Boston.com's view

My question for the good folks at BMW: If you were building a wonderful, high-performance, all-wheel-drive sedan as far back as 1986, why did you ever stop?

I’m talking, of course, about the 325 iX, produced from 1986 to 1991 and sold in the United States from 1988 to 1991. Find one today and you’ll still pay 10 or 15 large or more for a car that’s more than a decade old. Hint: If you want to buy a used one, look to the Rocky Mountains, where they were big sellers. Now come two models of BMW all-wheel-drive sedan: the 325xi and the 330xi. The big difference between the two is about 35 horsepower and 41 lb.-ft. of torque from the straight-six power plants. The new all-wheel-drives, of course, benefit from advanced traction and skid control systems that were not available decades ago, but the viscous coupling center differential endures, allowing for the seamless transfer of power from front to rear wheels as needed.

Given that BMW has made its mark as a builder of powerful, rear-wheel-drive machines, it is significant that, under normal operation, the rear wheels still do most of the driving – 62 percent of the torque sent to the rear, 38 percent to the front. Thus, when you’re driving in good conditions and not pushing it to the limits, the 330xi, as tested here, feels much like any 3-Series Bimmer.

Get it into the slop, or push it through a slippery corner, however, and there’s a sense of traction – without a hint of the back end trying to kick away – that you don’t get in a rear-wheel-drive BMW.

Traction control, stability control, ABS, and a fully electronic (drive by wire) throttle all work together when the going gets greasy. Engine torque is automatically cut; power is transferred front to rear or vice versa; brakes are applied on spinning wheels; the drive by wire throttle system senses what the driver wants (it replaces the electromechanical system of the past) and delivers that input quickly.

What does this get you?

How about a supple, gripping ride on a tortuous, just-sanded winter road at the same high speeds you could drive it on a clean summer day?

Instant correction when, in a corner, the driver’s side wheels stay on the pavement even as the opposite wheels catch a flow of ice that has melted down from a snowbank.

Steady, rapid acceleration up a steep hill that is covered with 6 inches of unplowed snow – this in a high-performance sedan.

Slap four rugged snow tires on this rig and it will go where SUVs go, in many cases.

Ah, but the beauty of it is, it’s still a sizzling BMW when you’re not calling upon it for performance above and beyond the call of a high-performance sedan that carries five people.

Out on the dry highway, its aluminum block, straight-six, 3.0-liter engine (2.5 in the 325) delivers a steady torque band of power to the accompaniment of a hammering burble that is as fine an exhaust note as I’ve heard a Bimmer utter.

And, in a week of hard driving through deep snow an d on dry highways, I managed a respectable 22 miles per gallon in the 330xi.

All of this accomplished, of course, in fine BMW luxury: firm leather seats – six-way power buckets up front – wood-trimmed dash, 10-speaker audio system, and big dials and knobs for audio and climate controls. And speaking of climate, I’ve never seen a car crank out heat as sizzling as this one.

You’re supported in your ride by a multifaceted suspension system that includes – up front – struts, aluminum lower arms with hydraulic cushions, coil springs, twin tube gas-pressure shocks and antiroll bar; and in the rear, multilink with upper and lower lateral arms, coil springs, twin gas tubes, and antiroll bar. Stopping – as quick as you want to stop – is straight and sure with four-wheel vented discs.

And should you somehow not stop safely, this car is a veritable cocoon of safety that features differentiated deployment of both seat belts and air bags. For instance, in a frontal crash of minor sever y, if both front-seat occupants are belted, only the belt pre-tensioner deploys. In stronger crashes, the air bags also are let loose. If an occupant is not belted, the air bag comes out to make up for that stupidity.

Further, in a crash, all doors automatically unlock, interior lights come on, and four-way hazard lights begin to flash.

If you are a New Englander who craves performance – but also wants a car that carries five and is safe and good to drive in the winter, I’m not sure you’ll find a better option than the 330xi.

Nice touch:

The dual chrome exhaust tips. You’ve got a hammering burble and it’s got to exit in fine style.

Annoyance:

The Myrtle wood interior trim. Why do manufacturers insist on coating woods with so much finish they look like plastic?