2010 BMW 328i Sports Wagon - Car and Driver (blog)
BMW’s own 5-series wagon is a perfect case study. Sold only in 535i xDrive guise here, BMW says just 878 examples—a mere two percent of all 5-series sales—found American owners last year, which wasn’t enough to justify bringing its all-new replacement to our shores. In its place, we get the frumpy not-quite-an-SUV 5-series GT , which, BMW is quick to point out, had already bested last year’s 5-series wagon sales after only three months on the market. Judging by its 2009 sales, the 3-series wagon likely will suffer the same fate. BMW sold 1430 3-series Sport Wagons last year (546 of them were rear-drive 328i models and 884 were all-wheel-drive 328i xDrives), accounting for— bing. When the 3-series is redesigned for 2012, we expect that the forthcoming 3-series GT, similar in concept to the 5-series GT, will kill the slow-selling wagon stateside. Powering every U. S. -bound 3-series wagon is BMW’s 3. 0-liter inline six-cylinder engine that makes 230 hp. Engine-whipping is done by a six-speed manual or an optional six-speed automatic. Our rear-drive 328i Sport Wagon tester came equipped with the automatic ($1375), which isn’t as involving as a manual but offers manual gear selection via the shifter. Source: www.caranddriver.com
