BMW has this habit of discontinuing a particular variant and then bringing it back after a few months. In August 2019, India received the new 3 Series in three derivatives – 320d Sport, 320d Luxury Line and 330i M Sport. In March this year, the 320d Sport variant disappeared from the price list. And now, it is back. Priced at Rs 42.1 lakh, it costs Rs 70,000 more than before. Compared to the 320d Luxury Line, the re-introduced variant costs Rs 5.4 lakh less. The petrol-powered 330i Sport, on the other hand, costs Rs 40,000 less than the 320d Sport.

Powering the 320d Sport is the same 2.0-litre engine that does duty in a range of BMWs. The 4-cylinder, turbo-diesel unit pumps out 188bhp/400Nm and comes mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission. With the oomph going to the rear wheels only, the BMW 320d Sport can hit 100kmph from nothing in 6.8 seconds and top out at 240kmph. Astonishingly, BMW claims that the 320d can now return a mileage as high as 20.37kmpl, which is 0.75kmpl more than the launch-time figure.

The difference between the two diesel-powered 3 Series comes from the list of features. Compared to the Luxury Line trim level, the Sport misses out on ambient lighting, support for Apple CarPlay, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster (gets a conventional one instead), a 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system (gets an 8.8-inch unit instead) and parking assist. That said, the entry-level diesel still features gizmos such as cruise control, launch control, multiple driving modes, three-zone climate control, electric sunroof, powered seats with memory function and automatic start/stop.

In India, the BMW 3 Series competes with the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and the Jaguar XE. Soon, Audi will rejoin the space with the updated A4 and Volvo will introduce the brand-new S60. If it were your money, which one would you purchase?