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Mention "2002"
to a car enthusiast and his or her mind TiVos
back well beyond the calendar year that bore that
number. The enthusiast automatically rolls the memory
bank back to the 2002, the original European sports
"sedan," though in this case "sedan"
doesn't refer, as it does now, to a four-door car
with a hard roof supported in part by solid metal
B pillars, but to any car with a fixed top. Ah, life
was so simple as the 1970s dawned: There were cars
and station wagons; no minivans, no sport utilities,
no crossovers, and pickup trucks were driven by farmers.
OK, Larry, you're showing your age. Get to the point!
The point being that the BMW 2002 was a two-door
sedan, now we call such automotive architecture a
"coupe," with a small but potently perky
engine and with suspension tuned to grip through
the turns.
The 2002 was the unmuscle car. But it was anything
but unathletic. A GTO might have left it at the line,
but get into the twisties and that Pontiac handled
like an old goat.
The 2002 was the ideal car for Europeans who might
have wanted a sports car but who needed a back seat
and trunk. It wasn't an autobahn burner, but enthusiasts
on both sides of the Atlantic loved the way it blazed
around curves.
Not that BMW didn't quickly massage the muscle under
the car's hood. At the Frankfurt auto show in the
fall of 1973, the company unveiled the 2002 Turbo,
with a turbocharger breathing new life into the four-cylinder
engine, boosting its output from 125 horsepower to
170.
Fast-forward to today and the introduction of the
2007 BMW 335i, a sleek 3 Series coupe powered by
a 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine boosted by
a pair of turbochargers to pump out 300 horsepower
and, perhaps more significantly, 300 pound-feet of
torque, with full torque available all the way from
1400 revolutions per minute by the crankcase to 5000
rpm.
But there's a wonderful and anything but dirty little
secret involving this engine. Not only is it powerful,
but it's clean and efficient. By the use of "piezo"
direct fuel injectors that enhance combustion, BMW
engineers were able to reduce harmful emissions by
as much as 20 percent while stretching miles per
gallon figures. Consider that the new 3 Series coupe
also is available with a normally aspirated 3.0-liter
I6 that generates 230 horsepower and 200 pound-feet
of torque in the 328i and 328xi models. That standard
engine is rated at 20-mpg in town and 30 on the highway
when equipped with a manual transmission and at 21/29
with an automatic.
But the high-performance twin turbo and piezo-equipped
motor is rated at 19 city and 28 highway with a manual
and at 20/29 with an automatic. In other words, you
get 70 horsepower and 100 pound-feet of torque and
it costs you 2 mpg or less!
O.K., so it also costs you more than $5,000 in base
price, but for that money you also get 18-inch wheels,
bigger brakes, a 13-speaker Logic 7 audio system
and some other upgraded standard equipment.
And the twin-turbo and piezod engine isn't the only
big news about this newest generation of BMW's 3
Series coupe. For the first time, a two-door BMW
is available with all-wheel drive in the form of
the 328xi which gets the xDrive system developed
for BMW's X5 and X3 sport utility vehicles.
The 328i starts at $35,995 (which includes destination
charges). The 328xi starts at $37,795. The 335i begins
at $41,295. And those shopping for the new 3 Series
coupe will be happy to hear that Sport suspension,
with aluminum arms up front and with sport-tuned
shocks and which used to be an option, is included
as standard equipment on both the 328i and the 335i.
By the way, with its 230-hp engine and Sport suspension,
the 328i accelerates to 60 miles per hour in 6.2
seconds, two-tenths faster than the old 330i. Meanwhile,
the 335i, which falls just 33 hp short of the current
M3 and has more torque than the M-tweaked boy racer,
does the 0-60 sprint in 5.3 seconds.
But don't think of this new 335i as a real rocket
ship. The turbos boost power in a nice, linear fashion.
There's no turbo lag. Instead, the engine performs
much like your typical 300-horsepower V8, except
that you get max torque very early in the rev range
and power just keeps building and building, well
beyond the point where you expect it to start falling
off. And just as that broad torque plateau runs out,
horsepower is really surging toward its 5800 rpm
peak.
We drove a pair of 328i's at the 3 Series Coupe's
North American introduction. Both were equipped with
six-speed transmissions, one a manual, the other
an automatic with paddle shifters on the steering
wheel. The engine has so much torque that even on
the wonderful winding roads through the coastal hills
between San Francisco and Bodega Bay we often just
left the manual in fourth gear and carved around
the curves.
Not only is this a wonderful car for the enthusiast
driver, but his or her passengers likely won't be
complaining. Those up front don't even have to reach
way back to find their shoulder belts. Instead, they
are presented to them by arms that emerge from little
doors built into the interior trim panels, then retract
out of the way after the belts have been delivered.
Even those in the back seats - of which there are
only two - have plenty of head and leg room, plus
a wide fold-down armrest with cup holders and all
sorts of storage and their own HVAC vents. There's
even a button on the shoulder of the front seats
so those sitting in back can easily power the seat
in front forward for easier exit from the car.
Those in front are likewise well outfitted with
power seats and no iDrive unless you've ordered up
a navigation system and with the buyer's choice of
dark burl, light or gray poplar or brushed aluminum
interior trim - and we can't imagine not opting for
the metallic finish.
The 3 Series coupe is open to lots of personalization
with 11 exterior colors - it's absolutely gorgeous
in black or deep green metallic - and with two leatherette
and five leather interiors, including saddle brown
and coral red.
And lest you think of the coupe as simply a 3 Series
sedan with two fewer doors, consider that the only
exterior element the two- and four-door share are
their door handles. Not only is all the coupe's sheetmetal
unique, but so are its headlights, standard Xenon
lamps set in narrow fixtures. The coronas around
the lamps serve as daytime running lights and it
was very pleasing how slower traffic would pull over
and let us pass as they saw us approaching in their
rear view mirrors.
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