This is my wife's car but I drive it frequently. In the half-year we've owned it we've added 10,000 miles to bring it to a 60,000 mile total. And for a three-year old car it has behaved in exemplary fashion... which should be becoming for a car coming from BMW.

And it's seen good duty during those six months. Having been bought in Denver, Colorado it brought the fam on a grand tour of the western states soon after. Passing through Death Valley in 122 degree heat the AC held up just fine even when we kept it blasted through the highest setting. Currently, it starts right away even on the coldest freezing mornings.

And it never complains.

But reliability is a secondary issue with cars of this sort. If it was your primary concern you'd be looking at some sterile Japanese import. The reason for buying a bimmer like this is because it's fun to drive. And among fun-to-drive cars, naturally the funnest of the bunch are convertibles with plenty of horsepower. Which describes the 328i very well.

While I haven't personally done exhaustive 0-60 timed tests I can assure you this mutha gets you worrying about cops as soon as you pull from the driveway. A Valentine One should be an official option.

It's hard to think of dislikes in this car. I sit here writing this review stalling for things I'd rather were different and this is as high a compliment I can pay a car as possible.

Sure, I'd rather the rear window were not plastic. I'm sure this wasn't some oversight at BMW headquarters... the jump in engineering complexity from a folding plastic window to a mechanism that must compensate for a stiff sheet of glass is not minor I'm sure. And I'm also sure that if I got my glass rear I'd suffer by having a smaller trunk to accommodate it. Which is another relative shortcoming because it's not very spacious to begin with.

The power top linkage became a little loose and occasionally would refuse to open - or shut if it was already open (the dealer promptly fixed this gratis). I'd like for the AC to put out more airflow than it does... and do it quieter. I think the steering wheel is a wimpy thin thing more suited for a low-end Ford. A beefy three-spoke wheel would be much more desirable.

But that's about all I can come up with and these shortcomings are easy to live with when you take into account what you're getting in return.

I'm looking to sell this car soon on behalf of my wife. But we'll be doing so only so that we can get into a new 330i. And, ultimately, that's the highest compliment BMW itself would like to hear from its customers.

Ras
rasiel@rasiel.com