Alistair Cooke would have called it
a quintessentially American success story: Two foreigners land on our
shores from nations once defeated and destitute to seek fortunes in the
land of their conqueror. Lofted to unimaginable heights by the updraft
of postwar prosperity, they become business empires unto themselves.
How
much should we read into the common narratives of Honda and BMW? Both
are smaller firms relative to the giants of the industry, yet they have
remained steadfastly independent as others have buddied up into global
conglomerates. Both companies have an inordinately strong sense of
identity, rooted in engineering and nurtured at some point in their
histories by a single patron or family. Both make motorcycles. And after
nearly four decades of continuous success in America, the BMW 3-series
and the Honda Accord are themselves automotive dynasties.
The
Honda Accord is perfectly named, the result of a timely accord between
Japan’s burgeoning industrial might and America’s rapidly changing
post-OPEC market. The first Accord in 1976 was a huge stride from the
series of mostly obscure subcompacts that preceded it. Building on the
Civic CVCC, the Accord was a polished and precision Japanese instrument
in the mold of a contemporary Sony tape recorder or a Nikon camera, and
it threw Detroit’s complacency into glaringly sharp relief.
Even
so, the Accord is America’s Honda. We own it, and it is ours. It was
the first Japanese car to be assembled here—indeed, in the middle of
America, in Rust-Belt Ohio—and it grew and morphed with the needs of its
prime constituency, the baby-boom generation. It even contributed to an
American-style scandal in the 1980s when the demand for Hondas far
outstripped the supply and the company’s U.S. sales managers skimmed
millions in bribes and kickbacks from dealers desperate for stock.
On
the showroom floor, the Accord displayed engineering elegance that
anybody could appreciate, from the perfectly placed cabin controls and
the painstakingly efficient packaging to the meticulously routed hoses
and cables under the hood. In motion, an Accord was light, thrifty, fun,
practical, and incredibly durable. Honda sealed its reputation with the
Accord, and the car has consistently adhered to its core values through
nine generations.
There
isn’t a bad apple in the bushel, but the 1994–1997 fifth-gen is a
particularly warm memory. The sheetmetal was wrapped tightly, the
hoodline sloping down to two illuminated slits for headlights. It was
the first Accord with a V-6 and the first with panache as well as
purpose. It drove like it, immediately rendering all other cars in its
class contenders for second place. Since then, the Accord has grown and
matured—undoubtedly too much in the just-retired eighth generation. But
the redesigned 2013 Accord returned to form as a slightly smaller but
still unapologetically practical vehicle with acres of glass for
visibility, a capacious cabin, and that same spry lightness to its
controls and movements. Once again, the Accord became the standard by
which the largest and most competitive class of passenger cars is
judged.
As
with Honda, BMW is, at heart, a small-car company—an ingrained
idiosyncrasy that is perhaps the reason it nearly collapsed in the 1950s
when it tried to produce a series of expensive, handmade sedans and
coupes. The ensuing boardroom turmoil and threat of takeover by
Daimler-Benz is what allowed Herbert Quandt and his brother Harald to
wrest control of the company in 1959 and steer BMW toward its destiny as
the purveyor of small and boxy ultimate driving machines. It’s the
reason that the 3-series has always been better than the 5 and the 7.
From
the start, the 1977 BMW E21 3er and its successors have been built the
way common-sense enthusiasts would build their cars. The axle loads are
nearly equal on a trim and tidy rear-drive platform with exactly enough
room to serve practical needs. No inches or pounds are wasted, and
nothing but an inline engine will do. Even as others have yielded to the
temptations of a V-6 or front-drive, with their inherent packaging
benefits, BMW has stuck to its formula.
As
each new 3-series debuted, from E30 to E36, and E46 to E90, there was
never a question of whether there would be a manual transmission
offered, never a doubt that a sport package or an M version would cure
whatever plushness BMW had conceded for wider market acceptance.
Unquestionably, BMW benefited from the floundering of its competitors;
Mercedes-Benz answered with a dynamic also-ran, and then its quality
went into a decade-long spiral before climbing back out, and it took
Audi 20 years to recover from unintended acceleration. The Japanese and
American brands were off the radar.
Even
people whose car passions flow elsewhere have a favorite 3-series
generation, but we couldn’t develop a consensus in the office. Was it
the elemental E30; the fully flowered, do-it-all E90; or one in between?
At one time the 3-series was half of BMW’s volume in the U.S., but the
best-selling luxury brand in America has lately borne a lot of kittens,
and the lineup is diluted. Even at around 37 percent of BMW’s U.S. sales
for the first nine months of 2013, the 3 remains both a profit fountain
for BMW as well as the ideological center of its brand.
Today,
the 3 wears a bull’s-eye on its back as every luxury maker now takes
aim at the fat, lower end of the luxury-car segment, which is the
$35,000–$45,000 (or $399–$499/month) compact sports sedan. The current
F30, which in its initial 320i, 328i, and 335i form, or 428i/435i as per
the coupe’s new designation, is softer than ever and suffers from
imperfect electrified steering.
But
it still bears the burdens of its leadership with understated, everyday
excellence. Anchoring to the road with a balletic balance and a
satisfying exactness to its controls, the 3 also delivers the premium
experience—of powertrain isolation, switch feel, and ride
quality—expected of its premium price.
In
some ways, the 3-series feels like an expensive Accord, which feels
like an economy 3-series. Which is exactly what has ensured both such
long tenures on our 10Best list.