Rumor has it that BMW sells 60% of their cars as diesels in Europe, but nothing serious here in the US. I just bought my daughter a 2010 Jetta TDI Cup Edition, only because I couldn't find an equivalent BMW. What a wonderful car the TDI is! I am currently looking for a replacement for my E46 M3 (full DINAN S2), and believe that my next car should get at least 30mpg in city driving. I'd love to buy another BMW (I've had 13 since '67) but BMW/USA refuses to import anything serious. How about it BMW: a 120 turbo diesel with dual clutch? I'd happily pay well over $40K for a fully loaded coupe. As it is, I may have to buy (this is hard..)an Audi.
335d doesn't fit your parameters? Aside from the glaring omission of the E92 here in the states, the E90 335d is quite an animal. They are also importing 2 more diesels to the states this year, 1 of which is of the F10 variant.
Only comes in standard automatic, which is a huge turnoff for many. He is specifically looking for the dual-clutch DCT transmission, which definitely isn't offered on the 335d. Is it even offered on the 120d? Which diesels?
That's what I thought too-- I never even owned a clutchless vehicle until I was 58 and got the 335d. But now as the miles rack up, I find I do not miss the manual shifting as much as I thought I would. But you have to have the premium/sport package with the toggles to make it fun. I use the toggles A LOT-- for example, if I want to slow the car down and not illuminate the stop lamps for some reason- Also you can put it in "DS" and shift it sequentially with the lever, even take the shifts up toward red line if you like. There is a lot to do with the high end automatic tranny on the 335d, and I'm a die hard manual guy. I do still miss the "3rd to 2nd downshift before powering through a curve" that is so much fun with a true manual. At any rate- the 335d is a long term keeper for me. Just put 1500 miles on her on my trip to Arizona and she performed flawlessly in every way and returned 36 MPG average during city/mountain/interstate combo driving.
