The One With The Six: The 2020 BMW M340i

The 2020 BMW M340i.

If you've ever wondered why the BMW 3-series sedan became a thing---it's the engine. Or it was. A silky-smooth inline six-cylinder, capable of propelling BMW's small (now mid-size) sedan quickly with seemingly endless reserves of both torque and horsepower. You would pin the speedometer, lose your license or both long before you ever felt you needed more from under the hood.

As technology has evolved and fuel economy has become a matter of law, automotive engineers have found that they can achieve that kind of power from a 2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. And BMW has adopted them in the 330i. It's a fine engine---among the best of its type. But it doesn't have the same feel, the same sound as that glorious BMW straight six. If you want that in 2020---and can't quite justify the leap to the hardcore twin-turbo 425-horsepower M3, you want the BMW M340i.

New Car Review: 2012 BMW 328i

The 2012 BMW 328i.

Automotive history is littered with small cars that packed on the inches and pounds until they were no longer small. In a sense, it's already happened with the 3-Series BMW, or else we wouldn't have had a 1-Series going on five years now.

So further enlargement of the 3 in its latest generation might not seem like such a good thing on paper. But this is not The Ultimate Reading Machine. So we drive.

Acura ZDX Review (UPDATED 4/16/10 5:40 PM PST With Recall Information)

Fastbacks are an acquired taste...and even then, there's an element of scale that seems to work best. Smaller being better. The 1965 Mustang worked. The much larger 1965 Rambler Marlin, to my way of thinking, didn't. 

While BMW's supposedly adding a fastback to the 3-series in 2013, the current crop of fastbacks are larger cars...four-doors at that...and, well...I think I've made myself clear.

                             

Acura would like us to think that the ZDX breaks new ground between sedan and crossover. That's a pretty slim territory, and a station wagon is what would fill it. One based on the outstanding 2010 TL-SH AWD sedan (review coming soon...I liked it much more than the supposedly identical 2009 and we'll explore why) would be perfect. It would carry more, have better rear and side visibility and handle better than the awkwardly proportioned and heavier ZDX.

2013 BMW 3-Series To Include Blind-Spot Special

If you're among those who find the recent outbreak of four-door fastbacks (BMW X6, Honda Accord Crosstour, Acura ZDX) disconcerting from an aesthetic and practical point of view, get set for a long ride.

Automobile reports that BMW's next-gen 3 series, due for 2013, will have just such a model, the GT.