First driving test – this is how the new BMW 3-series drives

Although it is nowadays, also at BMW, especially the SUVs that have to pull the cart, you can safely call the 3-series the backbone of the brand of the past decades. It was even the distant ancestor 115 with which the great industrialists Herbert and Harald Quandt launched the moribund BMW into the orbit in the early 1960s where it stands to this day. That model series was called the Neue Klasse at the time and it is not for nothing that the upcoming generation of fully electric BMWs will be given the same iconic name.

Current generation already sold 1.1 million times

With the E21, the 3-series adventure officially began and sixteen million units have been sold across seven generations. The current model alone, the G20, has accounted for 1.1 million units in its more than three years of existence to date, the highest number ever for the 3 Series in that time frame. Despite, or perhaps because of this, BMW has already revised the model. And that also explains why the facelift has been kept modest.

You have to look closely to see that you are dealing with a version 7.2. The headlamps are drawn lower and quieter, while the daytime running lights have been given a new L-shape. The air inlet under the grille and the kidneys are also shaped differently, making the front view more lean and clean, according to BMW. The side view has remained unchanged because, according to BMW, it was not necessary to sharpen it. Only if it has 16-inch wheels, a G20 from the side falls through the basket as a pre-facelift, because from now on the simplest variant already has 17 inches and depending on the version and greed of the owner, that can go up to 20 inches. At the rear, we miss the usual suspect when it comes to facelifts: we see unchanged taillights. BMW has only tightened the bumper a bit and made the exhaust pipes a bit thicker.

Inside, it’s a completely different story. With this facelift, the 3 Series also enters the new normal (in the upper classes): the clock cluster and infotainment are pulled together in a wide screen that takes up almost two thirds of the width of the dashboard. Like BMW’s conventional cockpits, the new screen is beautifully curved around the driver.

The whole can be operated with a rotary knob and a few push buttons on the center console, next to which the button for the transmission is located. Where do they leave the poker with the manual versions, you may wonder. Well, you better wonder where they left the manual variants themselves, because the eight-speed automatic is now standard on all 3-series. That is of course bad news for the gear purists, but at the same time you can wonder why you would want anything other than this wonderful automatic transmission. It does a great job, with lightning-fast, almost seamless shifts. Only in Sport mode does he stay in the low resistance for a very long time, but that is a choice. We drive with two motorizations. First the 320dA, packed in a Touring, then the M340iA xDrive. Both have little relevance for the Dutch market, but we don’t have any more choice.

Used to be so ordinary

The 320dA is a beautiful reminder of times when a diesel was still the most natural thing in the world. With the greatest of ease we rumble at speeds of well over 200 km/h on the A93 from Munich to Regensburg, which used to be so common. Halfway through, at the height of – yes – Ingolstadt, it gets even more beautiful, because then we switch to a four-door M340iA xDrive, the most potent Dreier after the M. It may be four-wheel drive, but BMW wouldn’t be BMW if they hadn’t made sure that most of the power goes to the rear axle, so the car still has that typical RWD feel. The power is also available over a very wide spectrum, which gives the six-in-line a fantastically powerful character. Even on the meandering back roads that we look for after a while, the car remains perfectly upright. The steering feel is sharp and sublime, the carriage follows your movements very precisely and even in the faster corners the car remains nicely balanced.

Unfortunately, the renewed, more relevant 330e for the Netherlands was not available during the introduction in Germany, but luckily one will be ready for us in October in the Netherlands.

More expensive due to the loss of manual gearbox

The disappearance of the manual gearbox does mean that the threshold to drive a 3-series has been raised. That stood at just under 46 mille for a 318i in the advancing generation and has been increased by more than €5,000 with the automatic transmission. But the 318i with automatic transmission also cost almost €3,000 less than this updated model for the facelift. Anyway, that everything is becoming more expensive is a fact that needs little argument lately and, moreover, the equipment level of the facelifted version with, among other things, larger wheels, the new dashboard and improved (but not simplified) infotainment is not just comparable to that from before.