Prepare For Confusion: An Updated BMW 3-Series Is Here, And The Model Numbering Has All Changed

Behold: this is the refreshed BMW 3-series, ready to do battle with Jaguar’s XE. As has become the norm for BMW facelifts, the exterior changes are, erm, subtle, but a bit more work has been going on underneath. Specifically, with the engines.

Almost all of the 3-series’ engines are either new or updated, and if you’d just gotten used to the way BMW tends to number its cars these days, we have bad news: the model names have been changed.

There’s no longer a 1.6-litre, four-pot 316i to kick off the range: it’s now a 318i, powered by a 1.5-litre turbo three-pot with 134bhp and 162lb ft. The 328i has disappeared too, replaced with the 330i, using the same four-pot engine but with a mild increase in poke to 248bhp. At the top end of the petrol range, the 335i has been renamed 340i, with its 3.0-litre turbocharged six-cylinder now good for 321bhp and 332lb ft.

Apart from the death of the 325d, the numbering for the diesels stays as is, with the addition of the 320d ED, which has 163bhp and 295lb ft and - more importantly - will puff out under 99g/km and do over 72mpg on the combined cycle. Not bad, although we’ll take the 340i please…