2006 BMW 330i vs. 2006 Lexus IS 350 vs. 2006 Mercedes-Benz C35

Wildfire. For one to occur requires three basic ingredients: fuel, heat, and oxygen. Minus one of those elements, there is no combustion, no phenomenon manifested as the alluring and dangerous flame. For a wildfire to be, well, wild and spread like a U2 bootleg in a college dorm depends on three weather components: temperature, wind, and moisture. Sensing a theme here? Thought so. Wildfire and the number three are like Tommy Lee and Pam Anderson--their need for each other compulsive, their behavior destructive.

In the automotive landscape, there's no segment as inflammable as that of the compact, luxury sport sedan. It's a sector that heats up quickly, often, and intensely. BMW invented the segment with the 2002 in the late 1960s and for nearly 30 years has been dominating with the 2002's successor, the 3 Series, a car that symbolizes balance, poise, and power. Think of the term sport sedan, and the brain sculpts Bavarian sheetmetal with a blue-and-white roundel. For as long as the 3 Series has been setting and raising the bar, automakers from around the globe have been trying to hit it over the head with a bar--for the most part unsuccessfully.

Case in point: our September 2005 comparison test, in which we pitted the all-new fifth-generation 3 Series--codename E90--against two of its most legitimate rivals, the Audi A4 and the Infiniti G35. For that test, we equipped the cars as most Americans do--with latte-friendly automatics. The enthusiast-cum-commuter test, if you will. Undeterred by its computer-controlled tranny, the 330i outgunned its foes, proving that the absence of a manual doesn't spoil the wonderful essence of a small BMW.

So when it came time to assemble a Round Two comparison test with the 3's newest and hottest competitors--the all-new Lexus IS 350 and the beefed-up Mercedes-Benz C350--we decided this go 'round to equip each car with a manual transmission (well, as "manual" as possible) and let them scorch the twisty roads that scribble the mountains in Sage Ranch Park in Southern California's Simi Hills. To fully appreciate and evaluate the vehicles, we added some zigzagging through L.A.'s freeways and city streets and, for some high-speed, rollercoaster action, a run through the meandering Angeles Crest Highway in the San Gabriel Mountains. The timing of our test put us in Sage Ranch just days after a raging wildfire turned the countryside into nature's ashtray. Was this a sign? We set out for SRP, a bit wary and a bunch excited. The BMW 3 in a three-car shootout with a duo of 350s. The roads open. The temperature hot. The air dry. Fuel aplenty. Combustion was inevitable.