Monday 11 February 2013

BMW 3 SERIES GRAN TURISMO IS OFFICIAL!






BMW is officially releasing a 3 Series Gran Tourismo or GT, and these are the first official pictures thereof. The 3 GT follows on the tyre tracks of the 5 Series GT, a car that I found very hard to understand, and still do because of its special flaws, given what BMW claims about it.


But this is not about the 5, it’s about the 3. In terms of dimensions the car is 200 millimetres longer and 81mm taller, and has a wheelbase that’s 110mm longer than the 3 Series Touring’s. Touring is much more popular in Germany than it is here in Mzansi where we seem to have a natural aversion to station wagons. BMW says the boot will be able to swallow up 520 litres of luggage under normal circumstances, or up to 1600 litres with the seats folded.

A number of existing F30 engines make their way into the 3 GT, including the 2.0-litre turbo worth 105kW and 320Nm, 180kW and 350Nm of torque. Of course it wouldn’t be a BMW without the company’s signature straight-six turbo making 225kW and 400Nm.

We expect BMW SA to sell this car as a niche model, similar to what the 5 GT is, so don’t wait for every engine to become available here. We’d hazard a guess and say the 135kW 2.0-litre and 225kW are the most likely candidates for introduction.

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