Happy Friday Welcome to this week’s edition of the Official DoubleClutch.ca News Rundown, where we recap the top automotive headlines from the week that was in one convenient package. Let’s go.
BMW drops a sneak peek of its M340i replacement
BMW is inching ever closer to revealing its gas-powered M340i successor, having dropped a sneak peek earlier this week.
BMW recently wrapped up its final round of "summer driving dynamics testing in Miramas," which seems like a thinly veiled excuse for BMW's engineers to take a summer vacation in France. Regardless of their true motive, BMW dropped a few new tidbits about the internal-combustion 3 Series variants destined to be revealed soon.
The first of the Neue Klasse 3 Series models, the i3, will eventually be joined by turbocharged four- and six-cylinder mild hybrid engines. The inline-six-powered variant — in other words, the successor to the M340i — will be known as the M350 xDrive. It's rated at 443 horsepower and 428 pound-feet of torque, a sizeable bump over the M340i and knocking on the door of the M3.
It also inconveniently nips on the heels of the M2 and its 473 horsepower, and 406 pound-feet of torque, but let's not dwell on that too much. BMW says the M350 xDrive knocks off the zero-to-100 km/h run in 4.1 seconds and will come standard with an adaptive suspension setup, the M Sport rear diff, and a new gadget called Drift Moment.
Drift Moment is essentially BMW's take on "drift modes" we've seen on a handful of other performance cars. In the M350 xDrive, it can send all of its power rearward for tail-wagging shenanigans. Oh, did we mention the M350 will be AWD-only?
Production of the 2027 i3 begins this fall, so we expect BMW to reveal the uncamouflaged M350 xDrive sooner rather than later.
Honda updates 2027 passport with new off-road bits
Honda is building up the Passport Trailsport's off-road cred with a few upgrades for 2027.
Leading the upgrades is a lift kit. Honda is cutting out the aftermarket middleman by raising the 2027 Passport Trailsport by 1.4 inches, bringing total ground clearance to 9.6 inches. To accomplish this, Honda reworked the control arms springs, dampers, sway bars, even the rear driveshafts and front subframe. That's much more full-arsed than half-arsed pucks or spacers.
Along with the extra ground clearance, Honda says the mild lift improves the Passport Trailsport's approach, breakover, and departure angles by 2-3 degrees across the board. Honda also points out they've "improved steering feel and response, so it's now even more enjoyable to drive every day." We'll see about that in due time.
Elsewhere, Honda's TrailWatch camera system and a heated steering wheel are now standard across the board, and if you look hard enough, you'll pick out a few new design details, like the amber clearance lights in the faux hood scoop and slightly chunkier fender flares.
Oh, and there's a new colour: Smoke Blue Pearl. It pairs well with the ivory interior pictured in Honda's materials, but ... white seats in an off-roader?!
Honda hasn't said when the 2027s will hit dealers, but confirms production will remain at its facility in Alabama.
Mercedes finally has a C 63 successor — sort of
Mercedes-AMG has unveiled the newest addition to its Mythos lineup, a series of ultra-low-production performance cars. Say hello to the Mercedes-AMG CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung. Yeah, We won't even try. It's simply "CLE 646" from here on out.
Only 30 examples of the CLE 646 will be built, all of which are already spoken for. Nevermind the truly wild styling that actually kind of works, or the extensive chassis and suspension upgrades to keep the shiny side up, the huge deal here is what's under the hood.
Mercedes-AMG's 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 lives under the hood, putting out a meaty 637 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque. It hits zero to 100 in 3.9 seconds, knocks out a quarter-mile run in 11.4 seconds at just under 200 km/h, and tops out at 310 km/h. It sings its song through an Akrapovic exhaust.
Other highlights include a special coilover suspension, carbon ceramic brakes, a 170-kilogram weight reduction, and more. And now we wait for the V8-powered CLE AMG. For real this time.