BMW Test Fest 2023: A road trip around Singapore

It's not often that we'd get an invite to sample eleven cars on a day-long road trip. It's even rarer when the invite states that we should nominate the youngest (or young at heart) driver for said road trip.

I might not be the youngest at heart (given my quadragenarian proclivities) but as the de factor youngun of the CarBuyer Singapore team, I was nominated to take part in BMW Asia's Test Fest 2023: a cross-country Singapore-style road trip. 

We paid a visit to BMW's Vision Dee at the Suntec City Convention Centre and had a spot of lunch at Peppermint PARKROYAL Collection Marina (attacking the buffet) before we finally got to the cars we'd be driving for the day.

True to the "Test Fest" moniker, we had a total of eleven cars up for grabs, ranging from the million-dollar XM SUV to the humble 216i Active Tourer. But of the 11 cars that were offered, we only managed to squeeze out way into 7 of them.

BMW X5

Perhaps unsurprisingly, some of the other participants of Test Fest 2023 made a beeline for the M models up for grabs, while others decided to start the day's driving with less raucous, more congenial vehicles. Surprisingly, the new BMW X5 was left vacant. It was the most luxurious and comfortable car on offer, and I was confident that the first leg of our road trip didn't involve B-roads or twisting corners. So I clambered in before anyone could change their mind.

The BMW X5 has been given the LCI treatment (Life Cycle Impulse, BMW speak for facelift) for the 2023 model year, coming with slightly revised exterior elements and the inclusion of BMW's curved display running BMW OS 8. We had the X5 in the xDrive40i guise, which receives a new straight-six engine with 48V mild hybrid tech.

While the first leg of the journey didn't allow me to utilise the full potential of the X5's 381hp/520Nm drivetrain, the car coped brilliantly in slow speed traffic as we meandered through the CBD towards the Gardens by the Bay -where I then hopped into something a little less large.

BMW 318i

Like the X5, the venerable 3 series has been LCI-ed for this model year as well. And just like the larger SUV, the 318i sedan has been revised every so slightly with narrower headlamps and more angular creases in the front fascia. Inside, it's all familiar 3 Series fare with a broadly similar dashboard layout that sees the addition of BMW's curved display and a smaller gear lever toggle switch.

There is a significant power divide between the 381 horsepower X5 and the 156hp/250Nm 318i, but the 318i proved to be the easier car to drive of the two, chiefly because of its smaller footprint. The 318i held itself well keeping up with the other (more powerful) cars in the convoy as we left Marina Gardens for West Coast. 

The B48 2.0-litre four-cylinder in the 318i may lack the straight line speed that the X5 xDrive40i's B58 inline-six block affords you, but on the plus side, you'd have less speed to scrub off if you need to slow the proceedings and the car's chassis still allows you to carry a lot of speed into the bends. 

BMW 330i Touring

Having completed my stint in the least powerful 2.0-litre 3er, I switched over to the most powerful 2.0-litre 3er on offer - the 330i Touring. In the 330i spec, the engine is boosted up to produce 245 horsepower and 400Nm of torque, a healthy dose of power which proved useful when I had to catch up with the convoy. 

Realistically, the 330i Touring has all the pace and performance one could ever need in a daily driven wagon. It has straight-line speed, it has the handling chops to go with that speed and its wagon shell endows it with even more boot space - which can also be accessed by unlatching the rear windscreen.

BMW M3 Touring

But for the driver who demands even more speed with the same practicality that the 330i Touring offers, there is the M3 Competition Touring xDrive. Performance estates are few and far between, and the M3 Touring is BMW's first attempt at wagonifiying an M3. BMW isn't the first brand you think of when you think of "performance estate", but this is a car that seeks to challenge the status quo.

Under the hood of the M3 Touring lurks the same twin-turbocharged straight-six you'd find in an M4 Competition, churning out 510 horsepower and 650Nm of torque. From a standstill, it hits 100km/h in a little over half the time it takes the 330i to do the same sprint.

However, my stint in the M3 Touring was rife with traffic jams as we headed north to the Woodlands Waterfront. Despite that, the M3 Touring still proved comfortable enough on the drive up to our northern shores - in its least aggressive setting, of course. But after my stint in the M3, I wanted something that was quick but also comfortable. The M2 Coupe was a little too compact for me so there was only one other car fit for the job: The BMW XM.

BMW XM

I was a little hesitant to get into the BMW XM. Its large size (it's got 23-inch rims for Pete's sake), its large starting price and the sky-high 653hp/800NM system output from the turbocharged V8 PHEV powerplant seemed a little daunting. At first.

But the benefit of a PHEV is in its ability to run on electricity alone. An ability I exploited for our drive towards Seletar Aerospace Park. Save for some exuberant off-the-line acceleration hijinks, the car juggled between petrol and electric power with little no drama, aside from the occasional scintillating growl of the XM's 4.4-litre V8.

At highway speeds, the XM works effortlessly to supply you with power and the suspension does an admirable job of managing the XM's 2.7-ton mass as we made out way to Seletar where I hopped into something a little more… electrifying.

BMW i4 eDrive35

Full disclosure, I have a soft spot for the BMW i4 eDrive40. Concept car looks aside, the i4 liftback handles like a charm and has plenty of power and (instant) torque to propel you from 0-100km/h in just 5.7 seconds. 

Despite coming in a less powerful guise, the new i4 eDrive35 still retains the appeal of the former. It has a single rear-mounted electric motor producing 286hp/400Nm (identical figures to that of the BMW iX3) and a 0-100km/h time of 6.0 seconds. 

Yes, it has less power than the eDrive40 but the immediacy of torque effectively blurs the line between the two. It responds well to my throttle and steering inputs, it's silent and it glides over road imperfections. To be brief without waxing lyrical, my stint in the i4 was by far the most comfortable and relaxing of the six cars I tested thus far. As we pulled over alongside Changi Airport, I genuinely felt a twinge as I handed the keys over.

MINI Cooper SE

Having been spoiled by the silent powertrain in the i4 eDrive35, I made a beeline for the only other electric car in our convoy for our last leg of the journey: the MINI Cooper SE. I knew that our coast along the ECP back towards PARKROYAL would be congested, so the electrified MINI was the clear pick for navigating my way through rush hour traffic — much as I would've loved to stay in the i4. It spurs up effortlessly and copes with both highway tarmac and city centre road works with aplomb.

Wrapping up Test Fest 2023

There were a number of cars that we didn't get to test during BMW's Test Fest 2023. The Mini Cooper Convertible, the BMW 216i Active Tourer, the BMW X1 sDrive16i and the BMW M2. But being able to test seven cars in a day is quite a feat in itself. In our line of work, such driving opportunities are not infrequent, but to have a 'tasting menu' of multiple vehicle classes in a day is a rare opportunity.

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This article was first published in CarBuyer.