Say what "diesel station wagon" around a small grouping of European lovers and they will yawn. Do the same thing in The United States, although, where such automobiles are extremely uncommon, and rivulets of perspiration form on brows. Beats quicken. Eyes widen. We have to understand--this occurs to us. It is because diesel station wagons play in to an automotive fantasy: the do it-all car that offers excellent fuel-economy, sedan-like dynamics, and enough utility to possibly forever stave off the obtain of a soul-squashing minivan or cross over. So that it had been quite clear which body design we had specification when we were offered the opportunity to set 40,000 miles on a-3-set with BMW's newest four-cylinder diesel-engine.

Together with the red mist of capacious, compression-ignition automobiles filling our eyes, we gleefully overlooked the reality that basically everything interesting about the 328d xDrive Sports Wagon can be obtained for its comparatively reasonable $44,000 base cost: all-wheel-drive (rear-push is not provided in the US-spec station wagon), diesel performance, enlarged freight capacity, and lots of high-end features. We wanted more, dammit.

So in went the $3850 M-Sport package (18 Inch wheels and performance tires, sport seats, M steering-wheel, blackout outdoor trim, aluminum interior trim, black headliner, as well as a bodykit), which enabled us to choose the $550 Estoril Blue paint. We subsequently added $650 Msport brakes, $250 back sunshades, $875 Harman/Kardon surround-sound, and a $750 camera set up to see 360-degrees round the vehicle, because evidently we lack necks with which to to show our heads. But, oh, that is maybe not all! There were also six added bundles--for the complete rundown, check out our intro story--that totaled more than $9000. We did not quit ticking containers until finished price nearly 60 grand, an eye-watering amount that virtually never neglected, justifiably, to garner a reference in the log book. (One logbook commenter went up to now as to call this kind of automobile "the solitary-most salesproof BMW in United States," even though we had an unprecedented amount of subscribers and staffers ask about buying the automobile from BMW after the evaluation.)

Yet for most of the squealing in regards to the cost, the diesel four-cylinder motor came in for the most grievances, due to its dearth of refinement, loudness at reduced rates, and irregular electricity delivery. Its rough nature came to the fore at every stop light, as the gas-saving automatic stop-start attribute relit the engine having a distinct s