Premium Coupes

BMW 3 Series continues to set the benchmark

As you move upward in price, you come to coupes that are more luxuriously appointed, with creature comforts to go along with more elegant styling. These make excellent daily drivers, even though they may not pack the all-out performance capabilities of pure sports cars.

Left essentially unchanged since its 2007 model-year introduction, the BMW 3 Series (*Est. $36,500 to $44,100) continues to offer the most satisfying premium coupes, according to most auto reviewers. The 3 Series coupes are available with conventional and turbocharged inline six-cylinder engines; rear-drive is standard, while all-wheel drive is optional. If the twin-turbocharged BMW 335i (*Est. $42,400) isn't enough, the ultra-high-performance, 414-horsepower BMW M3 coupe (*Est. $57,580) should fit the bill. Due to its specialized nature, the BMW M3 is covered in the ConsumerSearch report on sports cars.

In almost every review researched for this summary, the BMW 3 Series is the standard by which other cars in its luxury segment are measured. It's powerful and accelerates quickly, while still getting respectable fuel economy in the 19 to 29 mpg range, according to EPA estimates. The BMW coupe's ride is smooth and comfortable, while offering best-in-class handling. "The 3 Series' long-running double act is truly extraordinary: It speaks the language of driving enthusiasts, yet its upscale image and comfortable interior give it unrivaled mass appeal," write the editors of Edmunds.com.

Car and Driver has named the BMW 3 Series one of its 10Best for 18 consecutive years, prompting Tony Swan to comment, "Is this perfection? History has shown that there's always room for improvement. But even so, in our view, no current family of cars comes closer to that elusive target." Automobile magazine gives the 3 Series an All-Star award for the 14^th time, writing, "BMW's masterpiece of all-things-to-all-people engineering remains more fun than anything that's more practical and more practical than anything that's more fun."

As good as the BMW 3 Series coupes are, there's a strong value story in the highly-rated Infiniti G37 coupe, which has become the BMW's closest competitor. The price advantage the Infiniti offers is quite substantial. The base Infiniti G37 (*Est. $35,900 to $38,700) costs less than BMW's entry-level 328i (*Est. $36,500) while offering more power than the turbocharged BMW 335i (*Est. $42,400). Adding options builds up the bottom line quickly, though. If you do some experimentation on Infiniti's website, you'll see that some options require the purchase of related (and pricey) option packages. There are other compromises, too. The Infiniti's sexy bodywork contains less interior space than the 3 Series coupe, and thus its back seat offers less comfort than the one found in the two-door BMW 3 Series.

After comparing the BMW 335i with the Infiniti G37, Automobile magazine gives the win to BMW but says, "With its highly entertaining dynamic aptitudes, near-BMW speed, and hot appearance, the Infiniti G37S easily tops the value chart." Car and Driver summarizes: "It's not as smooth and refined as the class-leading BMW 335i, but the G37 is considerably cheaper and more aggressively styled."  For 2009, Infiniti has made some changes in an effort to keep pace with the likes of the BMW 3 Series. The 2009 Infiniti G37x coupe adds all-wheel drive, previously available only on the G-series sedan. A seven-speed automatic transmission is now standard as well, and it contributes to a slight boost in the G37 coupe's fuel economy.

The BMW 1 Series coupe (*Est. $29,400 to $35,850) enters its second year completely unchanged from the 2008 model. The 1 Series shares its two inline six-cylinder engines with the larger 3 Series, but it's a smaller car.  Some criticisms are obvious: the 1 Series coupe's trunk is small and its rear seats are inhospitable to adults. Despite being smaller than the BMW 3 Series, the 1 Series coupes aren't much lighter. The styling's not for everyone, either: Car and Driver notes that the 135i looks "a bit like a 3 Series coupe in a fun-house mirror." An Edmunds editor quips, "it looks like a pot-belly pig." The 1 Series' real Achilles' heel may be its window sticker: it doesn't take much in the way of options to drive the price of a BMW 128i into 3 Series coupe territory, and the latter car is both more practical and attractive.

The visually striking 2009 Audi A5 and S5 (*Est. $40,700 to $51,400) two-doors compete directly against the BMW 3 Series coupes. For 2010, Mercedes-Benz has put the CLK-Class coupe out to pasture. The new 2010 Mercedes E-Class coupe (*Est. $48,050 to $54,650) will go up against comparable offerings from BMW and Audi.