D R I V E N

Enya continued to sing in the background, her smooth voice added to the relaxing Sunday drive that just melted the week’s troubles away.  Perfect conditions in Metro Manila: the absolute absence of vehicular traffic and sunny skies without a black cloud in slight.  A tight uphill left-hander is coming up.  Alas, will this end the Bimmer’s blissful run?  With a slight smile, a little up flick of the sequential shift sent the inline-4 roaring higher through the rev range.  The fat four-spoke steering wheel provided excellent grip to those last minute corrections, sending the car through the obstacle with minimal fuss.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.  Such is the captivation offered by the 318i Executive. 

A consistent top ten best-seller in the world, the 3-series has always been regarded as the yardstick against which all compact luxury sedans are measured against.  Try as they may have, the 3 successfully devastated the opposition from rivals all over the world.  From Japan to the United States, people continued to love, respect and praise it. 

As good as it is, hardcore Bimmer fans suddenly found themselves scratching their heads: the 3-series had become too soft compared to the pee-in-the-pants excitement that the original four-pot offered.  It had become a fashion symbol, success symbol and even to a degree, a sex symbol—everything except for what it was originally designed for: a sporty symbol.  BMW watched as its competitors gained ground—newer cars such as the Lexus IS200 and Mercedes-Benz C-class were riding close behind.  However, in true, computing German fashion, BMW answered its critics hard and fast. 

Burning the midnight oil (and losing hair in the process), engineers at Munich rolled out the reengineered 3 in 2001.  Arriving in the Philippines in 2002 as three variants, the 318i were fundamentally the same with details and some fine tuning that set them apart from each other.  The mainstream of these three is the Executive with a well-balanced set of creature comforts and performance.  Aimed for the well-to-do and successful young executive, the 318i Executive is the epitome of stylish comfort, luxury without looking dull and dated—but, the question looms: can it be sporty?

At the heart of the 318i is a new inline-4 that develops a healthy figure of 143 horses and 200 Nm of pulling power.  The new 2.0-liter engine’s combination of broad-band horsepower and low-end torque makes the 318i a formidable car on any sort of road or track.  The engine is silent and sweet, but not devoid of character.  The Valvetronic has all the right adjectives attached to it: potent, muscular—and most important of all, sporty.  Unlike any forced-induction engine, the growl of power is absolutely present in every rev, at any gear, at any moment—things relatively absent from any high-revving Japanese engine. 

The Valvetronic engine uses a combination of hardware and software to eliminate the need for a conventional throttle mechanism. The Valvetronic replaces the function of the throttle butterfly by using an infinitely variable intake valve lift. The Valvetronic engine does not require a timing belt or chain. All in all, this new engine technology reduces maintenance cost, improves cold start behavior, lowers emission and provides a smoother engine.

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