is not really comfortable. The transmission shaft occupies most of the space and 5th person need to adjust with one leg on left side and another on the right. If you need space to carry more people, go for may be X1 or other cars.

6) No Day time running lights (DRLs)- This fancy stuff helps grab additional attention, available in higher variants of BMW 3 series and rivals. Hyundai i20 gets it and even HM Dost LCV has DRL now. But 320d doesn’t.

7) No Navigation system- available in higher variants of 3 series– rely on your smart phone for driving directions.


8) An un-customized owner’s manual. I had a quick look at the owner’s manual and I found it very generic across BMW 3 series. Not customized to different variants under 3 series and owners need to sort out the confusion among themselves, if there’re some differences in what the manual says and what is actually there in the car.

9) An un-customized India website. Bmw.in has all images with left hand side driving layout. I would have appreciated them customizing the website with India images (right hand side driving). I did a quick check- Mercedes Benz is showing right hand side layout, while Audi continues to have LHS images similar to BMW

10) No xenon headlamps. Headlamps in 320d is ordinary, nothing inspiring about it and illumination is normal. (Can be fitted after market)

11) No door lamps. Mercedes Benz, Tata Aria and many other cars get a lamp in the door, which lights up when open- helps provide some illumination when people get down/get in during night or helps realize that door is open.

Note that I am not even talking about high end features like night vision, self parking, massage seats and attention assist.

Bear in mind that annual insurance premium for 320d comes to about 1.9 lakhs, almost as much as a Tata Nano. 

I am not saying BMW 320d is a bad car. Standby for good things about the car and related information.

View more photos of BMW 320d * Review of the car

Updated: Dec 2013: Corrected on road price of the car to 38 lakhs.
Also read: BMW leasing options explained