BMW 3-Series 2012 320d Luxury Plus - Design Review

I don't know about you, but to me the new BMW designs look they are suffering from some mid-life crisis. Take a look at the current 5-series or the new X3 or the evolved 6-series - where is the aggression? What happened to the playboy image? Those cars put up a face as if they have been married off - that too forcefully - to Hitler's grandchildren! The new 3-series though, has a different story to tell.

One glance at the car and you will know it is all different. The face is smart and full of attitude. No matter how much you insist, at least the front fascia doesn't look like it subscribes to BMW's current design philosophy. Take the headlights for example, which flow into the grille and give the 'eyes' a sort of unibrow look. The milky white plastic-y flaps that you get inside the headlight assembly of the new 5-series, is replaced with a classier looking metallic flap that also houses an additional array of day-time running LEDs that complement the corona rings – which themselves aren’t round anymore and glow in white colour. Both, the upper and the lower beams now have projector-type headlamps.

The kidney-grille on the ‘Luxury’ line seen here differentiates itself from the cheaper ‘Sports’ line with a busier twelve-slat, chrome plated grille while the latter gets an eight-slat grille finished in gloss black. The bumpers on both the trims are different from each other too. The Luxury line gets sober looking housings for the fog lamps with brushed metal accents for a more premium look. 

Move over to the side and you’ll notice the trademark 3-series silhouette that also highlights the car’s 50:50 (front/back) weight distribution. What is remarkable though is the way the nose stoops forward – giving the 3-series an attacking stance. The bonnet has a noticeable bulge that further contributes to the stooping effect. The Luxury line also comes with 7-series style alloy wheels with tightly packed spokes which look good even when the car is mobile.

The prominent and straight-ish beltline flows through the body-coloured door handles and into the taillights. The taillights have the classic hammer-shape seen on most BMWs but these are wider and look almost like the ones on the 5-series. The protruding boot-lid too belongs to the design language seen on the new BMW cars. The rear bumper is large and does tend to look monotonous despite the reflective inserts and the chrome plated exhaust tip.

 There is no doubt that the tailgate or the side profile looks too sober as compared to the smart face that the new 3-series flaunts. The car still bears the aggression that you expect from a Beemer and more importantly, the flamboyance of the 3-series has been taken to new heights with the F30 model. In fact, the 3-series now looks so good that I can’t help but say that its rivals are now looking outdated even with those facelifts and nips-n-tucks.