BMW 3 Series 5th Generation (E90) – What To Check Before You Buy | CarBuzz

The fifth generation BMW 3 Series is now pretty old and, simply put, old cars aren’t as safe as new ones. Still, compared to its contemporaries, it was good, scoring four stars overall when tested by the NHTSA. Just keep in mind that these results are for the less strict pre-2011 crash-test criteria; that star rating will drop even further when updated to the 2011 criteria. However, the 2011 3 Series was never tested against the new criteria. Suffice to say that, while the basic safety features are there, you will be worse for wear after a crash compared to a new 3 Series. That’s just par for the course for old cars. The IIHS has also increased the demands of its crash tests over the years but, for what it’s worth, the first 2006 3 Series achieved a Silver Top Safety Pick rating, even though it only scored “Good” in two tests (moderate front overlap and the old, less strict side impact). Back then, the small-overlap front crash was not being done yet and, not being designed for it, the E90 would probably fare poorly, as all cars of that vintage would.

All that being said, the 5th gen 3 Series was among the best at the time in terms of standard safety equipment and you won’t do much better shopping elsewhere in the class. Even the base 2006 car comes equipped with six airbags, run-flat tires, tire-pressure monitoring, ABS, stability control, automatic headlights, and rain-sensing wipers. HID adaptive headlights were standard on the 330s only and options included adaptive cruise control and rear parking sensors. Coupes and convertibles were generally a little better kitted out, coming as standard with features such as HID headlights. The convertibles also had pop-up rollover hoops. A few more safety features were fitted over the years; in 2007, traffic updates were added to models with navigation and in 2010, automatic high beams became optionally available.