“There are no plans to offer our 300hp twin-turbo I-6 engine in the 3 Series Sport Wagon for the USA.”

That’s according to a recent email from BMWNA to TTAC’s own contributer, Jonny Lieberman. Same thing is being said at Bimmerfile which is usually 99.9% correct.

Observe and contrast.

Irony, thy name is Bangle.

Chris Bangle’s love affair with french curves somehow reminds me of Frank Gehry’s architecture. Except that I generally like Gehry’s architecture.

German sports cars have traditionally been rolling temples to Apollo in their engineering, aesthetics and sensibility, as contrasted to the Dionysian cults of Italian design houses. (Why did Captain Slow have to put money in the jar every time he used the word “passion” to describe an Alfa Romeo?)

In the tension between the cerebral and the visceral, the Germans (even the somewhat more fun-loving Bavarians) have typically chosen the former.

The less-than subtle design cues of recent German supercars have challenged this tradidion, such as the not-so-subtly muscular graphics on various Mercedes-Benz and Audi models. Chris Bangle has taken the entire BMW line-up down this speculative path, with ‘flame sculpting’ and organic-looking contours.

If this photo is a glimpse into BMW’s future, it would appear that they (or Bangle) are pulling back a bit. No complaints here; I kind of preferred the previous design language.

I’m more concerned about the lack of cargo space in the E90 wagon overall…it’s at the bottom of its class. Not that you buy something like this for full-time cargo hauling, but it does make the Audi A4 look downright spacious.

Aww crap….no 335d wagon? BMW, you suck. (Thanks for the wagon though!)

Looks great, no doubt about it. Looks even better with a hitch on the back!

Yeah, the 335d would be great, but I guess that’d push the price closer to $40k with an automatic, that might restrict sales a bit much.

And “compact” isn’t exactly a good word for this thing – it’s very nearly the same size as the 5 series wagon. The 5 is 12″ longer overall than the 3, not so much difference in what you can fit between the two. Consider that the hood is longer, an inch or two is used up by front and rear passengers, and you maybe have 4″ more cargo space.

Until then, the 3 series remains a high priced trinket.

Woo-hoo! At least now I can stop wishing and get on with not actually buying one. Because I can’t afford nearly $50k for a compact wagon.

That little bit of chrome on the hood always brought to my mind the image of an alcoholic 50-something woman whose lack of coordination resulted in lipstick going way above her lip. Nor really the image you want for a “sport sedan”, eh?