2027 BMW 3 Series and i3 First Drive: A Big Gamble With Two Completely Different Cars

Pay attention, paradigm shift in progress: You’re used to BMWs like the i4, i5, and i7 simply being electric riffs on their gas counterparts. But that jack-of-both-trades idea just wouldn’t do the job for the brand’s cash-cow 3 Series. So the i3 and the 3 Series gas burners are now completely different cars that mostly share a design theme. That’s right. Different chassis, different body panels, different glass, different—though related—electrical architectures. Holy capital expense budgets! We just drove both variants in the south of France. Will this gamble pay off?

Let’s Recap

If you didn’t already read our various first looks and tech deep dives on BMW’s Neue Klasse cars, the traditional gas 3 Series continues on a modified CLAR platform, which for the U.S. will be sold in 330 and M350 guises. The former is motivated by a 2.0-liter turbo-four (which is extensively revised to meet more stringent Euro 7 emissions standards while managing to produce the same 255 horsepower and 295 lb-ft output) with the help of 48-volt mild hybridization introduced for 2025.

The M Performance variant gets the tried and true 3.0-liter I-6 turbo, also mildly hybridized to now make 437 hp and 428 lb-ft. Both are teamed with an eight-speed automatic transmission; xDrive all-wheel drive is optional on the 330 and standard on the M350.

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Meanwhile, the all-electric i3 arrives in its mid-price 50 xDrive two-motor format, with an asynchronous inductive motor in front and a self-energized synchronous one in back, good for 463 hp and 476 lb-ft. The i3’s unique selling proposition is its four-computer zonal electronic architecture, one of which—cutely dubbed Heart of Joy—regulates all driving dynamics. The system boasts 10 times the computing power of predecessor systems, which reduces latency (the time it takes for a computer to receive sensor information, compute, and send an order, and for said order to be executed) from around 20 milliseconds to 1 ms. That’s a big enough difference to feel.

How Neue Is the ICE 3?

Outside, the grille and front lighting are shared, and not much else. More is commonized inside, including the pillar-to-pillar Panoramic iDrive screen, the angled “free-cut” center screen, steering wheels, etc. Much of the BMW Symbiotic Drive set of automated driving and parking features we covered in the iX3 launch is included here. But the seats are unique to accommodate the i3’s higher floor, and there’s no center tunnel, and so on.

Down in the powertrain and chassis, however, it only shares what makes sense, which is not very much. But programming of systems like the all-wheel-drive clutch in the transfer case and the electronic differential in the M350 is heavily informed by the i3/iX3 learnings, and the gas-powered 3 shares the i3/iX3’s central six-dimensional chassis sensor.

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But it doesn’t get the 10x faster processor. Why? Because it can’t take advantage of it. If Heart of Joy determined that an M350’s right rear tire could take advantage of 3 more lb-ft of torque for 3 milliseconds, the fuel exploding in a cylinder can’t help deliver that finite request. An electric motor on the rear axle can—even working with an open differential (as in the i3 50 xDrive), by sending millisecond orders to the ABS circuit and micropulsing the left rear brake.

Note that some other changes made to harmonize the exterior designs of these disparate cars benefited the gas model. The big battery drove some added body and track width, which offered an opportunity to broaden the 3’s stance and completely rethink the suspension.

Our Test-Drive Samples

For this first taste, BMW offered us only the top-performing gas-powered M350 xDrive, equipped with the fully adaptive suspension. The i3 50 xDrive test samples were all equipped with passive damping (adaptive is optional). Note that, despite their closeish power and torque ratings, a gander at the curb weights suggests a notable performance advantage for the M Performance model. We’re cautioned to wait for the i3 M60 xDrive as the M350’s electric M Performance foil (and then expect the 612-hp/645-lb-ft EV to smite its gas brother).

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Starting Out in the M350

Well, out here on twisty Cote d’Azur foothill roads, the M350 xDrive is great big fun. Packing 50 more horsepower and 30 more lb-ft of torque relative to the outgoing M340 xDrive makes for hastier corner exits and easier passing.

At the same time, the fully retuned damping, spring rates, geometry, and elasto-kinematics—all tailored to the new model’s broader track, longer wheelbase, and extra power—heighten the car’s sense of cornering agility. Changes to the front camber and caster on this car’s M-Sport suspension really pay off in improved road feel through the wheel. Might BMW be inching back toward its glory days of steering feel? Dare we dream?

The new user interface and Panoramic iDrive seem very promising, though mastering them takes more than an afternoon. We’re also encouraged by our limited exposure to Neue Klasse features like the symbiotic cruise control. As in some other cars, it can adjust automatically to changing speed limits, but it can also remember that you like to drive 10 over the limit on the open highways while still adhering to village speed limits. And it automatically resumes your preferred speed even after braking for roundabouts, etc. It will even suggest automatic lane changes, only executing them after you’ve checked the relevant mirror. Very clever.

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This M350 xDrive model marks a significant step forward for BMW’s most recognizable model, and it might be just perfect for buyers who can’t or won’t yet fit an electric car into their daily lives. But it also feels more like a car of today than a car of tomorrow.

How’s the 3 Series of EVs?

The way electric cars deliver power is so much different from that of a turbo-six and eight-speed automatic combo that you need reminding that this is the slower, gentler version compared to the M350.

Roll control is impressive, and cornering is almost perfectly flat. That’s accomplished mostly by its broad track, low center of gravity, and low roll center, so there’s none of the head toss you get when manufacturers achieve flat cornering by using stiff anti-roll bars.

Stitching together switchback after switchback on the road, we continually marveled at how hard this 2.5-ton sedan hangs on before the tires complain at all—phraseology we more frequently apply to six-figure Bentleys than to “humble” mid-five-figure BMWs.

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But it’s the i3 50’s ability to claw its way out of a turn at full force that had us interrogating the BMW engineers as to whether maybe our car had an electronic-locking rear differential like the M350. Nope—what we’re feeling is brake-actuated torque redistribution as controlled by that high-strung computer. The same goes for front-to-rear torque distribution, which is simply managed by the two e-motors directly.

What we basically have here is one of the first electric cars to truly be set up to take full advantage of its electric powertrain. That means it can leverage the fact that e-machines can not only dole out power but also reel it back in by the milliwatt on a millisecond time scale, because it has the necessary computing power.

It’s this centralized power that separates these electric BMWs—for now—from practically every other electric car on the road. And of course, we’ve already covered the lightning-fast 400-kW charging and impressive EPA range, which hasn’t been finalized but is expected to end up north of 470 miles.

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So Is the i3 Better Than the Gas 3 Series?

Call it a definite maybe. It’s so futuristic and satisfying to drive, and it addresses so many EV concerns, that it’s well worth strong consideration—unless you really need a back seat. Turns out that forcing a battery into the floor of a car that looks almost identical to its gas sibling isn’t great for space. If the preliminary interior dimensions BMW provided are correct, by EPA size class rules the gasoline-burning 3 qualifies as a compact, while the electric is a subcompact. That’s all down to the rear seat, which cedes more than an inch of head- and shoulder room and nearly a half inch of legroom to its gas brother. Even adults whose legs technically fit will resent having their knees way up in the air. Think of it as a large SUV’s third-row seat, but with doors.

Bottom Line

We give BMW big credit for investing the capital needed to build two dedicated 3 Series cars and for so thoroughly setting up each one for its unique buyer. Both variants make strong arguments for themselves—we can’t wait to get them both into the inevitable MotorTrend comparison tests they’re itching for.

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