-
BMW’s naming convention used to make sense. We’ll forgive it while the cars are this good, but the competition is catching up fast.
Jim Resnick
Numbers mean everything, especially when dissecting automobiles—and BMW’s new 340i xDrive is a confusing and sometimes nonsensical number-fest.
First, the nomenclature is all numbers, but both BMW and Mercedes have spent so long tweaking their numbering schemes that nothing adds up like it used to. The 1984 BMW 318i actually had a 1.8-liter engine, but now the 2016 BMW 328i has a 2.0-liter engine. The 1998 Mercedes-Benz C43 AMG? A 4.3-liter V8. Mercedes’ 2016 C300? Two liters. These manufacturers abandoned the meanings behind those numbers for market positioning, designating a 2.0-liter that performs like a 3.0-liter, for example.
So this year, BMW revamped its 3-series lineup and changed the names again. The former 335i becomes 340i, even though its engine displaces the same 3.0 liters and is still turbocharged. But it generates an additional 20hp (14.9kW), now up to 320hp and 330ft-lb of torque (239kW and 449Nm), while on paper returning 22/33/26 mpg city/highway/combined. We saw 24.4 mpg over the course of our time with the car.
Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – BMW’s 2017 340i xDrive: fast, fun, and overpriced