2020 BMW M340i Emerges Just Shy Of A Full-On M3
With the release of the new seventh-generation 3 Series, performance enthusiasts the world over have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of a new M3. And we’ll have to wait a little longer. But this ought to fill the void in the meantime. It’s the new M340i, and it’s the most powerful non-M 3 Series that BMW has ever made. It’s set to debut at the LA Auto Show later this month, but the Bavarian automaker has spilled the beans ahead of time to give us more than just a faint idea of what to expect. At its heart sits a 3.0-liter straight six with a single twin-scroll turbocharger that helps it kick out 382 horsepower (275 kW) and 369 lb-ft (500 Nm) of torque. That’s more power than all but the two most recent iterations of the M3, and more torque than all but the outgoing model. Full performance specs are still to be released, but BMW says the new M340i xDrive will be capable of rocketing from a standstill to 60 mph (96.5 km/h) in just 4.2 seconds. As is typical of German automo...