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The New 2012 3 Series

The sense of anticipation has been amazing. Could the new BMW 3 Series possibly live up to this frenzied level of expectation?


The answer, given by the lucky few who’ve driven it so far, is yes. (Usually said in a slightly breathless way.) From their reaction at the time, we’re pretty sure that those present at the Peter Vardy preview on January 24 were in full agreement.

 

We’d like to say many thanks to our friends at Extra Time Partnership for making the preview such a success. Whether or not you were there – and if you weren’t, we regret to say you missed a treat – here are a few shots to pore, pant and drool over, courtesy of autoblog.com: http://aol.it/w1BMuy

 

The internet is now crackling with enthusiastic reviews. Take this one by AutoExpress for example: http://bit.ly/w1lrGs As you can see, when they came to give the series a rating, they flung as many stars at it as they possibly could.

 

The new 3 Series – the F30 – is the successor to the E90. Although bigger and having more equipment than its predecessor, the F30 is actually lighter. For those of you who get a kick out of the stats, here are the details for the various models. The figures given are, in each case, for the manual gearbox version:

 

320i:                2.0 l; 184 PS; 1-100 km/h in 7.3 secs; 235 km/h (146 mph) max speed

328i:                2.0 l; 245 PS; 1-100 km/h in 5.9 secs; 250 km/h (155 mph) max speed

335i:                3.0 l; 306 PS; 1-100 km/h in 5.5 secs; 250 km/h (155 mph) max speed

316d:               1.6 l; 116 PS; 1-100 km/h in 10.9 secs; 201 km/h (126 mph) max speed

318d:               2.0 l; 143 PS; 1-100 km/h in 9.1 secs; 210 km/h (130 mph) max speed

320d:               2.0 l; 184 PS; 1-100 km/h in 7.5 secs; 235 km/h (146 mph) max speed

320d ED*:         2.0 l; 184 PS; 1-100 km/h in 7.3 secs; 235 km/k (146 mph) max speed

*Efficient Dynamics edition.

 

The official launch for the new 3 Series is on 11 February. Until then, we have a slightly disguised model for you to test drive.

 

So, what are you waiting for? February 11?! Like they say in the ads, joy wins. And like they say in the song, 3 is a magic number.