Review: BMW 2012 328i and 335i

"Something's different," my friend grumbles from behind the wheel of my 2012 BMW 3-series test car.

He should know. His garage houses a last-gen BMW 330i and the cultishly track-focused Honda S2000. My buddy is cursed with a freakish attention to detail and an enthusiast's acuity for stuff like steering feel and pedal feedback. He doesn't use words like "delicious" and "transparent" when describing said qualities – that's a job for scribes like me – but it's just as well.

My response is quick: "Electric steering," the modern alternative to a good ol' fashioned hydraulic arrangement. While more energy efficient, the new setup isn't flawless. Electric steering can denature the impression of how front tires address pavement, convey the texture of the road below, and relay the rubber's ever-changing compositional characteristics, which vary as temperatures rise, compounds soften, and adhesion limits decline under hard cornering loads. All that cerebral data filters into a seat-of-the-pants, tactile impression we call steering feel. It's the sort of thing that gets the automotive press – and the lunatic enthusiast fringe – all riled up.

Despite mildly reworked body panels – a nip here, a tuck there for a cohesive, if inoffensive look – the updated 3 is also loaded with other less-controversial updates. It stretches 3.6 inches in length and creeps closer to 5-series territory, though BMW also managed to trim 88 pounds of mass, appeasing the ever vocal peanut gallery. The 335i's twin-scroll turbocharged inline-6 carries over from the previous car, pumping a nice round 300 hp and 300 pound-feet of torque. But the new 328i, with its new turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder that's good for 240 hp and 260 pound-feet of torque, steals the show. The four-banger, first seen in the Z4 sDrive28i and spreading through the BMW portfolio like wildfire, saves 133 pounds of curb weight and ekes out 33 mpg on the highway.

The 328i comes across as the lighter, more tossable of the two, while the 335i's power delivery is a tad more silky and seamless.Both models receive a new 8-speed automatic transmission, as well as BMW's so-called Eco Pro setup that encourages fuel-saving driving habits by displaying how many miles of range have been gained by your light-footed restraint. Stop/start functionality also aids the eco-conscious effort, and the system can be easily disabled by tapping a small key next to the engine start button. A six-speed manual gearbox can also be ordered on both iterations.

While autocrossers will gravitate to the three-pedal setup, aesthetes will likely fixate on which trim package to select: Sport, Modern or Luxury. Sport ($2,500) offers stiffer suspension, black exterior trim, two-spoke 18-inch wheels, more aggressively bolstered seats, and an avant-garde, red matte aluminum interior trim. Modern ($2,100) includes more conventional matte chrome exterior details, 18-inch turbine wheels, and Scandinavian-style interior textures like open-pore wood and plenty of pale finishes. Luxury ($2,100) is a bit more orthodox, with multi-spoke 18-inch wheels and chrome exterior bits, and glossy wood paired with contrast stitching and earth-tone leather hues.

And so, back to the pesky question of steering feel. Two days prior to the aforementioned third-party observation, I was flirting with the 3-series' performance limits on the banking, climbing and spiraling surfaces of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. I'd like to say I was wrestling with the ragged edge of car control, but really, there was hardly any melodrama to speak of behind the wheel of either vehicle.

The 328i's turbo-four feels incrementally less gutsy, with a diesel-like drone at idle (thanks to the high-pressure direct-injection system), and a slightly thinner powerband. Whereas the 335i tugs ahead with more authority, the 328i demands a tad more patience, especially coming out of turn 5, a left-hander that leads to a 63-foot climb in elevation before the tarmac dips and kinks to the left. And though the six-cylinder's weight distribution is a near-ideal 50.9/49.1 percent with a manual, or a slightly-less-advantageous 51.5/48.5 percent with an automatic, that up-front heft becomes perceptible during the track's more technical stretches. It may be easy to gravitate to the 335i's outright power, but the 328i is far from slouchy. The smaller 3-series can hit 60 mph in 5.9 seconds, just as quickly as the 1995-era M3 could make the sprint. Not bad for a base-level engine.

The 328i comes across as the lighter, more tossable of the two, while the 335i's power delivery is a tad more silky and seamless. As strange as it sounds, the four-cylinder felt more retro on the track than the heavier 335i. It's no 2002 tii by any stretch of the imagination, but there's something more intimate and oddly naive about tossing the 328i around, in contrast to its heavier big brother. Regardless of the differences in handling between the two, both exude preternatural balance as they approach the limit, communicating just enough information about the state of the chassis so driver jitter is at a minimum, and confidence runs strong.

On the drive from Monterey to Los Angeles following the track proceedings, my 3-series tester managed the 320-mile task with civility and composure, if with a bit more road noise than expected. The interior feels like a weirdly modernist take on a sports sedan: while the large white-on-black analog gauges are familiar and unchanged, the 8-speed transmission shifter is of the unmechanical variety, requiring a delicate touch to differentiate between "N" and "D." Maddening.

While lovely in its brightness, contrast and wide expanse, the navigation screen looks like it should be able to dip and disappear into the dashboard, but doesn't. And while the radio preset stations laid out just above the A/C controls are touch-sensitive, their primitive appearance belies such advances as the ConnectedDrive interface and iPhone-based BMW Apps, which elegantly integrate Pandora, MOG, and calendar functionality into the iDrive screen.

But once you've scoped out the price-swelling electronics options and weighed whether you want the smarter 328i or the ballsier 335i, I recommend not spending too much time obsessing over steering feel. Though the rack on the new 3 isn't as ... how shall we say, deliciously transparent as its predecessor, it's still quite good. The benefits of the sixth-generation sled – in terms of usability, space, and performance – outdo the fifth-generation car, and the overall gains far exceed the sacrifice.

If you're on the prowl for ultimate steering feel, stalk eBay for the best Lotus Elise you can afford. But if you're down with a bigger, lighter, and better equipped BMW 3-series, you'd do mighty fine with a 328i. Just watch it with that tantalizing options list; it may start at an approachable $35,795, but the sticker price quickly veers towards the mid-century mark. And believe me, even if we're looking at a 1980s-era, time capsule quality E30 M3, there's nothing yummy about a $50,000 four-cylinder 3-series.

WIRED Bigger yet lighter. Cheaper 328i has secret powers the 335i can't touch. Even compromised by electric setup, steering is quite good.

TIRED 328i is cheaper, but still pricey. Steering is solid, but not transcendent. Options easily launch list price into ludicrous territory.