The Drive Report: 2023 BMW M340i

This car has no business being this much fun. A car that costs half as much as a bona fide BMW M4 Competition but is twice as practical and almost as much fun, is simply too good to be true.

It’s like the BMW M340i has fallen through the cracks of convention, in blasphemous defiance of overpriced supercars.

With the bog-standard 3-Series having been replaced by the more grown-up long-wheel base version, the BMW M340i is effectively the only non-M Bimmer to deliver on the driving thrills intrinsic to the brand. But it’s so tantalisingly close to the actual M4 in terms of driving dynamics that lines begin to blur. Let me explain.

A car that costs half as much as a bona fide BMW M4 Competition but is twice as practical and almost as much fun, is simply too good to be true.

Every now and then, a superlatively powerful front-engined machine finds its way to my driveway, for testing purposes. In the city of Mumbai, driving it is a painful exercise in caution. The engine bay gets hot, the ground clearance is almost always low enough to provoke wincing while going over speed bumps and suspension often loosens a dental filling or two. And then comes a car like the M340i, serving as an antidote in the age of driving appliances by being exceptionally wholesome, comfortable and stupidly quick.

The straight-six powered M340i entered the BMW India stable back in 2021 to unanimous acclaim. It was India-assembled and this allowed BMW to price it a tad more reasonably, and so was sold out within a day of the launch. It has now returned with sharper looks, M-badged embellishments and contemporary tech that aims to build upon perfection. Not an easy task.

First, there’s the way it looks. Gone is the chrome bordered grille, and instead you get a stealthy, sporty black kidney-grille that, for a change, isn’t out to swallow little children. By modern BMW design standards, it’s actually quite a restrained design. The honeycomb pattern on the grilles is larger, more pronounced and the air dam on the front bumper is now larger and much sharper in profile. But it’s the L-shaped DRLs on the redesigned headlamps that do all the talking. Even bystanders were able to easily decipher the fact that this was no ordinary 3-Series and all the M-bellishments are to be credited.

The brake callipers now carry the trademark blue shade of BMW’s in-house performance division, with the ‘M’ logo boldly emblazoned on each calliper and the new 19-inch, star-shaped, eight-spoke alloys giving it plenty of room to shine.

The alloys also sport floating hub caps. So the logo stays aligned with the surface of the road. It’s not something that adds to the visual drama, but it’s a neat little trick found in much more expensive cars. At the back, you get a blacked-out diffuser flanked by twin exhausts belting out the most sonorous straight-six soundtrack, but more on that later.

The Engine

It’s always a delight to return to this 3.0-litre straight-six turbo-petrol -- even when it has been de-tuned to put out 374 hp, instead of 384 hp. There is a 48V integrated starter generator, which further reduces any potential turbo lag. If there is a drop in power, you’re not at all likely to notice it. The M340i, with its hyper-quick 8-speed automatic gearbox, continues to accelerate to 100kph in the same claimed 4.4 seconds with launch control initiated. But it’s the ever-ready nature of its press-and-go acceleration that leaves your jaw on the floor.

Considering its price point and the fact that it’s a single-turbo engine, the M340i smashes it out of the park every time you accelerate.

Considering its price point and the fact that it’s a single-turbo engine, the M340i smashes it out of the park every time you accelerate. There’s a clear surge of power that’s more in line with your synapses, as far as city driving is concerned and that’s where its appeal lies. Yes, you run out of road long before you can max out revs at 7000 rpm, but the M340i makes an art form out of delivering intermittent thrills in the city, and, on the highway, which more powerful cars simply cannot do, because they’re simply bursting at the seams with horsepower.

Switch to the ‘Sport’ mode and the car is truly in its element, with the exhaust note turning more aggressive, crackling and popping on the overrun. It’s not the most efficient way to get around town, but it certainly is the most satisfying. The straight-six is so palpably smooth, you soak in the car’s ascent to triple digits with glee. Suddenly, I find myself wanting V6s a lot less. Unlike the blunt force, imperceptibly quick acceleration of high-powered EVs, this is a sensation that you look forward to, time after time. It’s not a novelty that fades quickly. The M340i feels nimble and agile, thanks to its stiffer suspension. Despite this, the ride remains sufficiently cushy, offering enough vertical travel to make it pleasant on Indian roads. Of course, it’s not standard 3-Series supple, but it’s incredibly balanced, despite the run flat tyres and 19-inch alloys. The ride quality feels like it has been tuned for Indian roads. And unless you encounter truly large boulders, its ground clearance is good enough to clear most speed bumps.

Inside the M340i

Alcantara and carbon fibre, although absent on the leather-wrapped steering wheel, find adequate representation across the cabin. The same horizontal, curved, single panel dual-screen setup that informs the interiors of all modern BMWs now finds its way to the updated M340i. It’s a clean design that doesn’t overwhelm or distract, although the absence of actual rotary knobs to control the temperature is keenly felt.

Still, the UI is as intuitive and responsive as before and even features in-built navigation. But it connects to Apple CarPlay/Android Auto so quickly, you’re hardly likely to use it. The only niggle here is that there’s no 360 degree camera display, and the instrument cluster doesn’t feel customisable. Even when you switch to ‘Sport’, it doesn’t centralise the speed gauge as you’d expect.

What also feels conspicuously absent is a gear lever, which has been replaced by a switch. The hand, trained by years of muscle memory instantly reaches for what was a finely crafted, ergonomic lever and slotting the switch down to ‘Drive’ takes some getting used to. The seats, on the other hand, are firmer and more sharply contoured, with electronically adjustable side bolstering to keep you in place during hard cornering.

Verdict

At Rs 71.50 lakh (ex-showroom), this is, by no means, a cheap car. But the M340i’s ability to deliver on thrills far exceeds its asking price. In that regard, it is truly peerless since no high-powered alternative in the market matches its price-to-performance ratio. This is a car that’s truly more than the sum of its parts. Its practicality (420 litres boot), versatility and its ability to shift character and turn into a bona fide sports car in a fraction of a second makes it the ultimate bargain sports car.