If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The proverb has been part of BMW’s product lifecycle philosophy for decades. Most of BMW’s facelifted models received mild design upgrades, with the occasional exceptions to the rule. One of those exceptions is the 2023 BMW BMW M340i Facelift. The redesigned M-lite 3 Series was unveiled in May 2022 and it is now landing in customers’ hands. But ahead of the market launch, we flew to Germany to sample the car and its glorious B58 engine.
For the last few years, the 3 Series has remained among the last bastions of normalcy in BMW’s designs. While so many of BMW’s cars featured large grilles and complex shapes, the G20 BMW 3 Series remained a simple, sporty, and handsome-looking car. But how do you improve an already beloved design? By keeping it simple, at least on the outside. The kidney grille retains the same size, but the outer edges are thicker giving the car a shark-like nose. The headlights are slightly slimmer, retaining their overall shape but with new graphics which now resemble a 5 Series more than ever before. The laser lights option is gone, but the Adaptive LEDs get blue or black stripes inside, somewhat retaining the unique look of the lasers.
Beneath the new grille and headlights, larger air intakes replace the old, smaller ones. This is probably the largest area of improvement. The shapes are also simpler and cleaner while the honeycomb air intake makes the M340i look sportier. Also, the gap between the kidney grille and the top edge of the front bumper has been reduced in size to emphasize that shark nose. Out back, the M340i’s taillights remain the same, but the rear bumper and diffuser are different. What’s even more interesting is that most new M Performance models have received quad exhaust pipes, but the new BMW M340i does not. Instead, it sticks with the trapezoidal standard exhaust, which is more traditional. The exhaust pipes inside are also larger than on the outgoing model, ranging from 90 to 100 mm.
