BMW's other 3-Series offerings

Every new team is going to have its “player to be named later”, but BMW’s given the 3-Series range two of them.

One of its two late arriving 3-Series sedans is a fuel-economy specialist. The other one is a hybrid.

Confused? The Europeans, with their tremendously expensive fuel (it’s about six euros a gallon), have the option of an even-more frugal 320D in the EfficientDynamics Edition. Americans, meanwhile, will begin receiving the ActiveHybrid in Autumn next year, complete with even more power and performance than the 335i can offer.

Neither car is especially slow, it’s just that, like its predecessor, the 320D ED has a bit less power and shaves fractions off everything to bring it in at 4.1L/100km and 109g/km of CO2. It does this with 120kW of power at 4000 revs (15kW less than the 320D) and 380Nm of torque, neither of which are bad numbers in usual four-cylinder diesel conversations.

It has tricks like a dual-mass flywheel, lower rolling resistance, a lower ride height and, finally, an eight-speed automatic option. Still, it hits 100km/h in eight seconds and has a 230km/h top speed, so it doesn’t sacrifice much to achieve a lot.

Where the standard 320D is no eco slouch, with 4.5 litres/100km (or 62.8mpg on the EU combined cycle), the ED ekes that out to 4.1 litres/100km (68.9mpg) without asking many compromises

But where economy has been the traditional realm of the Hybrid, BMW’s ActiveHybrid eschews the theory by combining it with its biggest petrol motor, rather than its smallest.

The ActiveHybrid matches a 50kW electric motor with the 225kW (300hp) already on offer from the N55 inline, turbocharged six-cylinder motor. Integrated into the driveline at the front of the eight-speed automatic transmission, the electric motor means the ActiveHybrid can punch out a maximum of 250kW of power and adds another 50Nm to the six-pot’s 400Nm.

The other trick is that it can be run as a pure electric car for those zones that need it, but they will need to be short. The ActiveHybrid can only run as an electric car for somewhere between three and four kilometres (2.5 miles) and, then, at 60km/h (37mph) when it’s under load. When it’s coasting, it can switch across to electric motors at up t 160km/h to help quickly recharge its battery.

It hasn’t asked for too many concessions for the battery, but there are some, including a reduction in boot space to 390 litres.

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