2007 BMW 3-Series in Santa Ana

Welcome to Innsbruck, the 800-year-old former outpost of the Hapsburg Empire, where we've come to drive the new BMW 3-series coupe, the car that for centuries (OK, maybe it only seems that long) has been the most notable of semi-affordable sport coupes.

Every six or seven years, BMW staggers the launches of its new 3-series lineup, and, somewhere in year two, along comes a new coupe. We know what to expect by now, and it is good. Indeed, BMW has another handsome evolution of its coupe waiting for us, with more safety, even more surefooted handling, and a lineup of even better engines. So what else is new? If only all the world's carmakers took the evolutions of their cars and engine families as seriously.

A Tyrolean city of 135,000, Innsbruck has many classically Austrian edifices that look, in their quaint uniformity, like they fell out of the same model-train shop. But they still sit harmoniously alongside hypermodern expressions from contemporary Germanic architects, providing an appropriate working metaphor for the new 3-series, which neatly combines the old and the new. On some twisty back roads not far from town, shaggy cattle wandering across the roads and large men in lederhosen remind us of the old world, even while the new world is aptly represented by the 335i, which is quicker than the spry coupe it replaces and lacks little if any of the classic soul that has made the 3-series a benchmark.

At the heart of every BMW worth remembering is its engine, and the new coupe is no exception. The pick of the litter is the new twin-turbo 3.0-liter six, good for an Alpine 300 hp and 300 lb-ft of torque. The latter figure is more remarkable for the fact that maximum torque is available at a very sea-level-like 1300 rpm, helping banish lag and making for smooth power from takeoff all the way to the 7000-rpm rev limit (and the sport package's 150-mph governed top speed).... Read full article