BMW 3 Series
BMW 3 SERIES
The 3 Series is a car manufactured by the German automaker BMW. It is known as BMW’s best-selling model, accounting for approximately 30% of BMW annual total sales, and has won numerous awards such as the Car and Driver magazine’s annual Ten Best list, which it has been on 22 times, making it the longest-running entry in their list. Furthermore, Grassroots Motorsports names the 3 Series as the second-most important performance car built during the past 25 years. Of course, due to its popularity and performance, the 3 series has had 7 generations of this model spanning from 1975 to present. This feature will focus on the fourth generation (1997) up to the current generation.
FOURTH GENERATION BMW 3 SERIES (E46: 1997 ~ 2006)
The fourth-generation BMW 3 Series Is the best-selling BMW of all time. The 3 Series used the size D2S for the HID headlights and the halogen headlights used H7 for low beam, H7 for high beam, and 9006 (HB4) for the fog lights. H7 is one of the popular sizes that many of our customers with the halogen headlights purchase Osram Night Breaker Laser H7 for its greater hotspot that gives “brighter” light output than the standard halogen bulbs. For D2S bulb choices, it is a split in between Philips X-treme Vision D2S and Osram Cool Blue Advance D2S HID xenon bulb. If you're into the whitest possible color, Osram CBA has the highest kelvin rating. Philips X-treme Vision, however, would have a greater hotspot, thus brighter light output.
FIFTH GENERATION BMW 3 SERIES (E90, E91, E92, E93: 2005 ~ 2013)
By the end of the fourth generation, the BMW 3 Series had already received a facelift, with a redesigned front and brand-new taillights. The fifth-generation 3 Series changed from the size D2s to D1S for Hid xenon headlight models. For halogen headlight models, the size stayed the same for the high and low beam with H7, but the fog light changed the size to H11.
SIXTH GENERATION BMW 3 SERIES (F30, F31, F34: 2011 Onwards)
The sixth-generation 3 Series introduces a brand-new chassis which overall enlarged the profile of the car, allowing for more interior room and comfort. The 3 Series halogen headlight assembly models still used H7 for both the high and low beam. H8 was used for the Fog lights. In the HID xenon headlight model, D1S was continued to be used. For the customers who wanted to convert the halogen to LED, perhaps to mimic the current factory-installed LED headlights, a simple Plug-N-Play LED headlights like DAMA Kanji FOUCS Vision H7 is very popular. One side note is that most European vehicles have a complicated onboard system, and we do recommend installing the LED decoder along with the unit.
SEVENTH GENERATION 3 SERIES (G20, G21: 2018 ~ Present)
The seventh generation of BMW’s most popular vehicle was unveiled with a new 3 Series Saloon at the Paris Motor Show. The new BMW is bigger and has a different design than the previous BMW 3 Series. Since the introduction of LED headlights in the commercial market, the seventh generation BMW 3 Series has started to implement factory-installed LED headlights. However, they still have halogen headlight models that continued to use the size H7 (Low Beam) in the BMW 3 Series.