The new BMW 3 Series Touring
Sunday, 13th May 2012 - BMWThe new edition of the BMW 3 Series Touring makes its mark in the premium sports estate segment with its hallmark BMW dynamic prowess, enhanced practicality and versatility, and a range of standard equipment features assembled to meet the challenges of everyday life. Its larger interior is extremely versatile and designed to adapt to everything its customers’ modern, active lifestyles can throw at it. In this role, the new BMW 3 Series Touring convinces equally as both a sporty, elegant and dynamic way to eat up the miles and a comfortable and spacious vehicle for sports and leisure pursuits.
Its harmonious proportions ensure the new BMW 3 Series Touring appears from every angle as if cut from a single mould and proves that impressive practicality and dynamic design need not be mutually exclusive. The sweeping silhouette with smoothly sloping roofline, side windows extending well back to the rear and a powerful rear end all combine to create a distinctive Touring character and highlight the huge potential of the new BMW 3 Series variant at first glance.
Alongside its extra practicality and versatility, the new BMW 3 Series Touring also benefits from enhanced ride comfort, the availability of the new Sport Line, Luxury Line and Modern Line equipment packages, and the materials and colour concept familiar from the recently introduced Sedan. The M Sport package will also be available from launch.
Leading the way: more space for luggage and clever details
With 97 millimetres added to the car’s overall length and 50 millimetres to its wheelbase, the new BMW 3 Series Touring offers extra room for passengers and luggage alike. Plus, this additional space can be adapted for a variety of uses, allowing the new car to turn its hand to a range of activities. A 35-litre increase in capacity (to 495 litres) means the load compartment can offer more space than any of the Touring’s rivals (1,500 litres with the rear seat backrests folded down). Standard equipment designed to meet the challenges of everyday life, such as the 40:20:40 split/folding rear seat bench, the electrically operated tailgate with separate rear window opening, the stainless steel protective strip on the comfortably low loading sill (62 centimetres from the ground), the separate partition net and a luggage compartment cover that stows away neatly into an underfloor compartment highlight the ability of the new BMW 3 Series Touring to adapt as required to the situation at hand.
Made-to-measure options like the adaptive attachment system with variable plug-in elements for the load compartment floor, the hands-free tailgate opening function as part of the Comfort Access option, and the electrically pivoting trailer coupling make it even easier to transport a variety of gear.
The range kicks off with the BMW 328i, 330d and 320d Touring
Agility and dynamic performance are among the other qualities which set the new BMW 3 Series Touring apart. Customers can choose from three refined, economical and punchy engines at launch, all of which boast BMW TwinPower Turbo technology. Alongside the new four-cylinder petrol unit developing 180 kW/245 hp and the 2-litre diesel with 135 kW/184 hp, the line-up also includes an optimised six-cylinder diesel producing 190 kW/ 258 hp that combines sporty dynamics with significantly reduced fuel consumption and emissions. All engines fulfil the stipulations of the EU5 exhaust standard, while the 320d diesel unit can meet EU6 specification, if desired. The Driving Experience Control switch with ECO PRO mode, meanwhile, opens up extra fuel-saving potential for all engine variants.
A sporty six-speed manual gearbox sends power to the rear wheels in the four-cylinder models. And BMW also offers an innovative eight-speed automatic transmission – fitted as standard in the six-cylinder diesel model – as an option. A further option is the eight-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifts on the steering wheel. Both transmission variants link up with the fuel consumption-reducing Auto Start-Stop function.
Advanced suspension technology, featuring a large number of light-alloy components and new tuning, the torque steer-free Electric Power Steering, an up to 40-kilogram lighter overall weight and finely-balanced axle load distribution set the seal on the car’s dynamic concept. State-of-the-art electronic control systems enhance the dynamic potential of the new BMW 3 Series Touring and help to ensure it displays the perfect combination of sporting prowess and ride comfort. The new Touring can be optionally ordered with M Sport suspension, lowered by ten millimetres, or the electronically controlled Adaptive M Sport suspension.
BMW EfficientDynamics
In addition to its enviable practicality and sporting dynamics, the outstanding fuel economy of the new BMW 3 Series Touring helps maximise driving pleasure. The key here is the BMW EfficientDynamics development strategy, whose influence can be seen in virtually every area of the new model. In addition to the ultra-frugal petrol and diesel engines, the intelligent lightweight construction concept, optimised aerodynamics and other measures including the Auto Start-Stop function, Brake Energy Regeneration, Optimum Shift Indicator and on-demand operation of ancillary components, ensure that the powerful BMW 3 Series Touring also boasts impressively low fuel consumption and emissions. The Driving Experience Control switch with ECO PRO mode offers further potential for cutting down on fuel. It encourages an efficient driving style and enables savings of up to 20 per cent.
BMW ConnectedDrive
An extensive selection of driver assistance systems and mobility solutions, offered as standard or as options under the BMW ConnectedDrive programme, allows the new BMW 3 Series Touring to set the benchmark in its segment in terms of safety, convenience and infotainment. One highlight of the range is the latest-generation full-colour Head-Up Display, which projects key information onto the windscreen in sharp resolution. Included alongside an array of other comfort and safety-enhancing assistance systems is extremely effective interface technology that allows extensive use of external mobile phones and numerous Bluetooth office functions for internet-based services. The Apps option and the free BMW Connected app provide a gateway to services such as social networks, web radio and the iPhone calendar function. Finally, information and office services along with travel and leisure planners further enhance the individual convenience and comfort of travelling in the new BMW 3 Series Touring.
