BMW 320d Touring - long-term review

Well, lookey what we have here. A BMW 320d Touring, with xDrive, with an M Sport pack. Truly, the daddy of all dad family cars. OK fine, it *might* not actually fit my family in properly, but I’m jolly well going to make it work. Best not to ask how.

Full disclosure: I’m a massive fan of estate cars (and you should be too because if not do you even like cars?), ever since the days of my father owning a Scimitar GTE and one Rickard Rydel curb launching his Volvo 850 estate in the 1994 BTCC season. I’ve been hooked ever since. There’s just something so much cooler about estate cars than SUVs.

This one comes with a decently quiet twin-turbo 2.0-litre diesel engine, an automatic gearbox, is capable of 0-62mph in 7.5s and features a ride that is sporty, but soft enough for everyday use, especially with its adaptive damping.

We’ve opted for almost £8.5k worth of extras too. The M Sport Plus pack weighs in at £1.8k which includes the 19” jet black alloys and M Sport braking and suspension. There's also a head-up display, BMW gesture control, a panoramic glass sunroof and plenty of other assorted gadgets.

One of which includes BMW's handy parking wizard. Forget live overhead view – try live 3D camera view. It has multiple angles that allow geeks like us to get as close to the kerb as possible without scuffing the wheels. This type of tech blows my mind.

Anyway, all of this brings the Touring in at £50,555, which is... punchy, for a family wagon. Worth mentioning that while we've criticised BMW for its current design language, this 3 Series tows a more moderate line.

Now, I just need to work out how I get my family all in...