BMW 328 vs SS Jaguar 100: great expectations

By Martin Buckley

| 13 Mar 2026

Classic & Sports Car – BMW 328 vs SS Jaguar 100: great expectations

The hype is justified: the BMW 328, as it reaches 90 years old, is still a fantastic car to drive.

There is a forever youthful, Peter Pan-like quality to this image-defining BMW sports car that is truly magical.

Robust performance from its famous straight-six is just one element of this roadster’s appeal, but to say that it is more than the sum of its parts does not convey how supernaturally capable the 328 still is.

The BMW 328’s twin kidney grilles, beneath the famous blue-and-white roundel

And what looks right is right, as is so often the case: the body ties the car together in a smooth envelope of sympathetic curves and flowing surfaces.

Elegant wings sit tight against the long, one-piece, rear-hinged bonnet with its leather straps.

There are no bumpers, just a hint of running board and faired-in headlights (strikingly modern in 1936) on either side of those tall, slim grilles with no visible radiator cap.

The BMW nieren proudly assert both the identity of a then still young manufacturer and the technological ascendancy of Germany.

Three Solex carburettors and complex valvegear help the BMW 328’s ‘six’ to 80bhp

The 328’s straight-six engine embodied this attitude to the full.

For starters it looked the part, with a handsome pair of rocker covers and, rooted in the valley between them, three Solex downdraught carburettors dropping mixture into short, vertical inlet ports.

Small ‘sixes’ had been part of BMW’s line-up since the early 1930s, and they had acquitted themselves well in the pretty 315 and 319 roadsters.

However, the 1971cc engine of the 328, its block shared with the 326 saloon, was a technical marvel that focused on gas flow while avoiding the overhead cams that would have meant tooling up for an all-new design.

BMW’s 328 is a true icon of sports-car development, but can it really live up to its reputation?

Engineer Fritz Fiedler’s answer was an exotic compromise of cross pushrods and a side-mounted camshaft working a dozen rockers.

The valves, splayed to produce hemispherical combustion chambers, were operated by vertical pushrods on the intake side with cross pushrods transferring the motion through 90° rocker arms to the exhaust side.

It was a convoluted solution, but it worked: on a 7.5:1 compression ratio, the 1800lb BMW 328 would make 80bhp, rev out to 5000rpm, hold 93mph and top the ton according to some accounts.

The Autocar’s Sammy Davis lapped Brooklands at 103mph in a 328, sold new in the UK under the Frazer Nash-BMW banner.

The BMW 328’s spare wheel is partly absorbed by its rounded tail

In comparison, the underpinnings – largely carried over from the 315 and 319, but mixed and matched with 326 parts – were almost routine: the front suspension was independent (with a transverse leaf spring) and the rear was a live axle.

But key to the 328’s nimble character were a stiff tubular frame, rack-and-pinion steering and self-adjusting hydraulic brakes.

It is an intimate, compact and low-slung car in the metal; you ‘wear’ the BMW 328, sitting in rather than on it.

The BMW 328’s driving position is low-slung, and its dashboard is busy with dials and switches

Hop in through the little, rear-hinged cutaway door on to full-sized leather seats.

There are no driving-position problems, but you instinctively hug the outside of the door with your left elbow.

Hunkering down below the foldable vee ’screen, you survey the cream VDO gauges and switchgear.

Already fully warmed up, the ‘six’ fires readily, the busy chatter of its valvegear partially swamped by the throaty exhaust bark.

The BMW 328’s four-speed gearbox is pleasant, but it doesn’t like to be hurried

The gearlever of the Hurth gearbox (a ZF unit was also used) is a long chrome spear that emerges almost parallel with the floor from under the dashboard.

It moves with slick precision, for the most part, but cannot always be rushed.

I recall being told years ago that BMW Group Classic installed modified Volvo Amazon gearboxes into the 328s it allowed journalists to sample, which is telling.

The acceleration is assertive and sonorous in all four ratios. Double-declutching down into the unsynchronised second is the perfect excuse to indulge in the crisp throttle response.

Side openings help to keep the BMW 328’s straight-six cool

Virile, biddable and safe, yet requiring no special skill, the 328 combines friskiness and thrust with an obedience of response that inspires total confidence.

No wonder they are in such demand at the posh end of the long-distance historic tour and rally world.

Delivered new in Portugal in 1938, this Mille Miglia-eligible car was restored, no expense spared, by TT Workshops between 2009 and 2011, having been bought specifically to enter the historic edition of that classic event.

BMW’s 328 was the first modern sports car, but it still predates indicator lamps

The refinement of the drivetrain and the flexible power of the engine give a coherent, all-of-a-piece personality that is the key to the 328’s modern feel.

The steering, accurate, smooth and beautifully weighted, is a revelation to anyone who expects to have to use shoulder muscles to drive a pre-war sports car.

Likewise the composed ride. Fiedler’s stiff, light frame allowed the use of relatively soft damping.

Part of me hesitates to mention the SS Jaguar 100 in the same breath as the BMW 328, yet these two cars, for me, have always invited comparison.

German sophistication takes on British brawn in this BMW 328 (closest) vs SS Jaguar 100 showdown

The approaches are different, but there are parallels to be drawn: both are deliciously beautiful two-seater, six-cylinder roadsters measuring just under 13ft in length.

The English car, rather heavier than the BMW and with a longer wheelbase, is more spare and traditional but, if anything, even more rakish.

SS100s were built in similar quantities (the Jaguar is rarer, at 314 made between 1936 and 1940) by a similarly young and ambitious firm that, like the Bavarian Motor Works, had cut its teeth in the world of Austin Sevens.

BMW built them under licence as the Dixi, while William Lyons’ Swallow concern progressed rapidly from sidecar manufacturer to maker of nifty-looking ‘sports’ bodies for the baby Austin.

The SS marque became Jaguar after WW2

Like the 328, the SS100 was not reintroduced after the war, but the family of low-slung, overhead-valve saloons on which it was based did, with the SS moniker dropped for obvious reasons.

Jaguar became the name of the company rather than just part of the line-up.

It was never entirely established what SS stood for, anyway, but for too many people it conjured images of pre-war cads and counter-jumpers wearing loud suits and too much pomade – the sort of people who were never seen behind the wheel of an Alvis, an AC or a Bentley.

The firmly sprung SS Jaguar 100 2½-litre resists body roll well

The SS100 began the process of dissolving the shabby ‘Wardour Street Bentley’ image.

But it wasn’t shaken off completely, even when the Jaguar showed itself to be a capable sprint and rally car in the right hands: SS100s beat all the BMWs in the 1936 International Alpine Trial and won two pre-war RAC Rally events.

Like the 328, it was a pivotal model that caused the motoring world to take notice of Lyons as a maker of serious sports cars after some early missteps.

Yet memories of the ‘soda-squirt’ SS1 lingered, fuelling suspicions that a £395 sports car with such matinée-idol looks could not possibly be any good.

The SS Jaguar 100’s long bonnet and separate wings make it look older than the BMW 328

The SS100 arrived in September 1935, and deliveries started in ’36. But its launch was somewhat overshadowed by the new SS Jaguar saloons.

It was always Lyons’ intention that the SS100 would be a low-volume car, an image- and credibility-boosting model developed from the short-lived SS90 and a technical halfway house between vintage and ’30s modern.

Its 102in, underslung box-section chassis gave it a low stance on 18in Dunlop wire wheels, while Bill Heynes’ overhead-valve conversion – with breathing expertise by Harry Weslake – coaxed 100bhp from the 2663cc six-cylinder Standard engine, complete with twin SUs bolted directly to the head with no inlet manifold.

The SS Jaguar 100’s large steering wheel jostles for space with the driver’s thighs

It would take the 3½-litre version to top the magical ‘ton’ with what The Motor described as ‘racing car acceleration’. It recorded 0-60mph in 10.9 secs – absolutely flying in 1937.

At 95mph, even the shorter-stroke 2½-litre was one of the fastest non-supercharged cars on the road.

Yet it retained anachronisms such as Girling mechanical brakes (which actually worked well) and solid axles, similar in design if not in detail to the SS90.

This was ironmongery compared with the art and science of the BMW. Jaguar’s time to shine in that department would come post-war with the XK engine.

The SS Jaguar 100’s 2663cc ‘six’ with twin SU carburettors

It should not be forgotten that underpinning the 328’s technical marvels were military orders for BMW motorcycles and aircraft engines as Hitler began to rearm post-1933.

BMW was not in the Daimler-Benz league, but it certainly had money and resources far in excess of SS cars, which was really still an assembler rather than a true manufacturer.

Lyons and his team had to do the best with what they had.

The SS Jaguar 100 is good for 102bhp at 4600rpm

The parts bin was consulted closely. The SS100’s steering was by Burman worm and nut, and semi-elliptics were used all round.

As with Lyons’ Austin-based Swallows, the bodywork was a mix of ash frame and aluminium panels.

Those famously swoopy wings were fashioned by an outside company in Nottingham.

ELK 4, chassis 49002, was first registered in December 1937. It was sprinted at Brands Hatch in 1960, and soon appeared twice on the cover of club magazine Jaguar Driver.

The SS Jaguar 100 is at its best in long, faster corners

After a spell in the USA, it returned to the UK in 1987.

With its giant Lucas QK596 headlights, long wings and 14-gallon Le Mans slab fuel tank, the SS100 is almost a caricature of a 1930s sports car.

Stylishly cut-away doors, the rear-mounted spare and a squat windscreen add charm to a visual appeal that is a match for any of its thoroughbred rivals.

From inside, the view down the long, louvred bonnet is more romantic than a Barbara Cartland novel, but first you have to find a way of slipping your thighs under the Bluemel’s four-spoke wheel while finding space for your feet as you settle into the dinky bucket seat.

Fine detailing on the SS Jaguar 100’s windscreen surround

The pedals are close together and it’s easy to hit two at once if you have clumpy footwear.

You sit close to the wheel, arms bent, feeling under the dashboard for the stubby gearlever.

The curved twin cowls of the fascia are adorned with cream-faced Smiths instruments bearing ‘SS’ insignia, and there are advance and retard controls on the fat steering boss.

The straight-six starts at the first touch of the button with a fruity flutter from the exhaust.

The Jaguar’s straightforward dashboard

The clutch is light and progressive, and the engine produces very much the same warm growl as an XK unit, overlaid with that classic whine from the straight-cut bottom gear of the Moss ’box as you ease away.

It is very tractable, and gear-play is largely optional. You can go from second to top at 20mph and the SS100 simply romps up the road.

Yet it can’t match the exciting power delivery of the punchy, lightweight BMW 328, which is just getting into its stride as the SS100 is beginning to sound strained.

The SS Jaguar 100’s short gearlever controls a Moss ’box

Curiously – given the ponderous post-war reputation of the Moss four-speeder – the gearbox turns out to be one of the best things about the Jaguar: it finds its slots easily in a precise gate and is much less tricky to navigate than the BMW’s.

Not so the steering, the handling generally or the ride: it is like comparing ballet with Morris dancing.

It’s not that the SS100 is a bad or tricky car to drive. Far from it. It is just that the BMW is so extraordinarily good.

‘It’s not that the SS Jaguar 100 is a bad or tricky car to drive. Far from it. It is just that the BMW is so extraordinarily good’

You can motor the SS100 through corners quite quickly on those skinny tyres.

The hard springs do not allow roll to develop, and limits are sensed long before they are breached.

But steering that is nicely balanced on fast, smooth curves loads up rapidly on tight, slow turns taken ambitiously.

It also shudders in sympathy with the scuttle over rough surfaces and has a poor lock. It is high-geared, but nothing like as light and responsive as the BMW’s.

The BMW 328’s rack-and-pinion steering is accurate and nicely weighted

Accept these shortcomings as character and the car’s personality can shine through.

With the sun going down on a summer evening, enjoying the bark from the exhaust and the warm glow from the instruments, you might not care that this evocative car doesn’t quite give you that last 10% of feel and feedback.

It lacks the effortless composure that separates a great driver’s car from an all-time great.

The SS100 is not a brute, but neither is it a fine instrument.

Compared to the Jaguar, the BMW 328 has a smoother ride and it’s more feelsome to drive

If the BMW feels hewn from solid yet light on its feet at the same time, each component sympathetic to its assigned task, the Jaguar feels like harder work, the product of a different generation.

You would learn to accommodate the British car’s shortcomings on longer acquaintance and enjoy it on smooth roads, going into corners slow, getting your steering sorted before coming out fast.

But you cannot go confidently in search of the Jaguar’s outer limits in the way the BMW invites, almost demands, you to.

Ruched pocket in the BMW 328’s slender driver’s door

Some pre-war models make an unfamiliar driver second-guess themselves, but this one leaves you wanting more.

After five minutes at the wheel of the BMW 328 you can see why few – if any – negative words have ever been spoken or printed about this, the first modern sports car.

Modern? Yes, because it is compact, has a relatively small but high-specific-output engine (for its day) and can be driven quickly on any type of road surface, in relative comfort, in a way almost nothing else could – not even some of its very exotic French and Italian rivals.

It is almost spookily excellent, setting standards of driver appeal that formed the basis of BMW’s post-war reputation.

The BMW 328 remains a fantastic sports car, 90 years after it was introduced

Wealthy enthusiasts could buy a 328 on a Monday and win races the following weekend.

It romped away to win its first event at the Nürburgring, driven by Ernst Henne, in June 1936, and privateers were still competitive in their 328s well into the ’50s.

At the height of the model’s pre-war popularity, grids at many German events were completely dominated by the 328, resulting in a legacy of 405 wins (and 104 second places) in three years.

These included class victories at Le Mans and the Tourist Trophy; the special-bodied coupé 328 that won the 1940 Mille Miglia is a whole other story.

The BMW 328 has a reputation out of all proportion to the numbers built: just 459 from 1936-’40. It is richly deserved.

Images: Max Edleston

Thanks to: The Classic Motor Hub for both cars

Factfiles

BMW 328

Sold/number built 1936-’40/459
Construction tubular steel frame, steel body
Engine iron-block, alloy-head, ohv 1971cc straight-six, triple downdraught Solex carburettors
Max power 80bhp @ 5000rpm
Max torque 93lb ft @ 4000rpm
Transmission four-speed manual, RWD
Suspension: front independent, by transverse leaf spring, lower wishbones rear live axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs; telescopic dampers f/r
Steering rack and pinion
Brakes drums
Length 12ft 10in (3912mm)
Width 5ft (1524mm)
Height 5ft 5in (1651mm)
Wheelbase 7ft 8in (2337mm)
Weight 1800lb (816kg)
0-60mph 12 secs
Top speed 93mph
Mpg 23
Price new £695
Price now £300-700,000*

SS Jaguar 100 2½-litre

Sold/number built 1936-’39/314
Construction steel ladder chassis, aluminium body
Engine all-iron, ohv 2663cc straight-six, twin SU carburettors
Max power 102bhp @ 4600rpm
Max torque n/a
Transmission four-speed manual, RWD
Suspension: front beam axle rear live axle; semi-elliptic leaf springs, friction dampers f/r
Steering worm and peg
Brakes rod-operated drums
Length 12ft 9in (3886mm)
Width 5ft 3in (1600mm)
Height 4ft 6in (1372mm)
Wheelbase 8ft 8in (2641mm)
Weight 2300lb (1043kg)
0-60mph 12.8 secs
Top speed 95mph
Mpg 20
Price new £395
Price now £250-600,000*