Archive for BMW

Currency Motor Cars, a company based in California, brings to the world this limited edition 10-unit run of the BMW M5 luxury sports sedan. The modifications on the interior itself costs about US$100,000, trimmed with some really expensive materials such as fully aniline dyed Florida Crocodile in black. For that ultimate luxurious touch, the leather used on the steering wheel is the same one used for the chairs!

That’s just the interior - what about under the engine bay? As you can tell from this post title, the award-winning 5.0 liter high compression high revving V10 has been modified to be force inducted via two turbochargers, one for each bank of 5 cylinders. The turbocharged air flows into a custom hand-crafted intercooler system before entering the cylinders, and this results in a mind blowing 810 horsepower.

Loving the huge amount of power, but don’t really like the crocodile interior, and very skeptical on how long the 7-speed SMG clutchless manual is going to take all of that power and torque. I am also baffled at the choice of putting the turbochargers behind the rear wheels just before the exhaust mufflers - refer to the photo of the undercarriage.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Currency Motor Cars BMW M5 Twin Turbo

Another new variant to the 2nd gen MINI range will be unveiled at Geneva 2007, this time an oil-burner: the 2007 MINI Cooper D. This turbodiesel MINI is Cooper badged, so drivers can expect a nice, spirited drive, albeit with a lower redline to trash the engine to. The previous turbodiesel MINI was labelled a One D, but with this 2nd generation body it moves up the segment as a Cooper D. Fuel consumption is about 3.6 liters for every 100km travelled.

The 1.6 liter turbodiesel engine makes 110hp at 4,000rpm and 240Nm of torque that peaks between 1,750rpm and 2,000rpm. Overboost can be activated, giving the engine 260Nm, an increase of 20Nm, at 2,000rpm. This torque matches the figures in the new 2nd gen MINI Cooper S, which is very nice indeed. The turbocharger features variable turbine geometry, and the engine uses second generation common rail injection technology that provides for multiple injections for each operating cycle. In terms of transmission, a 6-speed manual is provided as standard equipment.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of 2007 MINI Cooper D - diesel MINI moves up!

One more addition to the new second generation R56 MINI family - the 2007 MINI One, which will make it’s debut at Geneva 2007 next month. The MINI One is the entry-level model into the range, sporting a 1.4 liter normally aspirated engine derived from the 1.6 liter normally aspirated engine in the MINI Cooper. The 1.4 liter engine from the new Prince family jointly developed with PSA Peugeot Citroen promises at least a zippy feel to the MINI One: 95hp at 6,000rpm and 140Nm of torque at 4,000rpm. The engine features Valvetronic fully variable valve timing control, which also eliminates the use of a throttle butterfly, helping with the pumping losses that happens when a partly open throttle butterfly blocks the air intake path.

0-100km/h is done in 10.9 seconds, hardly astounding, but if you want performance go for the MINI Cooper or MINI Cooper S. The MINI One has a fuel efficiency of 4.74 liters per 100km travelled, an efficiency increase of about 15 percent over the outgoing MINI One which was discontinued at the end of last year.

Gearbox is a 6-speed manual, with two overdrive gears with the 6th one designed with an especially long ratio for optimum fuel economy even at high cruising speeds. There’s also a 6-speed auto transmission available, with the option of manual shifting either via the gear lever or paddle shifts mounted on the steering wheel. A Sports button activates faster gearshifts in the automatic gearbox - for the manual you just have to do your clutch foot work faster!

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of 2007 MINI One to make 2007 Geneva debut

I remember some time in the past, a group of friends and I were discussing about BMW and it’s turbodiesel technology. We were saying that while BMW has put alot of work into turbodiesels, it still would not have treated diesel technology at the same par as petrol engines until they put a turbodiesel into the Z4 and the 6-series.

Well, if insider news are to be taken seriously, then turbodiesel is now half-way there in BMW’s eyes. Together with the upcoming imminent facelift of the BMW 6-series, BMW is said to be launching a new variant to complement the existing 630i, 650i and M6 - a BMW 635d with the same award winning 3.0 liter twin turbocharged straight-six turbodiesel engine which made it’s world debut in the BMW 535d. With 272hp at 4,000rpm and 560Nm of torque from as low as 2,000rpm under the 535d’s hood, it pushes the mid-sized luxury sedan from 0-100km/h in 6.5 seconds, so expect similar performance statistics for the BMW 635d.

Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear compares the Chrysler 300C SRT8 to the E60 BMW M5. Not a bad comparison I would say, as the Chrysler 300C was based on a previous version of the Mercedes Benz E-Class, now called the Chrysler LX platform. The SRT-8 version features a 6.1 liter Hemi V8 engine making 425hp at 6,200rpm and 569Nm of torque at 4,800rpm. This is the same engine used in most SRT-8 versions, including Dodge and Jeep vehicles.

It’s interesting how the two companies chose to engineer the top of the line performance versions of their mid-sized luxury sedans. The BMW M5 proves to be a real driver’s car - but what about the 300C SRT-8?

Video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of E60 BMW M5 vs Chrysler 300C SRT8 Video

I received this in an email a few days ago - an application form for the BMW Driver Training Instructor’s Academy. Basically, BMW Malaysia is recruiting candidates to become BMW Driver Training Instructors for it’s new Malaysian BMW Driver Training program via it’s Instructor Academy. The BMW Driver Training is set to be introduced here in Malaysia from April 2007 onwards.

In 1977, BMW became the first vehicle manufacturer in the world to offer professional driver training.

The aim is to enhance your driving abilities by developing both attitude and skills through a structured range of programmes that include theoretical and practical training, enabling you to respond more effectively in emergency situations and make your everyday driving safer and more rewarding. The training also teaches you to appreciate and understand the limits of technology and driving skills, allowing you to assess and overcome potential hazards.

BMW Driver Training is much more than mastering unexpected situations and honing technical and mental skills, its about the exhilaration of a truly memorable experience.

All participants will have to go through a 3-level course, where only participants who pass each level will be able to proceed to the next. The course focuses on training skills, driving skills, driving physics knowledge, as well as brand values and product awareness. Both classroom theory and practical on the track is involved.

Interested participants will have to commit a certain availability of days, in case they currently hold another job somewhere or are still studying, etc. For more detailed information, please check out the PDF file below.

MINI’s previous Concept Frankfurt gave us an insight into the future of the MINI product range - currently comprising of the One, One D, Cooper, Cooper S and Cooper Convertible. You could say the Concept Frankfurt was a modern incarnation of the old school Mini Traveller, a way of BMW MINI telling us that it plans to develop a new station wagon MINI. However due to legal reasons, the new MINI station wagon will not be called the MINI Traveller, but instead a new name has been chosen: the MINI Clubman.

Spyshots have already been circulating the internet, and the MINI Clubman will feature an assymetrical design, with one side having just a driver’s door, but the other side having a passenger door as well as a small suicide door which swings open to facilitate easy entry into the rear seats. Auto Motor und Sport reports that the MINI Clubman will also receive all-wheel drive technology in end 2008.

Two other rumoured MINI projects include an all-wheel drive MINI Cooper is also in the works, as well as something a little more tricky. This tricky little thing will be called the MINI Colorado, and it will be somewhat like the typical MINI Cooper, however it will have off-road design elements to it, with a higher suspension as well as all-wheel drive, facilitating some light offroading. Colorado is just an internal codename for the moment, but the old school Mini had a variant called the Moke, which was somewhat like a tiny cross between a Jeep and a Mini (refer to photo in the top left).

BMW is bringing in the BMW Alpina B7 into the US market, with the model set to be on show during the 2007 Chicago Motor Show this month. Alpina, an official BMW tuner, has taken the BMW 7-Series and fitted it with BMW’s 4.4 liter V8 engine. Of course, it wouldn’t do justice leaving the engine stock, so Alpina tweaked it with a supercharger, resulting in a monster V8 that makes 500hp at 5,500rpm, and 700Nm of torque at 4,250rpm. Horsepower matches the new E60 M5’s 5.0 liter V10 but kicks in at a much lower rpm, and the force blown motor beats the E60 M5’s torque figures by 120Nm. Clad in a nice trademark Alpina blue, the big luxury saloon goes from 0-100km/h in only 4.8 seconds, only a fraction slower than the E60 M5’s 4.7 seconds.

Of course, to match the sweet engine, you get Alpina sport-tuned suspension with Active Roll Stabilization, an aerodynamically designed bodykit to help with high speed handling as well as huge 21 inch wheels with Z-rated speed performance tyres.

More photos after the jump, and enlarged versions are viewable by clicking each photo.

Click here to read the rest of BMW Alpina B7 based on BMW 7-series

These are the latest attempts by talented graphic artists at predicting how the 2010 BMW 5-series will look like. The next generation BMW 5-series is expected to be codenamed the F10, one of the first of new BMWs to adopt the F-code for chassis, abandoning the current E-code. This very detailed rendering hints of a larger and fatter 5-series, and the headlamps used are similiar to the one on the Coupe, much sexier than AutoBild’s 3-series headlamps on their rendering of the F10. Have a look at the rear (after the jump), and you’ll realise this is pretty much just like a 3-Coupe, fattened up with four doors. The current E60 BMW 5-series has just been facelifted.

For speculation on the size of the new F10 BMW 5-series, as well as another computer rendering by AutoBild, check out the related posts below. Also, check after the jump for a rendering of the rear.

Related Posts:
BMW F10 5-Series
BMW launches E60 BMW 5-series facelift

Click here to read the rest of 2010 BMW 5-series (F10) Artist’s Impression

I’ve been giving alot of attention to the BMW 335i lately haven’t I? I like the car, I really do - what’s on paper and what I’ve read anyway, as I haven’t driven it myself yet, unlike lucky peers Shannon Teoh and Jeremy Mahadevan who’ve driven the 335i in Convertible and Coupe incarnations respectively. Fifth Gear’s car reviewer Tom Ford takes the E92 BMW 335i Coupe, the same model Jeremy drove for a spin.

Video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Fifth Gear E92 BMW 335i Coupe Review