BMW does not want to release any information on how many of the 3-Series manuals they will sell in the U.S. for “competitive reasons” they say. What we do know, is that there’s going to be lots of them sold in Europe, and one of them is the new 328i Sedan Manual.
This car is fitted with a 2.0-liter 240 horsepower 4 inline cylinder turbocharged and intercooled engine, which replaces last year’s 230 horsepower 6 cylinder. The torque hits its peak of 255 lb-ft at 1250 rpm, and remains constant until the red line. This power gets the car from 0 to 60 in 5.6 seconds (0.3 faster than the previous model) and an electronically limited top speed of 130 mph (155 for the Sport version). The transmission, as the title of this article shows, is a manual six speed, with an optional no-cost eight speed automatic. The fuel economy is rather acceptable, at 23 mpg city and 34 mpg highway.
The price doesn’t sound like much for what this vehicle has to offer, but keep in mind though, that as with all BMWs, the good stuff comes with the most expensive options. For example, the Luxury, Modern and Sport trim cost $1400, $1400 and $1700 respectively. Also, the available standard colors are Black and White, and for the other ones you would have to pay an extra $550. With all the options available installed, you could end up paying somewhere around 50 grand.
The standard, no-option cost is $35,795.
