Undoubtedly, the BMW 3 Series, besides being the benchmark among premium sports sedans, holds the crown for having the most stereotyped drivers.
It doesn’t help that, while attempting to make my way across a city jam-packed with tornado-darkened intersections last weekend, a sedan failed to wait its turn at one of the impromptu four-way stops, nearly hitting me. The make and model of the gauntlet runner? A BMW 3 Series. I’d love to see a study on this phenomenon.
Anecdotal accounts of impatient drivers aside, BMW loyalists have a new 3 Series to look forward to, and they won’t have to wait long to see it.
This image, released Wednesday, precedes the 2019 3 Series’ big October 2nd reveal at the Paris auto show. Looks wider, doesn’t it? For the upcoming generation, BMW’s designers saw fit to eliminate the narrow strip of body color separating the two signature grille openings, fusing the two together in a chrome embrace. Headlights, now underscored by LED hockey sticks, move away from their traditional circular shape.
Beneath the vehicle, the 3 Series sees the same modular CLAR architecture coming to a host of rear-drive models in the Bimmer stable. Steel, aluminum, and carbon fiber combine to form a platform that’s lighter and stiffer than before. Like all modular platforms, this one is versatile. A number of powertrain configurations are possible, though Bimmer’s keeping tight-lipped about what we can expect at launch.
BMW developed CLAR and its FAAR front-drive sibling to hedge its bets. The automaker isn’t sure exactly how many future buyers might want a plug-in hybrid, electric vehicle, or traditional gas-powered whip, so it developed the platform with all of these applications in mind. It looks like we’ll see an all-electric 3 Series before too long, too. A silent prototype was spotted plying the streets of Germany in August.
Currently, 3 Series drivers with a soft spot for the environment can choose the 330e, a plug-in hybrid sedan with a paltry electric range of 14 miles.
Joining the next-gen 3 Series in Paris are the new Z4 and the resurrected 8 Series coupe.
[Image: BMW]
I don’t care if it does come with a granola crunching, anxiety building, clanky depressing 2.0T – the wider look is a much needed automotive direction. Hilarious at a time when the F250 and new Silverados are taking the tall narrow look to the extreme.
Thank you BMW.
I am actually not seeing the “wider”. I get that the front fascia has wider features. To me, I think they are serving to camouflage the true proportions of the vehicle. For example, the lights seem to wrap far around into the fender.
What stands out to me is that the hood looks tall. Like a “power bulge”. Only it’s really a “stricken pedestrian safety bulge”. I am thinking the real proportions will be narrower and taller than the current car, looking a little like a cross between the F30 and the Hyundai Elantra. I guess we will see.
I think the roof width in relation to body width has a lot to do with it as well, for example a Nissan Maxima has a very wide mid section but the slope up to the roof makes the car look smaller. On the other hand a current Suburban is about the same width as an H2, yet the H2 looks significantly wider from the rear end. The H2 has very little body slope to the roof whereas the Suburban has a lot of slope, similarly the Corvette like windshield rake on the Suburban just collapses the roof even smaller making the truck look smaller than it really is. Older cars have a lot less “collapsing” slope to the roof as well and is why many of them appear significantly larger while being within the same width as modern cars.
The result of not shrinking the roof area is a more roomy feeling car, much less claustrophobic, and a better wider looking vehicle.
“The H2 has very little body slope to the roof.”
The sloping sides to a narrow roof is tumblehome.
Besides the obvious loss of space, excessive tumblehome also means that the snow on the roof pours down into the vehicle when you open the door.
Learn something new everyday, I did not know it was called that.
“What stands out to me is that the hood looks tall. Like a “power bulge”.”
Or Mongolian idiocy.
To be fair, now that the actual vehicle has been revealed, I think it looks pretty decent. The cowl line and hood are a bit tall, but it’s not glaringly obvious. And they kept the front overhang short, which was apparently a difficult task. So I would say I like the profile overall. The one area I don’t like very much is the rear fascia. It looks similar to recent Lexuses, but I don’t like it as much. I think the bumper and trunk lid are over-detailed.
In MA, there’s no question about which brand has the most aggressive drivers: Audi all the way. BMW is a distant second.
Wait, there are different levels of MA holes? I’ve seen them violate multiple traffic laws in everything from Ford Aspires to limos. Overall, BMW drivers have nothing, nothing on drivers of Altimas. You have to fail an I.Q. test to register an Altima.
I would actually vote for Infiniti drivers. It’s just that there are many, many fewer of them than Audi drivers.
And of course, Nissan drivers in general seem to be bottom of the barrel over the entire country.
I think the BMW stereotype is largely old hat at this point.
It is my opinion, based on my experiences, Audi and Volkswagen drivers are by a wide margin the most aggressive drivers in Germany. Porsches drivers tend to be rather sedate or well-behaved, which you do not expect. Mercedes and BMW drivers are a mixed bag. Some are aggressive, most drive in a civilized manner, especially if its a lower end product (B-Klasse, 2er Active Tourer and such). And as a former Audi driver, I can confirm that I drove very aggressively, but I prefer to think of it as ‘sporty’.
The award for slowest and most-likely-to-enrage-you award (in my experience) goes to Toyota, Fiat and Renault drivers. Their most annoying (and dangerous) trait is to merge from the slow lane into the fast lane forcing faster drivers to slow down to their ridiculously slow speeds. Their cars lack the power to accelerate quickly, or they are simply taking their time overtaking convoys of trucks at a leisurely 100-110 kph – on the fast lane.
Clarkson did a bit about the adaptive radar cruise control in some car. To wit: “You can set it at 120m; 80m; 40m; or the full-Audi!”
I’ll admit, my new beater A4 with a hole in the flex pipe is egging me on for some aggressive starts and on-ramp acceleration I wouldn’t normally do in my other cars, but I always keep a safe following distance and don’t speed much in morning traffic. I’m getting the flex pipe replaced soon so we’ll see if that settles me down.
Word is that the new 3-series will come standard with a turn signal defeat switch.
Will anyone notice?
The “Ultimate Driving Machine” has been dead for a long time now. This isn’t same BMW of 15 years ago – not even close.
This seems apropos of nothing. BMW smartly ditched that MO for the 3 with the current version’s 2012 debut. With smart options picking (sport package, M Performance suspension + LSD) and some choice mods (solid subframe bushings like the M3) you can get that old magic back. But BMW wisely shifted to cater the other 99.9% of the market.
True, but the new 3er should be closer than the current model.
Hope it’s good. I drove the current one and while I liked it, I felt like it should have been better.
Agreed. I think the F30 is nice to drive, but it doesn’t feel “wow”. Completely numb steering hurt the experience for me. Also, the prevalent pleather is a negative in my opinion.
Hoping they bring the US a regular hybrid for less $$$ with more MPGs.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
Wake me when I the Genesis G70 “build-your-own” tool comes on line.
hope you’re sleepy, ’cause it might be January!
You can try it out on the Canadian website. It’s the same as most Korean cars. Pick a trim and a color, and that’s it.
That doesn’t tell me the price in good old American Greenback Dollars.
And no it isn’t an exact exchange rate.
Personally I’d love to check out a Sport manual with LSD. The Canadians that have gotten to drive one and who also own the BMW 3 series that are from the good years at BMW are absolutely Ga Ga over the G70 Sport.
Hopefully it will come equipped with four turbochargers, two electric motors, a generator, 48V and 12V electrical systems, a LiIon battery pack, six cameras, and three LCD screens.
WRT BMW drivers, I’d rather drive among the impatient than drive behind a blue-haired retiree in a Prius with nowhere to go and all day to get there.
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Yes, there is a study showing that you aren’t crazy to think that BMW drivers are less courteous.
:)
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2013/07/16/study-wealthier-motorists-more-likely-to-drive-like-reckless-jerks/
E60 M5 driver here. Took my boss and a coworker to lunch a few days ago. They said I was a little too ‘aggressive’ driving but whatever. No burnouts, honking, cutoffs, nothing. Couple hooners in a E46 M3 paced us and then blew by, I let’em keep on while myself going all lame and speed-limit like. I think they thought the motor noise was a little intrusive maybe? Hard to tell.
For what its worth, Infiniti drivers seem to get the anxiety when I encounter them. And diesel brodozers – pick a brand.
It will look like the 5 series…the end.
The good news is that BMW should know where the F30 was a failure – interior design, seat material quality, poor value, dead steering, not class competitive, gets beat by the new Accord.
The bad news is that the brand is a luxury brand first. They’ll fix the interior, but driving dynamics won’t be present until you get the top trim of this car. And value won’t appear anywhere.