By Carl Malek
Set offer a host of improvements over the previous generation E90 3 series sedan, the 2012 BMW 3 Series sedan will be arriving at a BMW dealer near you sometime early next year, and now the Bavarian automaker has revealed the official pricing that customers can expect to pay when they purchase the redesigned four door for their own garage. Pricing will begin at $35,795 for a base 328i model while the more performance oriented 335i model will start at a slightly higher base price of $43,295. Both prices include the $895 dollar destination and handling charges. While these numbers do represent a $320 and $370 USD increase in base price over the old E90 model, the 2012 3 series will not only be redesigned, but it will also have an increased amount of standard equipment versus the old model which BMW thinks is worth the slight jump in price.
One of the major changes for 2012 is that in addition to the typical 328i and 335i models, BMW will also be debuting three brand new “design line” trim levels for 2012 which will have a slightly higher base price. Customers that choose a 328i equipped with either the Modern or Luxury design trims can expect to pay a base price of about $37,900 while Sport line owners will pay a slightly higher starting price of $38,400. BMW claims that each of the three design levels represents a unique take on the 3 Series philosophy, and BMW has made this possible by giving each of the three trims distinct equipment lists.
Luxury and Modern trim levels will be only available with leather seating which feature a unique seam pattern and the use of either seam stitching on Luxury line models or the Modern variants seat piping. Modern trim also serves as the top designation of the three available design lines and further builds on the Luxury lines features with the use of Matte chrome interior and exterior trim, a choice of either pearl metallic, aluminum, or wood interior trim, and a special “dark oyster” trimmed dashboard and steering wheel.
The last of the three available design line trims is the Sport line trim, which ignores the luxury theme of the other two design line trims in favor of a more performance oriented theme. Sport line models will feature a specially tuned suspension that has been lowered by 10mm, black exterior styling cues, red piped and stitched seats available in either leather or leatherette materials, a black headliner, and the use of various red accents which are scattered throughout the cabin.
All of these updates and tweaks sound quite promising and should do an excellent job of pleasing a wide variety of BMW customers that want more diversity and character in their vehicles.
I love the new design!