This week's short retrospective article has Jonathan Elfalan looking back at our 2016 BMW 340i xDrive, a vehicle we owned and reported on back when it was new. It was part of our long-term test program, and we drove it about 24,000 miles over the course of a year. Make sure to check out the 340i xDrive's original wrap-up article as well as individual blog-style posts. We also have more than 15 brand-new vehicles we're testing in our long-term program right now.
What's the Most Memorable Thing You Did With the 340i xDrive?
A few years ago my wife and I were splitting time between Los Angeles and San Francisco; she lived up north and I lived in L.A. I'd often drive up to go visit her, which resulted in some 800-ish-mile weekend round trips. One, in particular, stands out. I took the 340i xDrive the long way up one weekend in November 2016 because I wanted to hit some fun roads to break up the highway monotony.
The weather had other plans for my drive, however, and I soon found myself in the middle of a torrential downpour. Usually rain will quickly end any fun you might have in a performance car. But the all-wheel drive (what BMW calls xDrive) in our 340i provided that extra slippery-road insurance that really helped salvage much of the entertainment I sought from my two-hour detour. Before this, I thought owning an all-wheel-drive sport sedan in Southern California made little sense.
What Did You Like the Most About It?
I love that this was an absolute sleeper of a car, down to its Jatoba Brown paint. Its turbocharged six-cylinder engine was rated at 320 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque. And with an eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive, you could easily put all of it to the pavement. Our nondescript BMW sedan could jet to 60 mph 4.4 seconds, making it just as quick as a 526-hp Ford Shelby GT350 or a 425-hp BMW M4.
When you didn't feel like smoking sports cars off the line, you could also stretch a gallon of gasoline to an impressive degree. On one of our lengthier road trips, we drove more than 500 miles on a single tank and averaged 34 mpg. What an incredibly flexible engine!
How Much Is It Worth Now?
Although the 2016 3 Series is still technically of the same generation from 2012 through the 2018 model years, the inline-six engine in our tester was all-new in 2016. Values for our year and model 3 Series are wide-ranging depending on mileage and location, but you'll generally find them anywhere between $20,000 and $30,000 on CarMax. Our tester with all the numerous options it had would be worth about $32,000 today (assuming 20,000 miles in perfect condition). That's a hefty discount considering it cost $59,920 when new.
If You Came Across This 340i xDrive Again, and You Had the Money, Would You Buy It?
I'd strongly consider it. I'm kind of partial to hatchbacks and wagons because I need the cargo space to haul baby stuff and surfboards, but the performance-per-dollar of this car, especially on the used market, is pretty enticing. If they offered the inline-six engine in a 3 Series wagon body, it would be a no-brainer for me.
Read the wrap-up to our long-term test of the 2016 BMW 340i xDrive