Whether you like it or not, the fifth generation 3-series--the one that brought BMW's controversial flame surfacing styling treatment into the more affordable realms of the North American new car market for the first time--has been a runaway success.

We'll never know if a more classic looking model would have prompted a greater number of customers to hand over their hard earned cash. However, it is clear BMW is rightly proud of how the current model 3-series has performed in the showroom--or at least that's what they signaled at the launch of the face-lifted model in Germany this past week.

BMW says the face-lifted 3-series has received 2,500 changes. But this is a face-lift, not an all-new model. As such, the basics remain the same. It is the details that have been altered in a bid to once again enforce the 3-series' superiority over rivals such as the Audi A4, Lexus IS and Mercedes-Benz C-class.

While each of the steel body panels, apart from the newly contoured hood, has been carried over unchanged, BMW's designers have still done enough in altering the look of the fifth-generation 3-series to make sure it is clearly recognizable. Parked next to its predecessor, the new car appears better developed from a visual point of view--the added detailing softens some of the sheer surfaces.

Up front, there is a new interpretation of the classic grille, positioned deeper and made wider than before, along with bold new headlamp graphics that include LED indicators and BMW's signature corona rings. An edgy new bumper incorporates three separate and newly shaped air ducts.

Further back there are new exterior mirror housings and a heavily restyled sill that helps to stretch the car visually by adding a prominent crease from the trailing edge of the front wheel arches though to the trailing edge of the rear door.

The rear has also been reworked, with redesigned LED encrusted tail lamps combining with a re-profiled bumper to introduce a look with visual links to the BMW's redesigned 7-series sedan.

Along with the sedan driven here, the exterior styling changes also extend to the wagon as well.

For the time being the coupe and convertible retain the same appearance as the existing models. But they too are set to benefit from the various mid-life changes of their four-door cousins, and then some exclusive touches, too. Such as the inclusion of BMW's new seven-speed double clutch gearbox, which for the time being is not planned to be offered on the sedan or wagon.

Many of the changes are concentrated inside.

The basic design of the interior remains unchanged. But there has been an effort to lift perceived quality and overall user friendliness. The changes include a restyled instrument cluster, a higher mounting point for the driver's arm rest, and reworked switchgear in combination with BMW's second-generation iDrive system, which now includes four individual menu buttons nestled around a reworked rotary controller, as well as a back function to ease operation.

It is not entirely successful. Hard black plastic continues to dominate the center of the dashboard.




BMW has also failed to heed customer complaints about a lack of storage space. The door bins are shallow and refuse to accept a standard half-liter plastic water bottle. The so-called drink holders that spring from above the tiny glove box aren't very effective; place a bottle in them and it flays about, threatening to drop out at any moment.

The 3-series has never majored on space. It is not cramped by any means but feels a lot smaller inside than its external dimensions suggest. It is all part and parcel of its rear-wheel-drive layout, of course. When the new sixth-generation model arrives in 2012 expect it to offer a good deal more space. It will have to simply to put it back on par with its premium brand rivals.

Packaging concerns aside, the 3-series remains a car you could seriously consider buying on entertainment value alone--I'm talking about the agile handling and inherent balance of the chassis, both of which provide a key part of the overall appeal.

The standard steering (a hydraulic operated, speed-sensitive power assisted system) remains unchanged but the suspension (BMW's traditional MacPherson struts up front and trapezoidal shaped multi-link arrangement at the rear) has been altered slightly on six-cylinder models, with the rear track widened by nearly 1 inch.

The inherently precise feel and engaging nature of the standard steering encourages enthusiastic driving, while an impressive resistance to body roll and strong levels of grip make it fun to operate near the limits of adhesion. BMW does offer a four-wheel-drive option, but with all the latest in stability and traction control, it seems rather superfluous.

Still, there is a price to be paid for this dynamic excellence. Although the 3-series now runs fourth-generation run flat tires, it can't match the composure and subtlety of the Mercedes-Benz C-class for overall ride comfort. At speed it feels nicely settled, but around town it tends to get a little ragged owing to inherently firm spring and damper rates and the stiff sidewall characteristics of its tires--225/45 R17 Bridgestone Potenza RE05As on our test car.

That said, the new 3-series appears to be better controlled than the Audi A4 over ridges and potholes. Oddly, BMW has not provided the face lifted 3-series with adjustable dampers--a feature now offered by both Mercedes-Benz and Audi as optional equipment. Look for it on the next generation 3-series model due out in 2012.

The 3-series continues to be sold with the choice of five gasoline and five diesel engines in most European markets. On the gasoline side, they range from the 143-hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder in the entry level 318i through to a 306-hp twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder in the 335i. Among the diesels are the 143-hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder in the 318d (now available with a six-speed automatic gearbox) and a 286-hp twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder in the 335d.

Up until now the United States has been restricted to just two inline six-cylinder gasoline engines, a 272-hp 3.0-liter unit in the 328i and that aforementioned 306-hp twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter in the 335i.

For 2009, though, BMW is planning to add a third engine to the 3-series lineup in the form of a new turbocharged 3.0-liter six-cylinder diesel engine in the 330d, fitted with BMW's new BluePerformance technology that uses urea injection to reduce NOx emissions and allows it to be sold across North America.

Codenamed N57, the new engine adopts the same cylinder bore spacing and internal design as the German car maker's excellent 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesel, including the latest piezo injector system operating at 26,100 psi and an aluminum block that shaves 11 pounds from the weight of its old iron block predecessor at 408 pounds.

Power is up by 14 hp to 245 hp at 4000 rpm with torque increased by 15 lb-ft to 383 lb-ft, delivered on a band of revs between 1750 rpm and 3000 rpm.

Forget the numbers, though. It is the tremendous flexibility and superbly linear delivery that mark this engine out as one of BMW's finest.

You don't quite get the silken smoothness and inherent balance of a modern day gasoline engine; there does remain some characteristic chatter at start up and distant vibration as you pass through the mid range. But the new engine does combine huge low end thrust with a truly sporting top end in a way no comparable diesel engine comes close to matching.

Power arrives in one potent surge, providing the 330d with the sort of real world performance to make the 330i appear tame by comparison. Revs build solidly from just 1000 rpm and they keep coming in an unusually free nature until the limiter cuts in at a high by diesel standards 5400 rpm--up by 400 rpm on BMW's old 3.0-liter six-cylinder diesel, which will continue on in the 335d for some time to come, according to BMW.

Sending drive back to the rear wheels on the European versions we drove is the same Getrag engineered six-speed manual as used in the old 330d. There is also an optional six-speed automatic, and BMW has decided to offer its new seven-speed double clutch unit, but only in the top-of-the-line 335i coupe and convertible.

With all that torque and such a broad spread of revs to call upon, the manual is probably the pick of the bunch with the 330d.

BMW's figures put the 0 to 62 mph time at just 6.1seconds--0.6 seconds faster than the old 330d and just 0.2 seconds slower than the more overtly sporting 335d. In fact, the 330d now beats the 330i in the benchmark sprint by 0.1seconds.

It is not much, but it seems to reflect a major change in BMW's road car philosophy. From now on, it is the diesels that lead on performance.

With an outstanding combined cycle average of 41 mpg, the 330d is also super economical. With spirited driving the figure suffers a little, but we still managed 30 mpg on a rapid run on one of the autobahns out of Munich.

Playing its part here is BMW's EfficientDynamic initiative, which brings features such as an electrical water pump, brake regeneration and active aerodynamics--the latter using automatically operated flaps behind the grille to smooth air flow at high speeds.

None of the changes BMW has brought to the 3-series represent a giant step in the design, conception or engineering. But taken as a whole they do help to make it a more rounded car than it replaces. Thanks to its new iDrive system and other detailed tweaks to the interior, it is also a good deal more user friendly from any every day point of view, too. They're the sort of qualities that should ensure it retains its traditional spot at the top of the sporting sedan ranks.

Still, with its old protagonists--the C-class and A4--having undergone some major redesigns in recent times and the Lexus IS beginning to make headway at the showroom level, it's not going to be plain sailing for the BMW volume seller.