Thursday 3rd March 2011

PH Fleet Update: BMW 328i Touring

Surprising fuel economy appeals; paint lacquer peels...

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Fuel economy is not generally something we get particularly excited about here on PH.

Partly this is because we like to keep our heads in the sand a bit, considering the effect that filling hungry PH fleet tanks with ever-more expensive fuel has on our collective wallets. But mostly this is because counting up the MPGs is a bit, well, dull.

Sometimes, though, you get a fuel economy-based moment that is genuinely exciting.

This happened to me the other day on the return home from a horrendously rainy Sunday night trip up the M3, when I idly flicked through the 328i's trip computer (that I'd zero'd at the start of a journey) to find a figure of 35.3mpg glowing orangely back at me.

For a 15-year-old car, with a petrol-powered 2.8-litre straight six coupled to a five-speed automatic gearbox I reckon that's pretty darn good form.

Okay, so the rain-soaked M3 was pretty busy, but I wasn't hanging back when traffic and weather conditions allowed. When the PH Fleet Defender can only manage high 20s mpg even when you're trying hard, and the Mini Cooper D cabrio I trundled around in a while back could do no better than the low 40s mpg.

There is of course a couple of caveats here, in that it's never wise to trust an on-board computer's figures, and the 328's economy drops dramatically in town (to more like 22-23mpg. Still, like pretty much everything my trusty 'Shed of the fleet' does, it just gets on with things in a quiet, unassuming, but above all damn effective way.

Looking small next to Garlick's Merc...

Which is why I haven't written about it for a while. Despite being the world's only four-door estate (thanks to a firmly stuck right rear door), the Boston Green Bee-Em sailed through its MOT at the tail end of last year, has started on the button even in the most icy of weathers, and generally caused very little trouble.

It even managed to battle up Reigate Hill on the M25 when we got caught in an unexpected snow storm, coping rather better than its driver (weaving across four lanes to avoid stranded lorries, sliding at just 15mph, knowing that if I stopped I'd be stuck, was perhaps the least pleasant motoring experience I've ever had).

...and even smaller next to his Lexus

In fact, the only real problem the car is suffering from is a moderate to severe case of automotive leprosy - the lacquer is peeling from the paintwork on the nearside front wing at an alarming rate.

And so I leave all you restoration-minded PHers out there with a conundrum. Bearing in mind that a respray is out of the question (with so many dings and dents it would be a silly route to go down), how do I arrest - or possibly reverse - the spread of the peeling lacquer? I'm hoping the answer will involve some kind of miracle spray, though I suspect it won't...

[Oelholm]

The world's only four-door estate? How about the MINI Countryman and the Mitsubishi Space Wagon (or something like that) from the 90's..?




EDIT: just googled, and the Countryman has two rear doors - Christ that car is daft

Edited by Oelholm on Thursday 3rd March 07:31

[Oelholm]

fatboy b said:

Suggest you read that again. It's 4 doors, 'cos one of the rear passenger doors is jammed.

- Suggest you reread my post; I'm just arguing that it isn't a first, jammed door or not... Nice contribution, though.


In other news, those 3-series estates do look good, found myself looking at one passing by earlier today. Some nice engines as well!