Next Generation BMW 3 Series

By Feann Torr

BMW wanted the public to get its first glimpse of the next generation 3 Series at the Paris Motor Show in late September 2004, but like any automaker today, launches rarely occur without a few leaks.

Take a look at the new photos of BMW's new bread-and-butter model, and you may see that the fresh-faced 3 Series takes a few design cues from the likes of the new 1 Series and even the recently released X3 soft-roader.

But rather than letting design guru Chris Bangle go to town on its new volume seller, it's cash-cow if you will, BMW has made sure that while it fits in with the German automaker's new design direction, it also retains a somewhat conservative aesthetic.

As the photos prove, there are one or two elements that involve Chris Bangle's shameless 'flame surfacing', but on the whole the car's lines are fairly clean and its surfaces largely flat.

Of course, when something as important as the 3 Series - which accounted for almost 60 per cent of BMW's worldwide sales in 2003 - is being redesigned, the old "if it ain't broke" adage applies here more than ever.

Apart from the new sheet metal, the new 3 Series models have been on a high protein diet, with the 4-door sedan growing to 4520mm up from 4471mm.

Interestingly, the coupe and convertible 3 Series models will be launched under the 4 Series moniker and will join their more orthodox saloon siblings later in 2005.

Like all modern cars these days, the new 3 Series is expected to be offered with an AWD package adapted from the X3 driveline at some stage in its life, which is also in addition to the traditional rear-wheel drive setup.

BMW's much-maligned iDrive system will also feature across the 3 Series range, internally known as the E90, and small luxury car will be fighting to keep market share from the likes of Audi's A4, Mercedes recently-refreshed C-Class and the Lexus IS models - the latter of which are emerging as the 3 Series most dangerous foe, particularly in the lucrative North American market.

In order to gain ground on the Japanese insurgents, BMW will packaging its all-new 3 Series with more gadgets and features than your average luxury car, such as the aforementioned iDrive, and pricing is also expected to drop in order to boost interest and eventually sales.

The new E90 platform is also rumoured to spawn a new MPV model, but details are sketchy at best. Concrete news on the new 3.0-litre inline 6-cylinder engine is at hand, however, and the engine gets a solid 20kW boost thanks to variable valve timing, or ValveTronic in Beemer speak.

The 3000cc six now belts out 190kW @ 6650rpm, and if you want more information on the revised inline 6-cylinder engine or on BMW's cracking new 560Nm twin turbo 3.0-litre mill, check out this brief companion article on the new engines by clicking here.

When the new 3 Series launches in the first half of 2005, the models are expected to comprise 320i, 325i and 330i petrol models, with the latter getting the new 190kW ValveTronic engine. Only one diesel model will be offered at launch - the 320d, which will output a healthy 120kW of power and 340Nm of torque.

The talk of turbocharged 6-cylinder engines appears to have died down somewhat, and the E90 M3, due for release a year later in 2006, is now looking more likely to get a 4.0-litre V8. Simply remove two of the cylinders away from the M5's bahnstorming 5.0-litre V10 and voila - there's the core of your next-generation M3.

But at the same token, don't discount the turbocharging of petrol BMW models altogether, as Mercedes has recently made a pledge to ditch the Kompressor (supercharger) in favour of the more cost-effective turbochargers.

Will BMW follow suit? Only time will tell - or a big-mouthed BMW engineer. Either way, it should make for interesting reading.