Here we are, 130 years since Messrs Otto, Benz and Maybach got together and sort-of-perfected the four-stroke, and the contraption's still got life in it. In the hands of BMW, it's improving at an ever-accelerating pace.

This new direct-petrol-injection twin-turbo is just astonishing. Imagine the high-rev brilliance of your usual BMW straight-six. Add to that the low-rev torque of the best diesel engines - only with far, far better refinement. It's even economical... if you can bear to drive it gently.

Actually this is such an athlete of an engine - and it's mounted in a car that handles big speeds with such effortlessness and grace - that I reckon your friend in his M3 is going to have to pedal pretty hard to stay ahead of you. Which means that to keep the required headroom above the 335i, the next M3 (V8 engine and all) is going to have to be pretty darned swift.

Of course, the 3-Series Coupe isn't always about keeping up with anyone on the road. It's about keeping up appearances. To that end, this brand new, two-door version of the E90 3-Series is actually more different from the four-door than ever before.

The roof is pressed down, the tail's longer, and both front and rear ends are lower. The saloon's gawky five-sided rear lights have given way to a wraparound horizontal set. BMW says the whole thing looks squatter, wider and sleeker, and in itself that's undeniable.

But something else strikes me. BMW's design language has been toned down here, so as not to scare off any of the 3-Coupe's ultra-broad buyer pool. But toning down the more confrontational surfaces doesn't seem to have brought any special beauty. Instead it leans to the bland.

If you were shown the side profile (maybe with the characteristic 'Hofmeister kink' - the angled portion to the inside edge of each C-pillar - blacked out) and told it was a new Honda accord coupe, you'd not be so surprised.

But take it as a whole and it couldn't be anything else but a new 3-Coupe. Not with that nose and tail, and certainly not once you add a set of the enormo-wheels BMW buyers seem delighted to stump up so much extra for.

The 320i and 320d versions will doubtless roll as standard on diddy little sofa castors, for the sole reason that BMW can grab the profit opportunity of purveying upgrades. The 335i is better off, as it gets 17s as standard. Yet even 18s manage not to look quite big enough, so 19s might be de rigueur.

A coupe mustn't just look different, it ought to feel different from a saloon. sitting in it, the 3-Coupe obliges. The dash is basically as per the saloon, but the lower screen line and more inclined driving position feel just a little bit racier. It's OK for grown-ups in the back, though no one would want to be climbing in and out too often unless they were in training for a pot-holing weekend.

Does it feel different from a saloon to drive? Not terribly. Certainly not if you optioned the saloon with the same hopped-up powertrain, suspension and tyre packages that the Coupe has. And you can: from this autumn, all the Coupe's engine range will be available on any other 3-Series body.

At first meeting, the 335i engine doesn't exactly run up and greet you in a big friendly hug. Press the start button and it idles a little gruffly. But get a few revs on and the thing really does become your friend.

The peak torque arrives at 1,300rpm, and stays on the same high plateau until 5,000. OK, if you go looking for it there's some turbo lag at the very lowest revs, but beyond 2,000 it picks up and runs like a giant V8.

Engines with such a wide working range are very rare. The only one that comes to mind is VW's new twin-charger 1.4. Sure there are diesels that go this low, but can they sing to 7,000rpm? Don't be daft. And the higher the revs go, the more it sounds like what it is, a BM straight-six petrol engine, which is good news indeed.

So there's an ocean of easy, stealthy performance. In absolute flat-out acceleration, it isn't actually far ahead of the non-turbo 330i (272bhp vs 306), but it's easier to make swift progress along give-and-take roads, and to overtake, because the urge is so accessible.

This easygoing nature means you don't have to be too pernickety with your gearshift timing. Just as well actually, as there's some shunt in the driveline, and the six-speed manual transmission is on the clunky side. BMW used to be good at this.

Still, the alternative is a six-speed auto and it's really good. I say this as someone who normally detests autos. But this one changes fast, almost always locks up its torque converter (so it feels like a manual) and answers immediately to the lovely, aluminium steering-wheel paddles.

On the go, you could easily imagine it was a DSG. But wafting through towns, it's smoother than a DSG. Best of all worlds? Pretty much.

I drove with and without the £925 active steering and preferred it without. Self-centring in straight running is more natural when the fancy gadget is absent, and so is the initial feel into corners. But either way it's a really fluent and obedient car.

It never does anything unexpected. In streaming wet corners, it keeps superb balance, and you can press a DTC button that calls up a slightly looser traction-control setting, so you can push harder before the electronics intervene, but still be saved from yourself.

In the dry you get heaps of grip, though the huge torque makes it easy to spin the inside rear wheel coming out of tight bends. Habitual drifters would want a limited-slip diff, but it's unavailable. Oh, and does the ride have to be so hard?

And now the science bit. The engine is actually a three-litre (so why not call it 330Ti?). It's not just the turbos that make it special but direct injection. This allows enough control that they can use good boost at low revs and get clean emissions and low consumption. There are two turbos, each of them feeding three cylinders. That makes them small and quick to spin up, cutting lag time.

The lovely cornering balance is the reason why the twin-turbo six is such a good idea. The engineers say it mostly performs like a four-litre V8. It does. But it's a lot lighter than a V8. And not just because the engine itself is lighter than a big V8.

To get the same low-down torque as the turbo six, a V8 would develop higher peak torque. That would mandate a bigger gearbox and stronger driveshafts. you'd need a bigger battery. That would add enough weight that you'd be talking about bigger, heavier brakes. One engineer told me that might mean 200kg in all, which could turn the 3-Series into a right old barge.

The 3-Coupe will soon come with seven engines. Count 'em: 320i, 325i, 330i, 335i, 320d, 330d and 335d.Yyes, the mighty 286bhp twin-turbo diesel is coming down to the 3-Series from the 5. Should kick up some dust. All will also be available in saloons and Tourings from late this year.

And a car with the Coupe's silhouette will eventually get yet another engine. This is the next M3, with a 400bhp V8. To offset the weight of the V8, it'll have lightweight panels, even probably a carbon-fibre roof.

And they're just in the process of deciding whether it'll get the M5's seven-speed SMG transmission or a manual, or even a dual-clutch device that's still under development. Sounds like a pretty committed car, from the committed people of BMW M.

The final 3-Series bodystyle will be the next Cabrio. This one has a folding hardtop roof, the first one of those BMW has done. I asked Wilhelm Becker, the man responsible for development of the whole 3 range (and the Z4 and X3 and 1-Series, busy bloke) why it is, when everyone else says a Coupe-Cabrio is two cars in one, that he is going to launch both a Coupe and a CC.

He said the Coupe is for people who want a proper lightweight sporty car, and the CC is much heavier. The CC will be positioned as convertible that you can use all year round. A refreshingly honest answer.

But actually the Coupe itself is a mere 10kg lighter than the saloon, even though it does have plastic front wings to keep the nose weight down. Becker promised me the next all-new 3-Series saloon, due in 2012, will be lighter than the current model. If he achieves that he'll be a hero - this feat has so far only been achieved by specialist cars like the Audi TT and Jag XK.

But for now we've got the 335i and it's an unimpeachably good car. At £33,420 there aren't any obvious rivals. To match the price, Mercedes has the CLK 280, but to match the power you'd need to pony up £47k for a CLK 500.

A new TT 3.2 isn't as fast, either. If you don't need the back seats, though, the new base-model Cayman would be a whole lot more fun to drive, if noisier on long journeys.

As usual, BMW's 3-Series is displaying amazing breadth. Most cars have an obvious sweet spot in the range. Usually that's somewhere near the bottom of the list, because if you pay too much you get more power than the chassis can handle (see Saab, Volvo) or too much tinsel for the fundamentally cheap interior (Fiats, Peugeots).

But the 3-Series manages to make some kind of sense as a stripped-out 130bhp base model, without this 306bhp job feeling out of its depth. To do that you need really sound fundamental engineering.

If anyone ever comes to you and says, "Hey, you're supposed to know about cars aren't you? What car should I buy for £x?" the answer is easy. £x can be any sum between £20,000 and £40,000, really. Your role in the conversation is to look thoughtful and say, "BMW 3-Series". Can't go wrong: it's simply a matter of determining which model.

The 3-Series is beautifully engineered and finished; some models are quick, some are economical and most are both; it handles like a dream; it looks just fine; and it holds onto its value.

Yet here's a thing. Here's the best-looking, fastest, most fun 3-Series of the lot. Sure to be the most widely admired and desired. But is it sexy? Absolutely not. There's something slightly haughty and offhand and reserved about this thing. Too perfect, too literal, too passionless. And sorry generalise, but I tend to ascribe the same qualities to its owners.

Does my view of those drivers inform my view of the car? Or is it the other way around? Probably a bit of both to be honest, but the result is BMW has bust a gut to build a brilliant 300bhp-plus two-door sporting coupe and I can't quite fall in love with it.

Car magazines are beginning to publish statistics from their in-depth tests of the new twin-turbo BMW 335i coupe. According to Automobile magazine, the four-seater can hit 60 mph in just 5.1 seconds — compared to the current M3's 4.8. Meanwhile, the quarter-mile sprint takes 13.6 seconds, according to the magazine — only slightly slower than the M3's 13.4 second run. 0-100 mph for the 335i takes 12.7 seconds, compared to 11.5 for the M3. Over in Germany, Auto Zeitung is reporting a 0-62 mph time of 5.3 seconds, 0-100 mph time of 11.9 seconds, and a 0-124 mph time of 18.7 seconds for the automatic version of the 335i. Overall, it seems the new six-speed auto performs almost identically to its manual counterpart. However, the 0-100 mph time appears to be significantly faster for the automatic version.

A new TT 3.2 isn't as fast, either. If you don't need the back seats, though, the new base-model Cayman would be a whole lot more fun to drive, if noisier on long journeys.

Test - M3 - 335i
0-60 - 4.8 - 5.1
0-100 - 11.5 - 12.7
0-110 - 14.5 - 15.6
0-120 - N/A - 18.6
0-140 - N/A - 28.2
1/4 mile - 13.4@105 - 13.6@104
peak g - 0.7 - 0.68
30-70 (6th) - 14.7 - 12.5
30-70 (3rd) - N/A - 6.5

70-0 - 162 - 150
Peak g - 1.12 - 1.12

Weight - 3480 - 3560
%F/R - 50.6/49.4 - 51.1/48.9
Redline - 8000 - 7000
Power - 333 - 300
Torque - 202 - 300

Tires 255/40 ZR-18 255/35 WR-18

We used a DynoJet chassis dyno, which measures an engine’s power output at a vehicle’s rear wheels. Because of frictional driveline losses, this number is always lower--generally by fifteen to twenty percent--than the quoted power output from the manufacturer, which is measured at the engine itself.

Here’s what we found:

The non-turbocharged 330i, rated by BMW at 255 hp and 220 lb-ft of torque, puts about 200 hp and 180 lb-ft to the rear wheels. That’s roughly a twenty-percent loss. Since they have similar drivelines, you’d expect the 335i to put down 235 hp and 250 lb-ft.



But it didn’t. It put down a whole lot more: 275 hp and 300 lb-ft. A few quick taps on our trusty calculator shows that this engine is likely putting out closer to 350 hp and 360 lb-ft of torque.
Technical editor Don Sherman’s ears perked up at all this number crunching. With all that power, he wondered, is the 335i faster than the outgoing 333-hp E46 M3? We waved goodbye to the shiny new coupe’s rear tires, and sent him to find out.

Don coaxed the 335i to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds--only 0.3 seconds slower than the M3. The 335i covered the quarter-mile in 13.6 seconds @ 104 mph--again, only 0.2 seconds and 1 mph behind the M3.



So in an all-out drag race, the 335i comes close, but can’t quite match the M3’s blistering acceleration. Those numbers, though, only tell half the story. Have a look at the top-gear acceleration figures. In sixth gear, the M3 needs 14.7 seconds to get from 30 to 70 mph – but the 335i does it in only 12.5.

That, my friends, is the beauty of this engine. At full bore, it’s as fast as an M3. But at moderate engine speeds, it’s even faster. What a great way to keep us all interested until the next M3 comes along.

Test - M3 - 335i
0-60 - 4.8 - 5.1
0-100 - 11.5 - 12.7
0-110 - 14.5 - 15.6
0-120 - N/A - 18.6
0-140 - N/A - 28.2
1/4 mile - 13.4@105 - 13.6@104
peak g - 0.7 - 0.68
30-70 (6th) - 14.7 - 12.5
30-70 (3rd) - N/A - 6.5

70-0 - 162 - 150
Peak g - 1.12 - 1.12

Weight - 3480 - 3560
%F/R - 50.6/49.4 - 51.1/48.9
Redline - 8000 - 7000
Power - 333 - 300
Torque - 202 - 300

Tires 255/40 ZR-18 255/35 WR-18