Spied: BMW to Give 3-Series Range a Faint Facelift and Possibly New 330i and 340i Monikers

As BMW‘s bread-and-butter model, the Bavarians tend to play it safe with

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by John Halas

August 6, 2014 at 22:39

As BMW‘s bread-and-butter model, the Bavarians tend to play it safe with the 3-Series range, and that holds true for the F3X generation’s mid-cycle update.

The facelift will be applied to all three body-styles of the 3-Series, including the sedan, Touring and the Gran Turismo, with our spies nabbing the first two while testing in Europe.

On both occasions, only the front ends of the cars were masked up, hinting at minor revisions to the headlamps, double kidney grille and bumper structure, but as has been the case with other recent BMW updates, small tweaks may be made to the final production models’ tail lamps and rear bumper, as well as the interior.

There’s more than meets the eye to the 3-Series LCI, though, as an insider over at the Bimmerpost forum reported that BMW will replace the 328i with the 330i and the 335i with the 340i. While displacement will remain the same, the 330i will reportedly have a new 2.0-liter turbocharged four codenamed B48 and the 340i a newer 3.0-liter turbocharged straight six, codenamed B58. BMW has not officially confirmed the name change.

We’ve also spied BMW testing a Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) version of the 3-Series, which the same tipster claims will carry the 330e moniker.

Minor improvements to the 3-Series’ diesel engine range are also to be expected.

Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoopS