3 Series (G20/G21/G28) [Renders] BMW 3 Series (G20) Rendered

[Centurion]

Finally someone that gets the no EV on the G20 Congrats!

Really? The 330e is dead? Surely that can't be true. Fleet and business customers have recently been buying it instead of the 20d.

What are they going to buy instead? The EV X3 is prohibitive for anyone who actually cares about saving money and an electric 3-Series or 1-Series is yeeeeeeeeears away from launch.

 

[Matski]

Really? The 330e is dead? Surely that can't be true. Fleet and business customers have recently been buying it instead of the 20d.

What are they going to buy instead? The EV X3 is prohibitive for anyone who actually cares about saving money and an electric 3-Series or 1-Series is yeeeeeeeeears away from launch.

330e is a PHEV, I believe BMWBlog is referring to the fully EV Tesla competitor some are hoping for.

 

[mini_cooper4]

Really? The 330e is dead? Surely that can't be true. Fleet and business customers have recently been buying it instead of the 20d.

What are they going to buy instead? The EV X3 is prohibitive for anyone who actually cares about saving money and an electric 3-Series or 1-Series is yeeeeeeeeears away from launch.

Hybrid remains as an offering. No EV as in no pure electric driven G20.

 

[CrunchSlaughtered]

It is interesting if the PHEVs of BMW will suffer under the new WLTP. Most of the big PHEVs can not go anymore under the magical 50 g CO2/km and in that way can not get the incentives, which makes them useless at least in Europe.

 

[SCOTT27]

The digital renderers. Need to be fired.

 

[cracker123]

Love the headlights, they would look great on the 7 refresh.

 

[SCOTT27]

It is interesting if the PHEVs of BMW will suffer under the new WLTP. Most of the big PHEVs can not go anymore under the magical 50 g CO2/km and in that way can not get the incentives, which makes them useless at least in Europe.

And then the replacements with the required improvements come and then they move the goalposts again.

 

[JLBM]

They lost a bit of the BMW soul with this new exterior design.

In the pictures above, the lower bumper of the G20 does not look clean. A lot of lines and curves are present. The f30 bumper looks cohesive and clean.

In the side profi...

Completely different lighting in this comparison, so it's not possible to agree or disagree with your analysis.

 

[Centurion]

Love the headlights, they would look great on the 7 refresh.

I wish the laser lights were standard on the X5, 8 and 7.

The digital renderers. Need to be fired.

I like the colours we've seen so far. Are they standard or individual?

 

[Laurent T]

I'll wait till full official release to forge my final opinion, but based on preliminary pictures, the exterior design is going to be controversial. Seems overdone on the front side to my eyes, too much angles (in particular in M Sport) ; pardon me the reference, but in some ways it reminds me of Lexus's design :

The Sport Line on the other hand is awkward looking with its large metallic part on the lower portion and small inclusion of plastic and (fog ?) lights :

 

[klier]

330e is a PHEV, I believe BMWBlog is referring to the fully EV Tesla competitor some are hoping for.

And I doubt a BMW fansite knows what happening internally. No disrespect at all, but we'll see what happens.

Now, where is my gearshifter BMW? What is going on?

 

[Deleted member 1071]

They lost a bit of the BMW soul with this new exterior design.

In the pictures above, the lower bumper of the G20 does not look clean. A lot of lines and curves are present. The f30 bumper looks cohesive and clean.

In the side profi...

Interesting observations.

My personal perceptions are somewhat different however.

For example, I find the "nuovo-BMW" exterior design paradigm that accentuates the interplay of the concave/convex flank surfacing with light reflection and the diminishing of razor-sharp sinew a clear testimony to the G20s' kinship with "The 8". I suspect that this will become all the more apparent when the 8 series Gran Coupe is presented. The future 4 series cars will almost certainly mimic the theme.

Quite opposite to your perception, I find the G20s' rearview a promotion of increased width & stance vis-a-vis the F30. The shallower, wider, more 3 dimensional taillamps are, IMHO, but one element that conveys this impression. In general, much like M-B products, the integrity of proportions cannot be flawed.

In addition, I'll admit that I'm (especially) really diggin' the interior.

 

[SCOTT27]

The Full EV 3er came from BMW themselves. They announced 3 full EV concepts the Electric MINI. And Full Electric 3er and X3.
Maybe they realised that i4 would perhaps be in direct competition with their proposal?

 

[SCOTT27]

I wish the laser lights were standard on the X5, 8 and 7.



I like the colours we've seen so far. Are they standard or individual?

Yes they are Individual.

 

[martinbo]

It's a bit too early to tell but, based on what I've seen thus far, I'm not blown away. Am I unhappy? Not at all, but, am I getting that feeling of "Gosh, trade-in of my F30 can't come soon enough!"? Nope, can't say that either.

First of all, better resolution, official pics need to be seen for further appraisal so my thoughts at this stage are limited to the following:

• Much softer exterior surfacing vs that of the F30. Sure, the digitised images play their part but there's a distinct toning down of the sharp swage and prominent bone lines of the F30. It's in keeping with these pure and sensual times.
• That front bumper's got a lot going on - maybe too much going on at this stage - with a interesting interplay between the headlight notch and bumper crease in the M Sport versions. Lots of vents and struts and stuff.
• Those aforementioned notched headlights are an interesting feature as said and perhaps they'll be a worthwhile identifier with familiarity. As a whole the total DRG is instantly identifiable as being that of a BMW without much departure.
• The uni-grill is fine, well integrated with the (far better) hood shutline and less prominent than spy pics portrayed at first. So, a conservative evolution here, ultimately.
• The overall silhouette is - not unrealistically - very familiar and very similar to that of the outgoing car. This is also fine for fans of the 3er.
• The confluence of lines at the base of the A-pillar appears to be less bulky and neater overall.
• One thing that is bugging me is that the beltline appears to be more bowed on the G20 vs that of the F30. Maybe I'm imagining it and hoping that Matski can work his digitastic magic to clarify. [Sorry mate for always bugging you on this]
• Also, is it me or is the glasshouse slightly narrower? I.e. beltline a bit higher? The one thing I really like about the F30 is its generous, airy glasshouse allied to that straight beltline. Makes it look sporty.
• The rear is nice for me - I'm a fan of the X4's taillights and to see a similar theme employed here is a good thing in my book. Nice flow of lines from the trunklid into the rear fenders, imo.
• Overall, the proportions are typical and no issue can be taken in this area.
• On the interior front there's a lot to get to, so I'll just touch on a few observations at first. Overall impression of the styling is good; the format is sharp and modern with a more faceted fascia in line with that seen in the new Z4.
• Centre console vents look small and I question their effectiveness. Their knurled rotary adjusters are an upmarket tough though.
• The door handles and their incorporation into the door cards is simpler - and I expect, sturdier - than on the F30 where they're fussy and not that nice from a tactile perspective where the hard, sharp join just doesn't feel right.
• The design of the door latch pulls is aesthetically nice but ergonomically as effective? Not sure on this.
• The digital instrument panel is what is. I'm an analogue dial old fashioned, old fart so find this less easy on the eye compared with the classic round BMW dials. A rev counter running anti-clockwise is just wrong for me.
• Centre console is clean and minimalist (as things should be these days) but I lament the passing of the rotary dials controlling temperature having been replaced by small, ergonomically inferior rocker switches.
• My F30 does not have a single-vs-dual mode for temperature adjustment so to set the temperature evenly requires two quick turns of each dial. Simple + easy. I am curious to see if there's a climate control setting synchronising the two.
• We all mourn the passing of the wonderful, manual, park brake lever. The button is here to stay but fukkit, I hate those things, even though the market dictates that it be there now.
• Here's my biggest worry on the interior front. The black plastic cladding on the side of the transmission tunnel - it doesn't look like it's moved the quality game on from that of the F30 wherein it constitutes the single biggest letdown in the interior from a tactile and sturdiness perspective. In the F30, it's hard, thin, scratchy plastics which totally let down the side from a perceived quality perspective, I hope to hell that BMW have addressed this shortcoming by employing denser, stiffer and softer-to-the-touch plastic.

 

[SCOTT27]

I wish the laser lights were standard on the X5, 8 and 7.



I like the colours we've seen so far. Are they standard or individual?

Eventually they will one day. But remember on launch the i8 headlights cost in excess of €10,000. Thankfully the cost is no longer near that extravagance, but at a fraction of that.

 

[Busty]

I'm quite surprised how many real (?) petrolheads in here seem to be fixated on BEVs . Obviously, the Tesla marketing strategy of the last years makes a dent, finally. Or GCF has like only members who live in solar overpowered houses .

It seems like I'm outnumbered when it comes to that topic but I'm counting on small (really small) dedicated BEVs and on reasonable hybrid (incl range-extenders), hydrogen, and fuel-cell solutions for the long range. (Behind closed doors, almost all people involved in the development of currently available full-size BEVs admit that those cars are symbols, first and foremost.)

So, my biggest disappointment at this new 3 series is not that it will not come all-electric but that it will come less sharp than it could be.

 

[Heisenberg]

I'm pleasantly surprised

 

[SCOTT27]

Of course Tesla have predominated the Electric car narritive. Rightly so others are catching up. They will eventually catch up there is a lot money and research and development now being applied to EVs that they cannot fail not to. However there are conflicting attitudes some saying it's a sprint and some saying it's a marathon.

It's all about controlling the narritve in some minds. But there is a lot involved than just producing an EV car. Especially at the legislators in Brussels. So they are sprinting towards the push to manufacturers to speed up development of the car and then treating the infrastructure as a marathon. It should be the other way about.

 

[EKaru]

Lexus Has an "L" in the taillights which represent the "L" in Lexus... Why is BMW flattering Lexus here?