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With every new generation of the two-door 3-series, BMW makes a greater effort to distinguish this model from its more popular four-door sibling. For example, this new E46 two-door is fractionally longer and wider than the four-door and nearly two inches lower. The doors, the hood, and the trunklid are unique stampings. Even the grille, the taillights and headlights, and the bumpers are new, and the windshield is tilted back two more degrees. These changes yield a drag coefficient of 0.30;0.01 higher than the four-door's, but the lower frontal area results in better aerodynamics. Still, although BMW dubs this new model a coupe, to most observers, it remains simply a two-door version of the four-door sedan, rather than a clearly distinct model.
And that's not necessarily bad because the new two-door shares the improvements in space and luxury that BMW applied to the four-door. For example, with the front seats set for six-footers, two more six-footers can fit in the rear without messing their coiffures or flattening the creases in their slacks against the front seatbacks. The rear seat also folds to augment the roomy trunk.
In the front compartment, the driving position is superb, thanks to the tilting and telescoping steering column shared by all E46 models. The plusher interior surfaces and luxury features inaugurated on the E46 sedan also apply here.
On the road, the E46 behaves almost exactly like the four-door sedans with which it shares its mechanical bits. The 323Ci, priced at $29,560, is powered by BMW's 170-horsepower, 2.5-liter in-line six and comes standard with numerous luxury features, as well as the sport suspension and 16-inch wheel and tire package that is optional on the 323i four-door. The 328Ci, at $34,560, comes with the 193-hp, 2.8-liter version of the same engine and even more luxury items.
On some writhing hillside roads through Los Angeles, Spain, on the Costa del Sol;remarkably similar in character to Angeles Crest Highway near Los Angeles, California;these 3-series coupes were essentially faultless. They displayed a superb combination of grip, agility, and stability. In doing so, they revealed the benefits of calibrating a smidgen of understeer into a basically neutral-handling rear-drive chassis, compared with undertaking all manner of contortions to bring an understeering front-drive chassis somewhere close to neutrality.
Expect the 323Ci and the 328Ci to arrive in the U.S. by midsummer, followed in December by a less expensive four-cylinder 318Ci. Then early next year, we'll get the new 3-series wagon and convertible, followed in the summer by the next-generation, horsepower-enhanced M3. Judging by this new two-door, the E46 model proliferation is off to an excellent start.
Specifications
Manufacturer: BMW AG Munich, Germany
Vehicle type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 2-door sedan
Engine type: DOHC 24-valve 6-in-line, aluminum block and head, Siemens MS 42.0 engine-control system with port fuel injection
Displacement
170 cu in, 2793cc
Power (SAE net)
193 bhp @ 5500 rpm
Torque (SAE net)
206 lb-ft @ 3500 rpm
Transmissions
5-speed manual, 5-speed automatic
Wheelbase
107.3 in
Length
176.7 in
Curb weight
3250 lb |
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