Mini Cooper at 25, Golf GTI at 35, 330i at 45 - you might want to resist the clichéd inevitably of life, but when it presents a series of choices as attractive as that, why fight it? And so the world beats a path to BMW's door. The question is, has BMW kept its side of the bargain and delivered yet another world-beating saloon?

Well, it looks good. The proper 3-Series proportions remain: the integration of wheelarches into the wings gives it a modern look, and there's that strong defining boneline through the door handles. The banana curve on the sills isn't as wilful as in a 1-Series either. OK, the tail looks like a sharpened version of the last Nissan Primera, but overall it's a fine job. Inside, the controls are conventional and clean, and better for it - iDrive is an option, and controls only navigation and the phone. The driving position is just so. You wear this car like a good suit.

Under the bonnet, it's BMW's brand-new six-cylinder, currently a 3.0 but a 218bhp 2.5 will follow soon. Now you might have thought renewing the six-pot wasn't top of the to-do list at Munich (they've already got one of the world's best, after all) but the six was their only remaining mainstream petrol engine without Valvetronic head, as used on the four, V8 and V12. While they were at it, the engineers also used an ultra-lightweight magnesium-alloy block. The new six represents an attack on the losses that hold an engine back. The reduced mass means the engine doesn't have to use up a lot of power just hauling itself up the road, and it means the 330i is less nose-heavy and more agile through bends. The sheer effort of running the engine has been cut too, so the unit wastes less power on itself and gives more to us drivers. This 330i delivers 12 per cent more power than the old, and still drinks 12 per cent less in the combined cycle.

And from where I'm sitting it's smooth, revvy and sounds seriously encouraging as it kicks up its full 258bhp and homes in on the red line at 7,000. The torque doesn't really make itself felt until 4,000 or so, but that's absolutely no issue on the road, especially as it has a sixspeed behind it, whether manual or auto. It sounds a bit rattly at idle, but otherwise progressively hums, calls and then blares its clarion blast through a captivating performance spectrum. It's not just fast, it's also linked to you via a pedal that's perfectly exact. You are connected.

Sadly, the same isn't quite true of the optional Active Steering. It's dead around the straight-ahead, sticky and lacking in self-centring. So you've got to hold it in lane on motorway straights, and your confidence is robbed on curves. On lock, the wheel feels more intimate, but even so, because it changes steering ratio according to speed, I found myself over-turning in a slow corner after I'd been driving faster.

Otherwise, the chassis is fabulous. The whole car just seems to pivot around you. Besides, if you press the defeat switch on the helper electrics, it'll start to nibble around the edge of grip with plenty of communication, fine balance and a feeling it'll always help you.