at Momentum BMW, Houston. Riding shotgun first, the sales guy drove it hard along the frontage road on the Southwest fwy. Even with the auto trans, the car is noticeably quicker than my 5 speed E46 330i. It is slightly bigger and about 100 lbs heavier also. The transmission shifted smoothly in both auto and sport modes. The DSC worked well when he jammed on the brakes around a sweeping turn. The standard suspension is much softer than my early E46 sports suspension. I was told that the E90 sports suspension is somewhere in between. All in all, the car is quick and solid. None of the cars at the dealer had the NAV/iDrive system, which is fine with me. But I would liked to have the opportunity to sneer at it again.

Even though the base price is around $2K higher than the E46 330i, it has more standard equipment than the E46, especially the standard xenons and Logic 7 and other audio features. The non staggered 18 inch wheels as part of the $1600 the sports package is preferred over my staggered 17" wheels, and with the sport package (ZSP), you get the 149 mph speed limiter instead of 130 mph. Some differences are no dipstick and the safety hood catch is not between the kidney grill slots. What keeps me from moving up to this car? The sharp line look and the funky tail light design make this car the "look at me" type rather than the conservative classic look of the E46 that I preferred. I am not warmed up to the E90 yet, and, I have yet exhausted the capability of my E46 to pluck down a payment at MSRP so that I could say I have the first one on my block.