The 3er was once the undisputed king of the small executive sedan segment. But its rivals, especially the German ones, have chipped away some of its reputation in the past two or three years.
At the same time, the small luxury sedan market is shrinking, what with regular models becoming technologically advanced. You can pick up a Skoda Octavia that costs more than the 320d. Likewise, crossover SUVs are eating away at the desires of hard-working business people.
BMW thus needs to bring its A-game with the all-new generation of 3 Series sedan, seen here undergoing winter testing.
Quality is something the Audi A4, and Mercedes C-Class offer in spades, though in different ways. The key areas where the 3 Series needs to fight back are obvious: perceived build quality, a gadget-oriented cabin, and superior body sculpting.
At the forefront of the fight is the CLAR, short for cluster architecture. It’s going to help the sedan shed a little weight. Most of the engine work is already done. However, the Bavarians are going to surprise us at the bottom end of the range.
We’ve heard that both the 316i, powered by the MINI Cooper engine, and the 316d, packing 122 PS of 3-cylinder diesel, will dip below the 100 grams per kilometer mark.
Of course, that’s not what we have in our spy video. With an exhaust design copied from the latest 5 Series, it’s pretty clear that we are dealing with the 340i, although it’s possible that it will wear the M badge, this being the top engine choice below the M3. The six-banger is said to roughly gain the 370 PS output of the M2 and the X4 M40i, which is not surprising at all.
With a 0 to 100 km/h time of well under 5 seconds, the 340i should pack everything a man needs, including xDrive. But that’s not say that the M3 won’t have anything left to do. Our sources say a brand new twin-turbo 3-liter is being developed and will debut with the X3 M. You’re going to see about 450 PS in the SUV and the next hot sedan.
– www.autoevolution.com
No comments:
Post a Comment