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In 2014 there was a schism in the BMW world akin to Martin Luther and Pope Leo X: BMW introduced the new 2 Series and, without saying it, more or less plugged that into where the 3 Series was. The 3 Series was moving upmarket – getting bigger, more luxurious, fatter, in a word – and the 2 was more directly in line with where the 3 started.
This was seen by diehard fans of the Bavarian marque as a near insult. BMW 3 Series owners love the 3 Series the way William S. Burroughs loved heroin: completely and unerringly for the rest of their lives.
Three Fold
Yes, BMW still made M3 variants. Yes BMW was still capable of making 3 Series cars go down the Bahn very, very fast. But, BMW felt the initial lightness and agility of the 3 Series was slowly being lost to feature bloat. Feature bloat is what turns small cars into bigger cars in the relentless pursuit of keeping the customer happy. Look at where Honda’s Accord started out, and where it is now. The original Accord is about the size of a current Honda Civic. The same goes for VW’s Golf, which started out about the size of a VW Polo and is now the size of a Jetta, sans trunk. So, BMW bit the bullet, cooked up a new model, and over the past few years, was able to quell the potential native uprising by both gentle explanation and by making a pretty darn good car out of the 2 Series. And really, the 2 Series is a 3 Series, only without all the burgeoni...