Quick summary
- The two badges name one configuration: an E9x 3 Series whose 3.0-liter six also turns the front axle.
- BMW retired the xi suffix after the 2008 cars and wrote xDrive on everything built from 2009.
- Choosing all-wheel drive costs two miles per gallon combined, and almost all of it on the highway.
Short answer: a 328xi and a 328i xDrive are mechanically the same proposition, and the difference is the model year. BMW used 328xi for 2007 and 2008, then renamed it 328i xDrive for 2009 onward. Both carry the naturally aspirated 3.0-liter six, both want premium fuel, and both give up roughly two mpg to the rear-drive 328i.
What is the difference between a 328xi and a 328i xDrive?
The badge, and the year it was applied. BMW’s old convention put an x before the i to mark all-wheel drive, which is why the generation before this one gave you a 325xi and a 330xi. From the 2009 model year BMW switched to writing xDrive after the number instead, and the system became a selectable brand name rather than a suffix.
The EPA’s ratings record the handover exactly: 328xi appears for 2007 and 2008 and then stops, and 328i xDrive appears from 2009 and carries on. Nothing in the drivetrain description changes across that line — same 3.0-liter engine, same six-speed manual or six-speed automatic, same drive to all four wheels.
What all-wheel drive actually costs
| Model year | Rear drive (328i) | All-wheel drive | Badge used |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 18 / 28 / 22 mpg | 17 / 25 / 20 mpg | 328xi |
| 2008 | 19 / 28 / 22 mpg | 17 / 25 / 20 mpg | 328xi |
| 2009 | 18 / 28 / 22 mpg | 17 / 25 / 20 mpg | 328i xDrive |
| 2011 | 18 / 28 / 22 mpg | 18 / 25 / 20 mpg | 328i xDrive |
Automatic cars are shown; manuals land within one mpg either way. The pattern holds across every year: two mpg combined, and the damage is concentrated on the highway, where 28 becomes 25. In town the gap is often a single mpg or none at all. Every one of these cars is rated on premium, a requirement that comes from the engine’s compression rather than from the driven axles, which our octane guide explains.
Which years wore which badge?
Lining the EPA’s lists up year by year gives a clean answer. For 2007 and 2008 the all-wheel-drive cars are 328xi, including the Sport Wagon and the coupe, which took the awkward 328cxi name. For 2009 onward the same cars are listed as 328i xDrive, 328i Sport Wagon xDrive and 328ci xDrive.
That matters when searching classifieds. A listing titled 328xi should be a 2007 or 2008 car; one calling a 2010 car a 328xi is using the old name out of habit. Neither is a warning sign by itself, but the model year is the thing to confirm, not the badge on the boot.
Which one to look for
If you want all-wheel drive, the later cars are the ones to favour, for reasons that have nothing to do with the badge: a 2009 or later E90 is a facelifted car, and the 2011 rear-drive manual even picks up a mpg over the earlier ones. If you do not need it, the rear-drive 328i is two mpg better and one differential simpler.
Either way the engine underneath is the same naturally aspirated six that defines this generation, and it is where the known issues live rather than in the drivetrain — our write-up of the N52 covers what to inspect. For the wider picture on body styles, weights and trim, start from our E90 and E92 328i guide.
Sources: EPA fueleconomy.gov model lists and ratings for the BMW 328i, 328xi and 328i xDrive, model years 2006 to 2011. Photos: Groveland Media / Wikimedia Commons, public domain, and Elise240SX / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
