2006 BMW 330i

Would we enjoy spending a year (and then some) evaluating the ongoing performance and reliability of one of our all-time favorite sport sedans? Does Lindsay Lohan know how to mug for the camera?

It was a fine day for all when, in December 2005, we took delivery of a Mystic Blue Metallic BMW 330i. Freshly redesigned for the 2006 model year, the new "E90" 3 Series had a tough act to follow, the 1998-2005 "E46" version having won the unrestrained praises of this staff and the hearts and wallets of driving enthusiasts around the globe (in 2002, the model's best year, BMW sold more than 560,000 E46s worldwide). We felt it our civic duty to determine if the new edition was in fact "latest and greatest."

For 2006 BMW offered toys previously unseen on the 3-among them, Active Steering and iDrive. With plenty of experience driving various BMWs equipped with both, we wanted neither. And so our 3 Series arrived "pristine": potent 3.0-liter six, six-speed manual transmission, conventional steering (given it's by BMW, that's hardly a shortcoming), standard audio and climate buttons. We also tacked on a sport suspension with beefy 18-inch Bridgestones plus a few creature comforts, boosting the $37,295 base price to a grand total of $43,165.The 2006 3 Series was the latest BMW to receive a Chris Bangle makeover, and most of us had thumbs-up for his work. "Incredibly attractive sheetmetal that exudes class and style," wrote one staffer, summing up the majority opinion. Not everybody was convinced, though. "I miss the old one," wrote another editor.

We stood united in gushing over the 3's sublime steering and handling poise. Look up the word "fluidity" in the dictionary, and you'll find a picture of the 330i. The wheel-a wonderfully meaty three-spoke design-responds to your hands like a...well, like a precision German instrument, which it most certainly is. The ride tends toward the hard side, but not uncomfortably so. And it's all but impossible to upset the chassis-come pothole or tar strip, the 330i keeps its feet planted. There's real magic inside those wheelwells.

The 255-horsepower inline-six held up BMW's long-standing reputation for syrup-smooth power delivery, but most of us wanted more. These days, a 0-to-60-mph sprint of 6.2 seconds is barely adequate for a premium sporting sedan (a shortcoming BMW has since addressed with the turbo-pumped 335i). The competition has closed in, and though our 330i had the silk, it lacked the sizzle.