Well, my previous car was BMW E39 523, and E34 even earlier. My wife had BMW 118. Now let me say it briefly – I drive my current car BMW 3 320d for 3 months already, covered 4500 km. So I changed gas engine for diesel, manual transmission for hydro. Impressions: when I was running my car in I didn’t press accelerator properly, the car was riding plainly, getting revs sharply though, the maneuverability was superb. Still it was unusual for me to hear diesel growling and a bit more vibration at low revs than of gas BMW. After I finished the run in of my new 320d I was really adored. It was jumping into rush right from the lowest revs doing its best. In fact, diesel BMW was not a point worse than gas engine – only better. Comparing my previous E39 523 I gained in dynamics, turns stability and fuel expenditure at 9.3 liter per 100 km with fuel acceleration and climate control plus headlights on. The disadvantages – a bit less spacious inner compartment, there is no seat lower part adjustment feature. By the way, pleasant thing was that after 2000 km vibrations diminished.

Finally I got a terrific dynamics, superb controllability. Anyway my 320d gets 5 points of 5! Good luck.

Excerpt from: http://www.aboutmycar.com/stories/my-vote-for-bmw-320d-1857.htm