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When it comes to cars that can do it all, few carry the cache of the BMW 3 Series. Over the past 45 years, Bimmer’s compact car has blended performance, comfort and usability in ways that have made it one of the benchmarks other automakers aim for when developing their own sedans.
Still, like the BMW M5, the 3 Series has had somewhat of a rocky road in the last few years. The luster earned in earlier generations faded a little with the fifth-generation model of the early Aughts, then dimmed a bit more with the sixth-gen version that was sold for almost the entire current decade. While still speedy and luxurious, they were largely considered to have lost some of the style and joie de conduire that defined past versions. So when BMW revealed the all-new seventh-generation car at the Paris Motor Show last year, the world held its breath to see if those motor-loving Bavarians could bring back the magic.
The new model, known internally as the G20 generation, certainly has plenty of visual pizzazz; indeed, it’s perhaps the most aggressive 3 Series since the E36 that debuted during the first Bush administration. But with the new model also came a change in the powerplant department: whereas past 3ers had offered multiple power levels below the domain of the sporty M Division’s wares, here in the States, only one car would come without the 13th letter of the alphabet appended to its name — the 330i. The only more potent version would be the M340i, designed as a halfway point between the base car and the forthcoming M3.
BMW 330i vs M340i: What’s Different
As anyone with some basic knowledge of BMW nomenclature has probably figured out by now, the largest difference between these two 3ers is what lies beneath their hoods. Those numbers long since stopped corresponding to exact displacements, but bigger numbers still mean bigger engines: the 330i packs a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four making 255 horsepower and 294 pound-feet of torque, while the M340i uses a turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six that spins up 382 hp and 369 lb-ft.
Further setting the M340i apart: a limited-slip differential for the rear axle, a stiffer suspension that gives the car a 0.4-inch-lower ride, and wheel camber revised for better grip. It also scores a distinct grille where the traditional upright valances have been replaced with odd shapes that, from a distance, vaguely resemble the dotted lines notating the different cuts of meat on a butcher’s illustration of a cow.
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