New BMW M350 Confirmed With 437-HP Straight-Six And A 'Drift Moment' Function

We know the next-generation BMW M3 will come as a 1,000-horsepower electric sedan alongside a gas version, but BMW is now teasing the M Performance 3 Series that'll presumably be a lot more attainable. Seen in official BMW photography going through its final tests in France is the new M350, the successor to the current M340i.

It's still camouflaged, but the M350 will obviously rock the Neue Klasse design we've already seen in the normie-electric i3, though the gas-powered 3 Series will have more traditional rear-drive proportions. The beloved B58 turbocharged 3.0-liter straight-six with a 48-volt mild-hybrid system stays, and now it makes 437 horsepower, a big jump from the current car's 386 hp. (That's 26 hp down from the dual-motor i3, though.) 0 to 62 mph will take just 4.1 seconds, which is... not massively quicker than the M340i, actually, which takes 4.1 seconds to get from 0 to 60 mph. At any rate, this will be the most powerful non-M3 of the 3 Series range, and the only one to use a straight-six engine.

The company says the new M350 gets an "almost perfectly balanced" weight distribution, a longer wheelbase and wider tracks than the old car, adaptive M suspension as standard, upgraded brakes, a tweaked steering ratio for finer control, and better torsional and vertical stiffness. An 8-speed automatic transmission funnels up to 428 lb-ft of torque to an M Sport differential, and top speed stands at a very German 155 mph.

BMW

It'll use xDrive all-wheel drive and get what BMW calls "Drift Moment" (read: drift mode) that'll effectively make the car rear-wheel drive at the press of a button, a feature previously reserved for full-on M cars. Drift Moment doesn't sound like it'll be available on the car at launch, though, because at three different points in BMW's press release, it says the feature will "be made available during the course of 2027," and already-delivered cars will get it in OTA update.

BMW also confirmed a lower-spec 3 Series powered by a four-cylinder gas engine for those looking for a compact Bimmer sedan to use as a simple, relatively tame commuter luxury car. The 2027 BMW M350 xDrive will enter production later this year.