How Well Does The BMW 1 Series M Handle?

In my driving instructor days, we usually ran an exercise teaching clients the basics of threshold braking (this was, after all, in the days before anti-lock brakes). I’d set up a braking chute, marked by cones spaced seven feet apart; that’s narrower than a standard traffic lane, but still significantly wider than most cars. What did I learn? At sixty miles per hour, even experienced drivers had a hard time judging the width of the braking chute, resulting in cones launch deep into the rattlesnake-infested infield. Good times, good times. Read more

Gone In Less Than 52 Weeks: BMW’s 1 Series M

When then-head of BMW’s M Division, Dr. Kay Segler, showed the 2011 BMW 1 Series M at this year’s North American International Auto Show, he referred to it as their “offer(ing) for the young enthusiast, which we need to cater for, because they would love to have something for which they can afford.” That’s a great sentiment, but the starting price for the 1 Series M was $47,010, before you began adding accessories. I haven’t seen many BMW’s on dealer lots that aren’t optioned to the hilt, and a well equipped 1 Series M can easily sticker over $52,000.I don’t know many “young enthusiasts” who would find a $50,000 car “affordable”, or even within reach once you factor the realities of rent (or mortgage) payments, student loan payments and the cost of food other than ramen and peanut butter. Read more

Video: BMW’s New M5 Gets A Workout

We were supposed to see the 2012 BMW M5 in dealer showrooms this spring, but BMW isn’t done tuning their uber-sedan just yet. That’s fine with us, since BMW has a long history of sweating the details on their M cars, so we don’t mind waiting patiently for the new M5 to hit dealer showrooms by year end. When it does, we know it’ll lose the last generation’s V-10 engine in favor of a twin-turbo V-8, similar to the one used in the X5 M and X6 M. In the M5, you can expect a higher state of tune, and BMW Blog reports that the car will be rated at 578 horsepower and 530 foot-pounds of torque. It’s too early to know exactly what the performance specs will be, but BMW Blog speculates the 0 to 60 run will happen in just 4.4 seconds. Watch the pre-production M5 being put through the paces at BMW’s Miramas, France, test track in the video below. Read more

BMW Reminds You That The 5 Series Is Fuel Efficient

OK, kids, you definitely don’t want to try this stunt at home. Imagine tooling down a desert highway with a tanker aircraft just a few feet over your head; one gust of wind, one wrong control input and it’s over, Johnny. Think “smoking crater in the desert floor” and you get the picture. Sure, I know this was done via CGI, but the very thought of attempting this stunt still makes me pucker. It does make for a cool video, though, so enjoy BMW’s efforts to tell you that the new 5 Series gets up to 32 miles per gallon below. Read more

BMW’s New 6 Series Coupe: The King of GT Returns From Exile

BMW is trying hard to convince us that their new 650i Coupe is a sports car, but I’m not buying it. In fairness, I haven’t been handed the keys to one yet, so I can’t comment on how it drives, but I do know it’s even larger than the outgoing model. The 2010 BMW 6 Series weighed in at 3,814 pounds, and the new car is said to be some 3 inches longer and 1.5 inches wider. Barring the use of ridiculously expensive materials, the new car certainly won’t be lighter and with a longer wheel base I doubt it’ll be as precise as the car it replaces. Let’s drop the whole sports car label right now and call it for what it is: one of the best Grand Touring cars in the world. Read more

G-Power’ Hurricane RS Touring: World’s Fastest Wagon?

Take one BMW M5 Touring, the station wagon variant of the BMW M5 that we can’t even get in the States, drop it off at G-Power in Aresing, Germany and leave behind a bag full of cash. Wait a few weeks for a phone call, and if you’re one of the lucky 1,025 customers first in the door, you’ll end up with what’s likely to be the world’s fastest station wagon. How fast is it? Try zero to sixty in under 4.5 seconds and a top speed (electronically limited) of over 223 miles per hour. Still not impressed? The two ton wagon will hit 124 miles per hour in under ten seconds, or about the same time it takes most wagons to hit 60. Nothing that big should move that fast. Read more

BMW’s ‘Vision’ Of The Future

If you’re lucky enough to be attending this year’s Geneva Auto Show, stop by the BMW exhibit and feast your eyes on their latest concept, called the “BMW Vision ConnectedDrive”. Vaguely reminiscent of a cross between a current Z4 and a channel catfish, the Island-Of-Dr.-Moreau creation is meant to serve as a platform to highlight advanced telematics systems. The concept is electric powered, although BMW has deliberately avoided giving specifics on range or capabilities since the Vision ConnectedDrive concept is merely a design study. Read more

BMW Brings Back The Four Banger

The last time a four cylinder engine powered a BMW in the United States was in 1999; back then, it was a somewhat anemic 138 horsepower. You could find it in the entry level Z3 roadster, and in the quirky BMW 318i Compact, but customer perception was that real BMWs had six cylinder engines. By 1999, the 318i had been dropped from BMW’s U.S. lineup, and the base motor in the Z3 was upgraded to a 2.5 liter straight six. BMW would continue the use of four cylinder engines in the EU, where fuel economy and price were primary concerns, and would focus on premium cars with six or more cylinders for the U.S. market. Read more

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