2027 BMW i3 First Look: Might the Electric 3 Series Beat the ICE One?

The BMW 3 Series. For a half-century and eight generations it’s been the Roundel brand’s icon. Its standard bearer. It was never electrified like the 4 Series. Until now. Behold the electric 3, a.k.a. the 2027 BMW i3—and start purging your memory banks of that bike-tired i3 toad that in no way is this car’s predecessor.

Dig the design, which faithfully interprets the funktastic style of the BMW i Vision DEE concept unveiled at the CES show in 2023 minus “digital emotional experience” frippery like the full-windshield augmented reality head-up display, transparent side window screens, and programmable paint. Like the subsequent BMW Vision Neue Klasse concept unveiled at the 2023 IAA show, the production i3 preserves the striking shark-nose face, long-hood/short-deck proportions, and exaggerated Hoffmeister kink side window profile.

Sure, the fascias, rocker panels, and interior are more down to earth, but the production NA0 Neue Klasse sedan, based on KKL architecture, arrives unmolested by beaver-teeth grilles or any of the other controversial styling elements BMW has recently employed. We expect the G50-gen gas 3 Series, still based on CLAR architecture, to present a more conservative interpretation of this design language.

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Horizontality

The i3 sedan and iX3 SUV share a lot of design language, including a central valley hood crease extending back from a Roundel logo that separates the grille kidneys. In place of the iX3’s actual vertical kidney grilles, the i3 gets virtual horizontal grille kidneys illuminated on a slick black horizontal panel bracketed by virtual quad daytime running lamps. Intended to present an unmistakable lighting signature from a distance, this big “grille screen” combines with the ultra-slim horizontal taillamp graphics to enable welcome and departure lighting animations that can be made even more elaborate with an optional Iconic Glow exterior package. Granted, it’s a far cry from the i Vision DEE’s digital-ink paint, but we’ll take it.

The side view is dominated by a wheelbase nearly 2 inches longer than today’s 3 Series and prominent wheel arches accentuating M3-like track widths. (You’re looking at the midrange all-wheel-drive 50 xDrive model on 21-inch wheels here.) Frameless glass and pop-out flush door handles provide a clean look. Overall length and width split the difference between today’s 3 and M3 sedans, while the height is taller than both by about an inch and a half; the battery pack that forms the floor accounts for all of that plus a little.

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61.2 Screen Inches

Inside, the i3 gets the same 43.3-inch pillar-to-pillar Panoramic iDrive screen, 17.9-inch “Free-Cut” central touchscreen, and optional 3D head-up display found in the iX3. Ditto the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant powered by Amazon, which transforms a central Roundel into an expressive face that looks at whomever is talking to it, answering questions and activating numerous systems.

Using Digital Key Plus, the vehicle can get to know seven primary users. Give the high-resolution (3,340 x 1,440 pixels) central screen a swipe from top to bottom, and you get 16 individual shortcuts to access frequently used features. The steering wheel incorporates an intimidating number of buttons, but “shy tech” illuminates their functionality only when the function it controls is available, eliminating clutter. Driver assist controls are ganged on the left, entertainment and communications are on the right.

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Four Interior Looks

Essential is the basic standard theme, featuring Econeer upholstery in Vivid Grey (oxymoron alert) and a cloth-covered dash with ambient backlighting effect. A Contemporary theme utilizes leatherlike Veganza upholstery in Agave Green, Digital White, Castanea, and Black. The BMW M Design look comes in black Veganza with M PerformTex (Alcantara-like) inserts. Top of the line is BMW Individual, which gets Merino leather in black, unless you opt for M Sport seats, which can be had in Adelaide Grey.

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Near-M3 Power and Torque

A rear-drive model will come along eventually, but this 50 xDrive launch model makes 463 hp and 476 lb-ft, with AC-induction-type front and externally excited synchronous rear motors biasing torque roughly 37/63 percent front/rear. That’s essentially the iX3’s output in a lower, lither package. Compare that with the M3 (473 hp/406 lb-ft) and M3 Competition xDrive (523 hp/479 lb-ft), and you can expect damned sprightly dynamics from this electric 3 series, as directed by the same lightning-quick Neue Klasse centralized four-brain, “heart-of-joy” electronic architecture, which we’ve covered extensively in our iX3 reporting.

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Shared Chassis

The i3 and iX3 share their basic suspension designs: struts in front, located by separate lateral and diagonal links, with a five-link rear. Base cars get stroke-dependent dampers (compliant over the small stuff, stiffening as the wheel moves farther up or down). An electronically adjustable adaptive M suspension is optional. Relative to the SUV, the spring and upper strut bushing rates are softened slightly because of the lower mass and lower center of gravity. We’ve been impressed with how the Heart of Joy driving dynamics computer makes the hefty iX3 drive like a much lighter car, so hopefully this lighter car will feel go-kart-like. We’re told it’s programmed to be slightly easier to drift with the nannies dialed to their most lenient setting.

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Benchmark Charging

Also shared with the iX3 is the 108-kWh battery pack; it packages new cylindrical cells directly into the pack, which then bolts in to form the floor of the car. Its silicon-carbide inverter and standard bi-directional charging capability can accept AC charging at up to 15.4 kW through a standard box, with 19.2-kW DC home charging available via the BMW Wallbox Professional charger, which allows the car to power a home. And i3 glampers can power a campsite with a multi-outlet charge-port connector that can supply 3,700 watts of lighting, coffeemaking, popcorn-popping, etc.

Out on the road, the system can take on electrons at a 400-kW rate using the latest 800–1,000-volt stations. It can also take full advantage of 400V infrastructure, including the Tesla network (the standard NACS charge port accepts Level 1, 2, and 3 charging), and as we explain here, the My BMW app leverages AI to further ease the pain of route planning and public charging.

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Design for Circularity

Lots of folks still fret over the life-cycle carbon footprint of electric vehicles, and BMW is combatting this perception by steeply ramping up the car’s use of recycled materials and improving its end-of-life recyclability, as presaged by the BMW I Vision Circular Concept back in 2021. That Econeer upholstery: 100 percent recycled PET (water bottle stuff). The complex front bumper: 30 percent recycled material using only seven materials (down from 15), improving its recyclability from 46 percent (G20-gen 3 Series) to 85 percent. The aluminum in the hub carriers and wheels consists of 70 to 80 percent secondary materials, and half of the cobalt, lithium, and nickel in the batteries is recycled material.

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When, How Much, and … Worth it?

We’ll first see the i3 50 xDrive in early 2027, and we expect pricing to start in the mid $60,000 range—about in line with today’s M340i xDrive sedan. Such a strategy would help suggest that the industry is converging toward ICE and EV price parity, while delivering superior electric performance. Whether BMW can or will bring a 322-hp/321-lb-ft rear-drive i3 to market, capable of equal or better performance to today’s 330i at a price near its $48,675 base, remains to be seen.

Also unknown: Will the G50 gas 3 Series incorporate the Neue Klasse four-brain electronic architecture? Even if it does, combustion engines are far less responsive than electric machines by their very nature, so it won’t likely be capable of extracting maximum grip from a slick surface the way either Neue Klasse EV can. We boldly predict the i3 will be the enthusiast’s favored 3 Series. Its i Vision DEE looks are just icing on the cake.