BMW 3-Series
Behold! A new BMW that’s largely inoffensive to look at
This is the new BMW 3-Series saloon... and it’s stolen Peugeot’s headlights. Look! B Bookending okending the merged kidney grilles are headlights with little notches of f b bodywork dywork eating into them. Even so, isn’t it pleasant to have a new BMW that doesn’t make you want to retch? Take note, X2, X3, X4, X5, iNext, 6GT…
The agreeable styling is draped over a body that’s 85mm longer and 16mm wider than the last 3-Series, yet this XXL seventh-gen version is said to be 55kg lighter than the last. Inside, BMW has finally stopped fiddling with its Nineties design themes and gone chasing after Audi and Mercedes modern-cool ambience. We’ve got a 12.3in digital instrument display that lies flush with a widescreen iDrive console. Oh, and this is the first Three to ditch a manual handbrake. Adaptive suspension is o optional, as is xDrive all-wheel drive. At launch, you’ve got a choice of a 187bhp 320d diesel, a four-cylinder turbo 330i with 254bhp and later there’ll be a plug-in 330e hybrid to make mak the company-car fleet manager’s choice a little easier i ( (and nd diesel’s job tougher still).
Basically, this is a big collection of numbers, all of which are quantifiably better than the last one. The boot is 36 litres bigger. There’s 11mm more rear legroom. Optional laser headlights can peer 350 metres into the gloom. The standard stereo offers 100 Watts, the cost-extra Harman Kardon hi-fi ups that to 464 Watts. Refreshingly there’s only six option packs and 10 single options for the car. Before any are selected, the new Three starts at £33,610. Now, go and lie down in a darkened room and contemplate how many of these things you’ll clap eyes on in the next seven years. All with Peugeot headlights you can’t unsee…