Photo: FR Bodystyling
We often want to say that the 3 Series is the only car you need, balanced, light and practical. But you guys will say we're on BMW's payroll, which unfortunately isn't true. Still, the 3er model that just got retired had one major flaw: the front bumper.
There's something wrong about it, something deliberately old-fashioned. The Luxury and Sport lines are totally boring while the M Sport has those horns at the bottom which are cool but look nothing like the M3.
All the other BMW models of that era are fine except for the 1 Series which also has a choice between boring or horned bumpers. One decent example of design is the 2 Series Coupe, based on roughly the same architecture and technology, but styled with bigger lower intakes.
Many people buy replicas of the M3's bumper for their 330i, but totally by accident, we stumbled upon something even more interesting. It's an M2 bumper for the 3 Series sedan and wagon. Of course, it's not a real M2 bumper, but we think it's made by taking the actual design of the M car and wrapping it around the grille and headlights of the 3er. Thankfully, the widths of the cars are about the same.
The M2 has an almost unique look where instead it's fitted with these aero wing-like elements instead of the pointlessly large grille. It helps that the rest of the car is super wide and sportscar-like, but that's one heck of a cool bumper.
We found two companies selling this component. FR Bodystyling has the bumper listed for just €384 in Europe, which honestly sounds too good to be true. On the other hand, Colorado N5X has it selling for $1,875, not even including the mesh grilles. Then again, the fact that they've got shots of multiple cars fitted with their package makes it more trustworthy. So which would you have, the cheap version or the one that's overpriced but possibly better made?
All the other BMW models of that era are fine except for the 1 Series which also has a choice between boring or horned bumpers. One decent example of design is the 2 Series Coupe, based on roughly the same architecture and technology, but styled with bigger lower intakes.
Many people buy replicas of the M3's bumper for their 330i, but totally by accident, we stumbled upon something even more interesting. It's an M2 bumper for the 3 Series sedan and wagon. Of course, it's not a real M2 bumper, but we think it's made by taking the actual design of the M car and wrapping it around the grille and headlights of the 3er. Thankfully, the widths of the cars are about the same.
The M2 has an almost unique look where instead it's fitted with these aero wing-like elements instead of the pointlessly large grille. It helps that the rest of the car is super wide and sportscar-like, but that's one heck of a cool bumper.
We found two companies selling this component. FR Bodystyling has the bumper listed for just €384 in Europe, which honestly sounds too good to be true. On the other hand, Colorado N5X has it selling for $1,875, not even including the mesh grilles. Then again, the fact that they've got shots of multiple cars fitted with their package makes it more trustworthy. So which would you have, the cheap version or the one that's overpriced but possibly better made?
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