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AUTOS: BMW Reveals 2012 3-Series
Sixth-generation sedan is bigger yet more fuel efficient with a load of advanced technology features and a stylish new look.
Viknesh Vijayenthiran  | http://motorauthority.com  |  Posted October 14, 2011   Munich (GER)
BMW's latest 3-Series offers a wide range of luxury, performance abd efficiency. (Photo: BMW)
BMW has revealed its sixth generation 3-Series sedan, now bigger yet lighter and more fuel efficient, and with revamped powertrains that include an upcoming hybrid option.

Set to go on sale in February as a 2012 model after its debut at the Detroit Auto Show, the “F30” 3-Series also debuts BMW’s new face, which features elongated headlights reaching along as far as the trademark kidney grille.

The sixth-generation sedan shows a continuation of BMW's styling tradition with some design updates. (Photo: BMW)
Otherwise, the design is somewhat predictable, with an athletic body, short overhangs and a long bonnet dominating the look. The sedan is part of a six-model lineup for the new 3-Series, which includes a five-door hatchback.

The 2012 BMW 3-Series is bigger than the model it replaces, with its wheelbase growing by almost two inches to 110.6 inches, and its front and rear track measuring 60.3 inches and 61.9 inches, up 1.46 inches and 1.85 inches, respectively.

Despite the larger size, overall weight is down 88 pounds compared with the outgoing model. Importantly, weight distribution remains an ideal 50:50 split front to rear. Most of the added size benefits rear-seat passengers, who get more legroom and shoulder room.

Buyers in the U.S. can look forward to three different trim levels – Sport Line, Luxury Line and Modern Line – and two new turbocharged engines: a range-topping six-cylinder in the 335i model and a four-cylinder n the 328i.

The new 3-Series gets a set of cat's eye headlights that stretch around the corner to the classic kidney-shaped grille. (Photo: BMW)
Both engines feature BMW TwinPower Turbo technology, essentially the automaker’s name for its engines’ twin-scroll turbochargers, direct fuel injection and solenoid injectors, which is the latest innovation for BMW’s Valvetronic variable-valve-control system.

The engines can be matched to either a standard six-speed manual or new eight-speed automatic. The auto box features engine stop-start technology and is both faster and more fuel efficient than the manual. Paddle-shifters for manual control are available with either the Sport Line package or new M Sport Package.

A number of settings – Comfort, Sport, Sport + and ECO PRO – are available to the driver through a new Driving Dynamics Control switch to help choose between economy and performance driving.

The six-cylinder engine is BMW’s venerable 3-liter inline “N55” unit, which in this latest application develops 300 horsepower and 300 pound-feet of torque, the latter coming on from just 1,200 rpm and staying all the way to 5,000.

It will rocket the luxury sedan from 0-60 mph in just 5.4 seconds and see it easily reach its electronically limited top speed of 130 mph, or 155 mph when equipped with the Sport Line trim.

The sedan's wheelbase grows about two inches, providing more space for rear-seat passengers. (Photo: BMW)
When equipped with the eight-speed automatic, BMW claims a fuel economy of 32.6 mpg with the six for the slightly more generous European combined cycle. In fact, BMW even claims that owners upgrading to the new model can expect improvements in gas mileage of about six and 16 percent for the manual and automatic models, respectively.

The four-cylinder engine is a 2-liter unit rated at 240 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. This unit produces its peak torque from as low as 1,250 rpm and will accelerate the 328i from 0-60 mph in 5.7 seconds and to the same governed top speeds as the 335i.

Aiding efficiency is a brake-energy recovery system used to power such ancillary features as the air conditioner. Full EPA-rated gas mileage figures for both engines will be released closer to the car’s sales launch next year.

Once again there will be a performance-themed M Sport Package, which adds aerodynamic features, 18- or 19-inch light alloy wheels, an M Sport suspension, a blacked-out kidney grille, special interior pieces with blue accenting, an M Short-shifter (on manual models), M door sill covers, an M driver’s footrest and a new M leather steering wheel.

BMW offers its all-wheel drive xDrive option foe the new 3-Series. In addition to the typical benefits of all-wheel drive, the electronically controlled xDrive system, which can fully vary the power split between the front and rear wheels with split-second speed, ensures surefootedness in the wet or snow.

The M Sport Package and xDrive option will be available next summer.
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