Innovative Design For Those Who Are Driven: The 2006 BMW 3 Series

Summary: What happens when you combine a blistering fast engine, with a lightweight body, and a refined interior cabin? The car that results is weird science done right, and the very embodiment of the 2007 BMW 3 Series - a well designed, highly engineered sports car with a soul. Although the Hybrid is coming in 2008, the 2007 BMW 3 Series is a valid antidote to the conformity of modern life.

BMW will tell you it isn't so, but the new 3 Series is the start of a softening of Chris Bangle's most angular design language. The car you see is not an evolution of an existing car but a ground up model, an energetic attempt to re-invent the most popular BMW model with unarguably good looks that match its top class driving dynamics. The first thing you notice is that the car has dropped the current teardrop headlamps and done away with the aircraft carrier trunk lid. Next to go are the cut lines and the aggressive mix of concave and convex panels. It's still recognizably a BMW though. The big news underneath is the new multitude independent suspension (borrowed from the 5 series) is designed to combine unrivalled ride comfort, with taut handling. On top of that you can expect Dynamic Drive (that's adjustable anti-roll bars), Active Steering