We know what you’re thinking: Another day, another BMW bodystyle. Except this one’s different.

The Bavarian automaker, much like its fellow German marques Audi and Mercedes-Benz, has exploded its product offerings with spinoffs of its established models. So the two-door 6 Series has bred a four-door GranCoupe version. The 5 Series, in addition to the sedan and wagon, has given us the oddly proportioned 5 Series Gran Turismo. But the upcoming 1 Series Gran Turismo is another kettle of fish in that it is not expected to share the small rear-drive platform with its recently revised namesake, but rather pack a new front-drive platform. Read More »

With six cars joining the grid this year in the DTM series, BMW is sure to present wildly different liveries – largely determined by the sponsors brought on board – for each one. And this is the first.

Based on a sponsorship deal with BP, this particular M3 DTM is decked out in the bright green color of Castrol Edge motor oil and the light blue of German gas station network Aral. This car’s unveiling is the first time we’re seeing the new touring car in anything but flat black or BMW’s trademark striped white color scheme.

To pull of its entry into the competitive German racing series and take on its rivals at Mercedes-Benz and Audi, BMW is bringing in four of its proven factory drivers (including three-time World Touring Car Championship winner Andy Priaulx) and has poached longtime Mercedes AMG driver Bruno Spengler and Audi’s reigning DTM champ Martin Tomczyk.
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The 2001-2003 Z8 is one of the more graceful designs to slip from the BMW design studios in recent memory. With the droptop’s classic roadster lines and plenty of performance on tap, the Z8 may not have sold like gangbusters when it was in production, but its slow-burn appeal has ensured that it has plenty of fans and impressive resale value. Despite a very limited production run of just 5,703 units, Senner Tuning has belatedly turned its attention toward modifying this convertible, which is quickly becoming a classic.

The company’s engineers got started with a new sports air filter and easy breathing exhaust, including low-restriction catalytic converters. Throw in a mild ECU reflash and the vehicle is good for 450 horsepower and 394 pound-feet of torque. Senner Tuning says those figures should be good enough to get the Zed to around 186 mph.
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The turn of the year didn’t merely lead us into the Year of the Dragon, but also the year of the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque. Halewood’s small softroader won a boodle of awards: Autoweek’s Best of the Best, Top Gear magazine’s and Jeremy Clarkson’s choice for Car of the Year, Motor Trend magazine’s SUV of the Year and the North American Truck of the Year. For starters. Consumer Reports, however, isn’t as swayed, saying that the new BMW X3 “handily outpointed its European rival” in a head-to-head between the two compact luxury crossovers.

We expect there’s an Evoque out there with a sore backside because CR did not spare the rod, saying the Evoque scored near the bottom of its category because of “a cramped cabin, stiff ride, artificial-feeling steering and troubling emergency handling.” On top of that, its “rear view is poor,” its “cargo area is small” and its interior is “noisy” albeit “well finished,” and was outdone by the X3′s “lavish interior.” The baby Land Rover finished so far in the hole that CR couldn’t give the vehicle its coveted Recommend rating.
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Rumors of BMW M launching a diesel model have been circulating for over a year, and confirmation has finally arrived in the form of not one, not two, but four M-fettled oil-burners, each sporting all-wheel drive and the oft-rumored tri-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline six. And before you get excited, none of them are slated for sale in the U.S. – this is a Euro-only affair.

So with that unfortunate fact out of the way, let’s get to the details.

The new M models come in the form of the M550d xDrive sedan, M550d xDrive touring, X5 M50d and X6 M50d. Each makes use of a 3.0-liter inline-six common-rail diesel with the aforementioned trio of turbos specifically developed for the M Performance range. Output is rated at 376 horsepower at 4,000 rpm and 545 pound-feet of torque available from 2,000 to 3,000 revs. If you’re keeping track at home, that’s a bump of 80 hp and 103 lb-ft over the 535d and 74 hp and 103 lb-ft more than the 3.0-liter mill fitted to the diesel X5 and X6.
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BMW, which still insists on using the term Sports Activity Coupe to describe its least practical ‘ute, has updated its X6 for the 2013 model year. And with good reason – BMW says it has sold over 20,000 X6 crossovers in the States since its launch three years ago and over 150,000 worldwide, making it an important model for the German automaker.

First and foremost, the 2013 X6 offers available power from both the 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline six and 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 through its M Performance Package (which is not the same thing as the X6M that carries on for 2013 with its 555-horsepower V8 and six-speed automatic transmission).
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Touchscreens are becoming common and touch pads – like those in the Audi A7, A8 and next A3 – are gaining traction, but the next input revolution might not be gesture controls, it’s likely to be “smart fabrics” and BMW is already toying with the technology.

Researchers at the Polytechnic School of Montreal, Canada have developed a new flexible, polymer-based fiber that can be woven into existing fabrics. Essentially, it’s a capacitive pad that can register touches and swipes when alternating current is plumbed through the fibers. Think about running a finger along your seat fabric to adjust the amount of lumbar support or swipe across the dashboard ahead of the passenger to open the glovebox. Even better, this new material can be cleaned like more traditional fabrics, one of the biggest stumbling blocks in previous iterations. Read More »