Ever go to get a haircut, ask for just a trim, and the cutter truly just barely cuts your hair? That's what happened on the 3-Series refresh. The front fascia is slightly revised. But for the most part, we're looking at the same ol' 3-Series we know and mostly love. Or strongly like. The biggest changes for the American version are: (1) a 335i wagon will now be available; (2) BMW is rolling out their dual clutch automatic transmission from the M3 as an option on the 335i coupe and convertible models only (guess on a $2500 price premium over the stick) and (3) the 335d, as in turbodiesel, is coming to America. From that oil burning engine you can pay 5.19 for diesel fuel, but also enjoy 425 lb ft of torque starting at only 1750 rpm and 265 horses. For now, the 335d will be only available configured as a RWD sedan for us North Americans, but the engine is set to land in the AWD BMW X5 as well. To be 50-state compliant, the engine uses the AdBlue urea injection system co-developed with Mercedes and VW. Expect the updated cars to be '09 models shipping early fall.
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Figures. They’ll finally offer a 335i wagon, and now I complain that they don’t offer us a 335d wagon.
FINALLY! A 335i wagon and a 335d sedan. Someone in New Jersey IS talking to Munich… Now we wait for the launch of the 335d wagon in…wait….2010. Hopefully.
While they addressed my biggest gripes with the 3er (the grille and the taillights), the sedan and wagon are still not as good looking as the coupes. It’s an improvement though (even with the busy lines on the hood and front bumper). If I actually needed a car, I’ll take a stick wagon with no iDrive (I never liked the double-bubble dash).
It may be a minor facelift, but they fixed the most egregious mistake — the damn milk mustache. The kidney grills are now entirely on the GRILL instead of partly on the grill and partly on the hood.
That little bit of chrome on the hood always brought to my mind the image of an alcoholic 50-something woman whose lack of coordination resulted in lipstick going way above her lip. Nor really the image you want for a “sport sedan”, eh?
The biggest changes for the American version are: (1) a 335i wagon will now be available
Woo-hoo! At least now I can stop wishing and get on with not actually buying one. Because I can’t afford nearly $50k for a compact wagon.
This will be news when BMW imports the 318d or 320d.
Until then, the 3 series remains a high priced trinket.
335i sport wagon!?!?!?!!? OMG. OMG. How do I convince my wife that we need the twin turbo straight 6 and the poorer fuel economy that comes with it over the regular 328i sport wagon (which was already at the top end of my ‘next car budget’). When it wasn’t available here, I didn’t have the option. Now I’m going to have to make and sell children to get it.
Wouldn’t 335d with all its torque a bit more logical powerplant for the wagon?
335i sportwagon? How did I miss that? Its hard to justify having two 3 series, but not an M3 and a wagon!
Oh no they di-dint! $34k for a proper wagon? Plus the most completely killer wheel assortment to choose from known to man!
Looks great, no doubt about it. Looks even better with a hitch on the back!
Yeah, the 335d would be great, but I guess that’d push the price closer to $40k with an automatic, that might restrict sales a bit much.
And “compact” isn’t exactly a good word for this thing – it’s very nearly the same size as the 5 series wagon. The 5 is 12″ longer overall than the 3, not so much difference in what you can fit between the two. Consider that the hood is longer, an inch or two is used up by front and rear passengers, and you maybe have 4″ more cargo space.
Still, absolutely no desire, at all…
Bout damn time they brought the 335i wagon over here.
Aww crap….no 335d wagon? BMW, you suck. (Thanks for the wagon though!)
netrun
I’m more concerned about the lack of cargo space in the E90 wagon overall…it’s at the bottom of its class. Not that you buy something like this for full-time cargo hauling, but it does make the Audi A4 look downright spacious.
sigh. not nearly enough white power…
This photo looks like a positive step in BMW’s slow process of debanglification.
Chris Bangle’s love affair with french curves somehow reminds me of Frank Gehry’s architecture. Except that I generally like Gehry’s architecture.
German sports cars have traditionally been rolling temples to Apollo in their engineering, aesthetics and sensibility, as contrasted to the Dionysian cults of Italian design houses. (Why did Captain Slow have to put money in the jar every time he used the word “passion” to describe an Alfa Romeo?)
In the tension between the cerebral and the visceral, the Germans (even the somewhat more fun-loving Bavarians) have typically chosen the former.
The less-than subtle design cues of recent German supercars have challenged this tradidion, such as the not-so-subtly muscular graphics on various Mercedes-Benz and Audi models. Chris Bangle has taken the entire BMW line-up down this speculative path, with ‘flame sculpting’ and organic-looking contours.
If this photo is a glimpse into BMW’s future, it would appear that they (or Bangle) are pulling back a bit. No complaints here; I kind of preferred the previous design language.
Y’know what the facelifted front end looks like? The late and not particularly lamented Rover 75 — engineered during BMW’s ill-fated ownership of Rover Group.
Observe and contrast.
Irony, thy name is Bangle.
A few other places on the blogosphere is showing the 335i will not be arriving stateside–but those are older reports. I wonder when they’ll be available for ED…
Ugly.
still ugly
still the German Camry in terms of driver satisfaction.
Not sure if I’m the only one that likes the upcoming 7-series but when you add that to the refreshed (and de-Bangled) front of this 3-series, maybe there’s hope in upcoming designs! From asking friends and family and reading other opinions on blogs, it looks like the 3-series coupe’s styling has caught on, so I’ll throw that into the mix.
Any info about the next-gen Z4? For whatever reason, I’ve always liked that design while I guess others thought it was an eyesore on wheels!
We’ll leave the eyesore on wheels award in the corner of the current 5-series. De-Bangle that now!!!
And while we’re at it, I’d like the see the current Honda Accord De-Bangled, too. The resemblance between the Accord and the 5er is neither subtle nor flattering.
I’ve been waiting for a 335i wagon in the USA. But I seriously doubt it’s ever coming here.
“There are no plans to offer our 300hp twin-turbo I-6 engine in the 3 Series Sport Wagon for the USA.”
That’s according to a recent email from BMWNA to TTAC’s own contributer, Jonny Lieberman. Same thing is being said at Bimmerfile which is usually 99.9% correct.
Finally they changed the grill back to the way it should have been all along. Now only the poor 6 series has to suffer a bit longer with that stupid horizontal chrome above the grill. Now if they could only make it drive like my e46 I may buy a new one.