Thursday 10 September 2026 2:23 pm
BMW goes into Fast & Furious mode with the new M350
BMW’s replaced the M340i with something more mischievous, the M350 xDrive, a 437bhp straight-six that can turn itself into a full rear-wheel-drive drift car at the touch of a button.Most performance cars try to convince you they’re fast. BMW’s new 3 Series M350 xDrive is trying to convince you it’s fun, and it’s doing that with a party trick most manufacturers wouldn’t dare put on a family saloon: a button that turns a perfectly sensible four-wheel-drive car into a rear-wheel-drive drift machine.That function is called Drift Moment, and it sends the engine’s entire 437bhp to the rear wheels alone. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect on a track-day special, not the 3 Series your neighbour might be driving to the office. Once you get past the theatre of it, though, there’s a genuinely serious car underneath, with 50bhp more than the old M340i and a straight-six engine that’s becoming something of a rarity even at BMW.There is a catch for anyone already planning a trip to a wet industrial estate. The drift function will not be available when the car launches. BMW says it will arrive through a remote software update during 2027.
