BMW's Big New 3 Series Reveal Leaves Us With One Equally Big Question

The new generation of the BMW 3 Series is here. With the reveal, BMW has answered a lot of questions, but we still might have a few more queries. First off, there are two distinct 3 Series lines coming out: A substantial update to the gas-powered 3 Series we all know and love, and the electric i3, following the recent demise of the the i4. 

Let's get all of the numbers out of the way. At launch, there will be two flavors of the gas-powered Beemer, the 330 (and its xDrive version) and the much sportier M350 xDrive. With those come two powertrain options. The 330 gets a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, not unlike the smaller M235, that makes 255 horsepower. The M350 xDrive, meanwhile, gets a 3.0-liter turbocharged six-cylinder (like at proper BMW M-car), which makes 437 horsepower. The EV i3 50 xDrive maxes out at 463 horsepower with its electric dual motor.

The base model 2027 BMW 330 starts at $49,900, the i3 starts at $61,500, and the M350 starts at $65,900. For a lot of people excited for the new 3 Series, those facts alone will seal the deal. However, for diehard BMW M-Sport fans, there's the ever-important question of performance. And what's the M3 going to look like?

The 2027 3 Series certainly looks fast. The new front fascia borrows styling cues from the Neue Klasse concepts BMW has been showing off for years, but also BMW's new M Hybrid V8 sports car it started racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and other endurance events. The serious motorsport influence is certainly there.

BMW

There's also the cutting edge technology aspect that comes with every new BMW. The i3, at least according to BMW, is wickedly efficient at a maximum range of 468 miles, putting anything Mercedes or Tesla has to potential shame, and completely upstaging the current BMW stable of EVs. It can reportedly charge up to 208 miles in 10 minutes, too, if you manage to find a 400 kilowatt DC fast-charger.

Here's the kicker, though: While the performance figures BMW put out aren't bad by any stretch of the imagination (north of 400 horsepower in a sport sedan isn't going to be slow), the M350 xDrive's 0-60 time of 3.9 seconds is just fine. The i3 clocked in at 4.5 seconds, and its incredible weight of 4,960 pounds (versus the xDrive's 4,169 pounds) is likely the reason the former's time is a little less impressive. BMW has shown us that it isn't afraid of heavy cars, though; the M5, after all, weighs a hefty 5,390 pounds, but at least it had the performance to back it up.

Those figures put the new 3 Series at only 0.2 seconds faster than the outgoing generation M340i xDrive. On the M3 side, the current M3 Competition xDrive accomplishes the 0-60 sprint in 3.4 seconds. The new, as-yet-unannounced M3 will have to demolish those numbers to be seen as anything more than an incremental upgrade. Whatever special performance variations of the i3 are on the horizon will need to propel it (literally and figuratively) out of "nice efficient luxury sedan" territory and into the electrified monster sphere.

BMW

So, the new 3 Series starts production in November of this year, and to sum it all up, there are a lot of good things to be excited about. It looks good, there are a lot of customization options ranging from interior materials to wheel size, and it isn't priced all that egregiously (at least for a BMW). But to be a real Ultimate Driving Machine, as all BMWs are supposed to be, BMW will have to amp up the performance numbers in the future.

As for what a new generation BMW M3 might look like? If we put on the speculation hat, there are two likely directions BMW could go, depending on whether or not the new M-car is a riff on the gas-powered or EV 3 Series. If BMW decides to keep the gasoline engine, we already have a model for what that might look like: The aforementioned M5. The new M3 could very well be a plug-in hybrid with electric motors to assist in launch and efficiency. For reference, the outgoing M3 makes 523 horsepower, so a 600 horsepower M3 certainly seems possible.

Although maybe unlikely, BMW could also make the new M3 an EV. There are no full M-cars that are electric, so the M3 could be the first. Cutting down the i3's 0-60 time would be mandatory, but there's a lot of technological room to make a proper EV sport sedan on the i3 platform. Of course, an EV-only M3 might cause hardcore BMW fans to break out the pitchforks and torches. 

Either way the new M3 is powered, BMW has the power and leeway to make something impressive. The new 3 Series looks like a good platform to work in some BMW M-magic.