Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel estimates are out for BMW's new line of 3-Series cars and it looks like they've caught the competition with their pants down.
The 2012 328i scores an impressive 24 mpg city and 36 mpg highway, that's a 28 percent improvement in fuel consumption over last year's model. What's even better is that the 328i actually gets more power than the model it replaced for a total of 240 horsepower compared to last year's 230. The 300-horsepower 335i doesn't get a boost in oomph but as you may expect, is less thirsty in 2012. In fact, the automatic-equipped version is downright efficient, bragging 23 mpg city and 33 highway.
Though it might seem like it, these jumps don't happen overnight, or by some magic gasoline fairy waving a wand. BMW achieved such impressive improvements in the 328i through cleverly engineered turbocharging and by lobbing a whole liter off of last year's engine. That's right, there's a 2.0-liter inline four where there used to be a 3.0-liter six cylinder.
More:
2012 BMW 3 Series Gets 36 MPG Highway Rating on Autoguide.com
Linear Mode
