I'm failing my search tonight - generations of BMW 3 series

I must not be hitting the right keywords - looking for a picture of the generations of 3 series together - E21 through F30

this one?

How about the one that pairs the differing gens with the face of Elvis as he went from youthful/healthy to older/bloated?.

Gnerations are easy - there's the E21 which looked sort of like a 2002 with less bathtub and more headlights, the E30 which looked awesome, and none of the others count so why consider them?

I guess we all pick our generation.. I prefer the E36... (but I do like the E21 a LOT) but the F30 barely looks like a BMW

Thanks, Sonic. That was it.

E30 M3 for looks and sound, all day long.

The small bumper standard E30s are some of best looking BMWs, though the touring is pretty ugly. The E36 design was more unique. You can definitely see aspects of the E36 were designed from the E30 M3. It doesn't look that similar to the E30, E32, E34, E38 or the E39. The E46 just got rid of the unique aspects of the E36 design.

The ever increasing size of a car with the same name doesn't make much sense to me.The E36 was a big jump to quite a different car. For all intents and purposes the F30 is a 5-series.

2002 Touring 161.4"
E36/5 166"
E46 Compact 168"
E81 166.9"
F20 170"

2002tii 166"
E21 171.5"
E30 175"/170"
E36 174.5"
E46 176"
E82 172"
E90 178"
E92 181"
F30 182"

2000 178"
E12 182"
E28 182"
E34 186"
E39 188"
E60 191"
F10 193"

Matthew Huizing wrote: The small bumper standard E30s are some of best looking BMWs, though the touring is pretty ugly. The E36 design was more unique. You can definitely see aspects of the E36 were designed from the E30 M3. It doesn't look that similar to the E30, E32, E34, E38 or the E39. The E46 just got rid of the unique aspects of the E36 design. The ever increasing size of a car with the same name doesn't make much sense to me.The E36 was a big jump to quite a different car. For all intents and purposes the F30 is a 5-series.

I can tell that the E39 and E36 were designed about the same time. They are definatly in the same "family" same with the E38.. they are just unique from the cars that came before and after.

As for the comment about getting bigger and heavier than the car before. I never understood that either. It is a sin almost all car makers engage in. It would seem that making the 3er bigger, heavier, and more luxurious would cut into 5er sales...

mad_machine wrote: As for the comment about getting bigger and heavier than the car before. I never understood that either. It is a sin almost all car makers engage in. It would seem that making the 3er bigger, heavier, and more luxurious would cut into 5er sales...

Except that the 5 is also getting bigger and more luxurious.

yes.. and encrouching on the 7

Matthew Huizing wrote: The ever increasing size of a car with the same name doesn't make much sense to me.The E36 was a big jump to quite a different car. For all intents and purposes the F30 is a 5-series.

I agree with this statement. I also agree with the 3 and 5 series being so close in size they could cannabalize each other's sales.

When I was checking out 07 335i's Carmax had a 535i wagon right beside it. I ended up with the 3 series because I liked the way it felt while driving. Also, my 3 was a manual. The 5 was the newer auto but still an auto.

I thought the i135 was the restart of the original 3-series size?

In reply to jrw1621:

Coupes
E21: 171.5"L 63.4"W 54.3"H 100.9"WB (big bumpers!)
E30: 170.3"L 65.4"W 55.1"H 101.2"WB (1989+)
E36: 174.5"L 67.3"W 53.8"H 106.3"WB
E46: 176.7"L 69.2"W 53.9"H 107.3"WB
E82: 172.2"L 68.8"W 56.0"H 104.7"WB

E30 M3: 171.1"L 66.1"W 53.9"H 101.2"WB
1M: 172.4"L 71.0"W 56.5"H 104.7"WB

I'd say the E82 is closest to the E36 size, though it is taller than even the E46 sedans (55.7").

All car manufacturers have done that almost since the beginning of the industry.

Each particular model gets improved by being made larger and more featured. When it hits the very top of the target segment, a new model is brought in below it to be the smaller cheaper car, after which the older model is discontinued to make room for the new model's climb to the top.

It's the way that the manufacturers can show continuous "improvement" - in average consumer terms - with each model year, without all cars ending up being huge and expensive.

glueguy:

not sure how close you are to a major city, but a few months ago both CAR and EVO had multi-page articles comparing/contrasting the differing models of M3. Nearly all prefered the original.

I'm surprised that none of the major car mags has done a full retrospective of the 3 series in light of the 3 going back to 4 cylinder power...maybe in a few more months?

Sonic wrote: this one?

No F30.