2025 BMW 3 Series: Interior Tweaks, New Powertrains, and More
BMW has introduced a host of updates to the 2025 3 Series sedan, making its stalwart luxury mid-sizer more techy, more stylish, and more efficient. Notably absent from the facelifted 3 Series is the plug-in hybrid 330e, which BMW confirmed will not continue into the 2025 model year.
The current seventh-generation 3 Series accounts for 3 million sales worldwide, so its continued success is critically important to BMW. Judging by the tweaks noted below, we’d say the company’s product planners erred on the side of a light touch, and that makes sense.
Let’s start with some structure: BMW offers the 3 Series in two versions here in North America. The first is the 330i, which utilizes a turbocharged four-cylinder engine. The second is the M340i, the meatier version of this car, which utilizes a twin-turbo inline-six engine. You can get both versions in rear- or all-wheel drive, with the latter equipment asking more of your wallet.
Exterior styling tweaks were light; two new paint colors will be available across the range—Artic Race Blue metallic and Vegas Red metallic. For those seeking more unique hues, BMW’s in-house personalization service, dubbed BMW Individual, will also lather your 3 Series in two additional paint colors: Frozen Pure Gray metallic and Frozen Portimao Blue metallic.
Spring for the M Sport Package, which is optional on 330i models but standard on the M340i, and you’ll get access to a new 19-inch, double-spoke wheel design painted in bi-color or Jet Black finish. BMW Individual offers an additional 19-inch design finished with a bi-color design that will be available across all models—though likely for a pretty penny extra.
The 2025 M340i will get a new version of the B58B30 twin-turbo inline-six engine, which is already used by the current 7 Series, the X7, and a few other vehicles. It features a host of improvements, including dual injection, a new crankcase and cylinder head, an overhauled coolant system, and more.
A 48-volt mild-hybrid system aids the twin-turbo inline-six engine with a little extra juice from a standstill—BMW says 11 hp-worth—to bring total system output to 386 hp and 398 lb.-ft. of torque, up 4 hp and 29 lb.-ft. over the 2024 model. Paired with the eight-speed automatic transmission—the only option here, BMW says that the 2025 M340i can rip to 60 mph from a stop in just 4.4 seconds, or 4.1 seconds if you opt for the all-wheel-drive version.
Meanwhile, the 330i’s single-turbo, inline four-cylinder gets a similar 48V mild-hybrid treatment, though this time there’s no added power gain over the outgoing, non-hybrid four-pot. Power figures for the 2025 330i remain the same as those of the 2022 330i, this generation’s first model year: 255 hp and 295 lb.-ft. of torque. But in addition to the new mild-hybrid componentry, this four-pot does get some updates, including the incorporation of the Miller cycle combustion process. That efficiency-minded combustion cycle is made possible here by redesigned intake ports, combustion chambers, and exhaust gas routing.
Chassis changes are few, though BMW does call out a stiffer mounting area for where the rear dampers connect to the body. The 3 Series’ “comfort” steering mode has also been toned down a bit, with reduced effort meant to ease long-haul jaunts.
The 3 Series’ interior is home to the lion’s share of the updates, with fresh touch points and technology among the list of what’s new. There are two new steering wheel designs, a two-spoke polygonal rim for the 330i, and a flat-bottomed M steering wheel for the M340i or the 330i with the M Sport package (pictured below).
BMW’s latest version of the iDrive infotainment system can be found in the 2025 3 Series, and it features a new home screen and improved menu structure that should reduce the number of sub-menus one has to flip through to get to where you want to go.
New ambient lighting in the cabin features nine selectable colors, and there are a host of lighting animations that will play as you “wake the car up” or “close it down.” Some of the interior trim bits have changed based on spec—you’ll get open-pore wood inserts in the 330i, and aluminum inserts for the M340i. There are also new “galvanic controls” that will give the window switches, door lock buttons, and more a weathered finish like that of galvanized steel.
Production for the 2025 3 Series is slated to begin in August of this year, with U.S. market cars being produced at BMW’s San Luis Potosí plant in Mexico. Pricing is as follows: The RWD 330i starts at $46,675, while the AWD 330i xDrive starts at $48,675. For the meatier M340i, the RWD car begins at $60,775 and the AWD version starts at $62,775.
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Hallelujah!!! The BMW gods have not destroyed the visuals of the car with a massive front grill. It seems over the past several years the wizards of design think the bigger grill makes us DRIVERS want the car more – secret, we don’t. Those of us who have been DRIVING these cars since the 02, still like a bit of conservative design, like a Tuxedo – class! Thank you! The Bangle ass is gone, I hope this Whale Shark grill goes as well.
All screens, few buttons. Same story again.
Better smaller nostrils, I don’t even mind the Darth Vader underlip!