I like this current-generation of 3 Series. This G20-gen car is handsome, well-proportioned, has cool headlights with little E46-style notches in them, and even has the best kidney grilles of any current BMW. It’s bound for a facelift, though, as is the BMW way, so some of those looks are going to change, for better or worse, and we get a tease of said changes in these new spy photos. (We don’t own the photos but you can see them here)
In these new photos, you can see the G20 3 Series LCI driving around in public and the first thing you’ll notice is the new headlights. The seem a bit chunkier and angular than before, with sharp LED lighting inside. I’m not quite sure if the notched bottom will remain but the camouflage on the headlights is stepped a bit. That could be to hide a notch or maybe fake us out into thinking there is one. No way of knowing for sure until the car is revealed.
The grilles seem a bit larger as well, with seemingly thicker grille trim. Thankfully, vertical slats seem to remain, which isn’t a given anymore on modern BMWs and anything other than vertical slats looks wrong. Judging by the spy photos, the taillights haven’t changed much but they could have some more three-dimensional elements to them, like on the newly facelifted BMW X3.
Judging by the “Hybrid Test Vehicle” badging and the relatively normal BMW exhausts, this seems to be the new BMW 330e. There’s no word on whether it will gain any more range or power with the refresh but we expect any powertrain changes to be minimal at most.
If there are any real changes I’m hoping for, it’s that, for the M340i variant, the fussy front air intakes are sorted out. They’re just a bit too messy on the current car and fixing that could go a long way to allowing it to keep up with prettier competition, such as the Alfa Giulia and Mercedes C-Class.
[Source: Car Scoops]
