1994 BMW 3 Series 320i coupe review from UK and Ireland

Electric windows sometimes get stuck on closure. They go half way up, and then back down again. Can be very frustrating at times.

The drivers airbag light came on permanently soon after I bought the car. I was told by the BMW dealer that the airbag control unit needed to be replaced, and it was not dangerous to leave it as it is, so I didn't bother fixing it. Just means that I have no airbag.

More recently, in the cold weather, the automatic transmission got stuck in third gear. This soon corrected itself (after about 1 hour of worrying about a big bill)

Also during the cold weather, I found the idling revs were inconsistent. Sometimes too high, that the car felt it wanted to just drive away from the lights on its own, or sometimes it dropped below 500 and the engine just cut out.

Mechanically I think the car is very good. All the problems I have experienced are due to electrical faults, but these can be very annoying.

The car looks very nice and the paintwork is good. My car is almost 10 years old, but doesn't look it at all once it's been cleaned. The paintwork still shines.

Performance wise, it's only quick when you put it into "sport" mode. In economy mode, it's very average.

I recently put on Pirelli P6000s all round and the handling and ride improved tremendously. But don't push too hard in the wet or someone might get hurt.

Most of my driving is very uneconomical due to short trips, and I get about 20mpg. On a long trip it will do around 30mpg. For a 2 litre car, I think it should be better than this.