2009 Bmw 328xi, 49k Miles, 6-speed on 2040-cars

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2015 BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe might be a better 3 Series sedan

At BMW, there really is something for everyone these days. Just take a look at the massive 3 Series/4 Series range - you can have a sedan, coupe, convertible, wagon, or funky-backed Gran Turismo. And now, with the introduction of the 2015 4 Series Gran Coupe, you can have another seda... err, hatchback, actually. But perhaps, a better one.
Compared to the 3 Series sedan, the 4 Series Gran Coupe is both longer and wider by about half an inch, but is shorter in overall height by an inch and a half. Honestly, to our eyes, it looks a little better than the 3 Series, too, what with its longer roofline, more sculpted rear haunches and lower stance. Full interior volume specs for the 4GC aren't available as of this writing, but we expect them to be roughly the same as the 3 Series, perhaps with a small decrease in headroom and rear legroom. Trunk space, at 17 cubic feet, matches the 3 Series sedan, and because the 4GC actually uses a hatchback design, it should be easier to access.
Powertrains are completely carryover from the rest of the 3/4 Series range. The 428i uses BMW's well-liked 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four with 240 horsepower and 255 pound-feet of torque, and the 435i is fitted with the company's 3.0-liter turbo-six, good for 300 hp and 300 lb-ft. An eight-speed automatic is the only transmission available in the US with either model and rear-wheel drive is standard. Only the 428i can be had with BMW's xDrive all-wheel-drive system, and interestingly, the 428i Gran Coupe is actually expected to be more fuel-efficient than its 3 Series sedan counterpart. The GC is estimated to return 23/35 miles per gallon city/highway, compared to the 23/33 mpg in the 328i sedan. The 435i Gran Coupe should achieve the same 22/32 mpg ratings as the 335i sedan.

2014 BMW 328i xDrive Gran Turismo

"The Ultimate Driving Machine" has been BMW's tagline for nearly 40 years. Launched in the 1970s, the marketing campaign was a stroke of genius by ad firm Ammirati & Puris, as the phrase helped differentiate the imported Bavarian cars from their fellow European rivals by subtly pointing out that Mercedes-Benz and Audi were offering luxury models, while BMW was selling sporty and youthful driving dynamics. The campaign worked - some would argue that stands among the most effective ad campaigns ever - and countless Baby Boomers embraced the brand's fun-to-drive image by taking delivery of the company's new models.
BMW still boasts that its vehicles are "The Ultimate Driving Machine" four decades later, but the brand is very different today. It offered just a few model lines in the mid-1970s, and only a handful of vehicles within. In 2014, the automaker offers an exhaustive range comprised of nearly a dozen lines with almost 50 different models. To survive and thrive, BMW has decided it must massively broaden its appeal.
One of the latest arrivals to BMW's ever-growing stable is the 2014 3 Series Gran Turismo. The five-door hatchback is best thought of as a smaller version of the company's 5 Series Gran Turismo built on stretched 3 Series platform that, in the case of this test car, shares the running gear of the 328i xDrive sedan. On paper, the five-passenger vehicle checks all the proper boxes with regards to performance, utility and economy. But does this family-focused 3 Series still deliver driving dynamics that qualify it for the title of Ultimate Driving Machine?

BMW X4 hatches its fastback shape in Shanghai

The day has finally come for BMW to pull the covers off its X4 Concept at the Shanghai Motor Show. The machine brings few surprises - we've already seen an official image gallery from the German automaker, so its exterior shape was well known - but at least now we get to see it with our own eyes, and with the lenses of our very own cameras.
You can clearly see the fastback roofline in our high-res image gallery above, along with the jacked-up stance that allows BMW to call this machine a Sports Activity Vehicle, which basically means "Crossover" to our friends in Munich. We've seen similar vehicle shapes before, most notably in the form of the BMW X6, but also as far back as the 1980s from the likes of AMC.
We fully expect the transition from concept to production to be pretty seamless, so what we see here is, for the most part, what we'll see on the showroom floor in 2014. Feel free to peruse the press release below, but first, be sure to browse through our live images from Shanghai and let us know what you think.