Archive for BMW

According to Autocar, BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer has confirmed in a report by German weekly newspaper Die Zeit that the boys at Munich are currently developing a new city car.

He did not mention which of its brands the new car would be sold under - we can definitely rule out Rolls Royce but there is a possibility that other than BMW or MINI, a fourth brand will be set up which could see the revival of the Isetta name as a brand. BMW also owns the rights to the Triumph name.

The new BMW city car will come with two engine offerings. One will be a conventional internal combustion engine with a small displacement to be fuel efficient but the other will be a Zero Emissions Vehicle that will use pure electric propulsion. The electric version is planned to have a range of at least 322km.

The original BMW Isetta was a rebadged (the original was a project by Iso) and redesigned car that saved BMW from financial crisis. This new city car may very well end up being a joint venture project with Fiat (sharing a platform with the upcoming Fiat Topolino?) as per the small car joint venture announcement made early July 2008. The internal combustion engine could be Fiat’s two-cylinder SGE engine.

At first glance the little hatch above may look like the Infiniti FX. It is actually BMW MINI’s third variant in its line-up of “New MINIs” and it will be an all-wheel drive type of vehicle. MINI will be previewing the upcoming MINI crossover “softroader” SUV (reportedly going to be called the “Crossman”) at the 2008 Paris Motor Show.

The MINI Crossover Concept rides on a 2606mm wheelbase (longer than the Cooper’s 2466mm and Clubman’s 2547.6mm) and has a conventional four doors with two on each side of the car. The driver’s side has no B-pillar so that particular door is of a sliding type that slides to the rear to open. The rear hatch once again opens with a split in the middle, so I suppose you could call this a 6-door hatchback?

The focus of the interior is the “MINI Centre Globe” which is installed in the place of where you’d typically expect the giant speedometer to be. The 3D sphere uses laser projection to display two different views if viewed from different positions. This allows the front passenger and front driver to view different displays from the same MINI Centre Globe.

It’s quite obvious that BMW ConnectedDrive will come to the MINI brand soon enough because the press release also indicates the ability for the front passenger to surf the web from the MINI Centre Globe display, and ease of data input is facilitated by a keyboard that can slide out from the front dashboard on the passenger side. Steering-wheel controls typically use buttons or scrollwheels but in the MINI Crossover Concept, a trackball is used.

The starter system gimmick is also integrated into the MINI Centre Globe. Instead of a keyfob, a Keyball is used. The Keyball is inserted into an opening in the upper edge of the globe. It will then roll down towards the driver along the middle of the globe. The driver can then press the Keyball to start the engine. When the engine needs to be turned off, the ball is pressed again and it will then roll down into its housing bay where it can be removed.

The MINI Crossover Concept is a four seater with four individual seats, with all four having the ability to slide forward and aft. Something called a MINI Centre Rail runs through the middle of the car from the front dash all the way to the tailgate. Cupholders, storage boxes and other items such as an external music player can be attached to the Centre Rail. Even the armrest attaches to this rail and can be removed if needed. You can also slide things along the rail, allowing someone at the rear to place a drink in a cupholder and then slide it to the front for the driver.

Look after the jump for more hi-res photos of the concept.

Click here to read the rest of MINI Crossover Concept previews upcoming softroader all-wheel drive MINI SUV

BMW’s M Division head Ludwig Willisch said last Friday that the BMW Concept CS (shown above) would make it into production, and although no naming convention has been defined yet, almost everyone expects the new car to carry the nameplate of the gorgeous BMW 8-Series from the 90s. The M Division will be handling the project but like the 8-Series, there will likely be no M version.

The old 8-Series had a “spiritual M car” in the form of the 850CSi which had an engine built by the division with an S engine code complete with M badges in the engine bay, but no M badges on the rear or in the name.

Looking at BMW’s current and future engine ranges, you can expect a new 850i with the new 4.4 liter twin turbocharged V8 and an 860i with a V12, complete with ZF’s new 8-speed automatic.

Source

Them boys at Japanese tuner Wald International can truly do some amazing things, for example - they turned this E90 BMW 3-Series Sedan into some mutated Brabus Mercedes-Benz C-Class wannabe. This kit is called the WALD E90 Sports Line and features a new front bumper with Brabus-like dual foglamps (even the foglamps are complete with angel eye rings), side skirts, a complicate rear bumper with quad tailpipes, and large 19 inch wheels. Look after the jump for a complete photo gallery.

Click here to read the rest of WALD E90 Sports Line for the BMW 3-Series

Click to enlarge

We have finally got our hands on the new installment of the E70 BMW X5 “Sports Activity Vehicle” for a drive on our local roads! BMW Malaysia offers three variants of the new X5 for the local market - a 3 liter petrol, a 3 liter turbodiesel and a mouth-watering 4.8 V8 petrol version. We had a go in the model which we think would attract more attention especially when fuel consumption is on everyone’s mind today - the 3.0d oil burner.

Read the review by Harvinder Singh Sidhu after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of E70 BMW X5 3.0d Test Drive Review

This is a TV Commercial for the BMW 1-Series Coupe in the USA. No Kermit the Frog this time as it seems Kermit likes the hatch better, but you’ll get to see a random guy who sneaked onto the assembly line admiring the 1 Coupe. The 125i Coupe costs RM323,800 while the “junior M” 135i goes for RM423,800 OTR without insurance.

Related Stories:
BMW 130i M Sport Test Drive Review

Click here to read the rest of BMW 1-Series Coupe TVC in the US

Many considered the BMW X6 to be quite bizarre when it first came out. Its top half was of a coupe but with a bottom half of an SUV. Kind of like the love child of a 6-Series and a BMW X5. To top it all off the sloping roof threatened to destroy rear headroom in the way the GEN2’s roofline did, and it only sat 4 instead of 5.

Despite all of that many were taken in by its sexy looks and already over 6,000 units have been sold since its launch 3 months ago in Spartanburg, USA. Three models are available - two petrol and one diesel, and all three are turbocharged. The X6 was the vehicle chosen to debut BMW’s new 4.8 liter twin turbocharged V8.

The BMW X6 is now in Malaysia. One variant is available immediately, with the other two to follow next year. The BMW X6 xDrive35i is priced at RM698,000 on the road without insurance, with BMW Service Inclusive + Repair. The xDrive35i model is powered by the N54 3.0 liter twin turbocharged inline-6 engine that produces 306 horsepower thanks to its twin parallel turbochargers and direct injection.

The other two X6 models available worldwide is the xDrive50i powered by the 4.8 liter twin turbo V8, and the xDrive35d powered by the sequential twin turbocharged 3.0 liter diesel engine from the 335d. I don’t think BMW Malaysia has introduced any models with the twin turbo diesel here in Malaysia (thanks to our diesel quality), so we may have to skip that one and have only one additional variant.

The X6 looked quite menacing in real life, with its huge wheels and equally large disc brakes. BMW had two cars showcased at its launch event - one was grey and the other was red. The red one had a fully black interior while the grey one was a combination of a black dash and beige seats.

Rear headroom was pretty much as expected (example photo after jump) - not as bad as 2+2 seaters but if you are a tall person the top of your head would be just a few millimeters away from the ceiling, which may not go well with people who feel claustrophobic.

Hopefully BMW will register a test drive unit for the media. But for the moment, please enjoy some photos of the X6 after the jump.

Related Stories:
BMW X6: full details, specifications and photos
BMW Concept X6 ActiveHybrid at Frankfurt 2007

Click here to read the rest of BMW X6 xDrive35i available in Malaysia

BMW’s Director of Functional Integration Dirk Hacker talks about the various technologies and driver aids in the new F01 BMW 7-Series such as the Integral Active Steering (rear wheel steering), Driving Dynamic Control, Integrated Chassis Management and other technologies. An apt job for someone with a surname Hacker.

Look at the video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Technologies in the new BMW 7-Series

Hamann has released tuning and bodykits for the MINI Cooper S and the MINI Cooper D, which both have turbocharged motors, making it easier to tweak as compared to normally aspirated cars. There are 2 options for the Cooper S. One is a boost up to 204hp at 5,500rpm and 300Nm of torque between 1,600 to 5,000rpm.

The other is the SPORTKIT CS 230 which gives the Cooper S a massive power boost to 230 PS at 6,050rpm and 330Nm of torque at 3,860rpm, making it more powerful than the recently unveiled MINI John Cooper Works however it loses the amazingly flat torque curve. The Cooper D gets its power upped from 110hp to 136hp at 4,000rpm and a peak torque of 300Nm between 1,750 to 2,000rpm.

The Hamann bodykit is said to provide aerodynamic benefits and includes a front skirt, side sills and a rear diffuser which integrates the two tailpipes of the Hamann sports exhaust system. The Hamann suspension lowers the MINI’s center of gravity by 30mm. There is also a height-adjustable coilover kit which can be lowered up to 500mm.

To complete the kit, Hamann rims available and the highlight is the one piece 18 inch HM EVO wheel finished in lacquered black. These wheels are wrapped with Hankook Ventus S1 EVO 225/35ZR18 tyres.

Look after the jump for hi-res photos.

Click here to read the rest of Hamann Tuning Kit for MINI Cooper S

How often do we use our high beams? Many of us barely use them, in fact whenever I turn on my high beams in areas where there is no oncoming traffic and no cars in front of me, I’ve gotten remarks from passengers that using the high beam is unethical. This seems to be the opinion of quite a few motorists, which surprises me.

Apparently according to auto parts supplier Gentex Corporation, automakers and other parties in the auto industry are actually trying to encourage higher use of a car’s high beams. Studies have shown that the very low usage of a car’s high beams are due to a various reasons including forgetfulness, complacency and the fear of not being able to react to oncoming traffic and turning them off fast enough, resulting in other motorists getting dazzled or annoyed.

Gentex says even at speeds of up to 56km/h, a car’s low beams will not allow you to see far enough head to detect and react to a potential hazard. This is the whole point of high beams but in situations where high beams should by right be used, studies have found that high beams were only used less than 25% of the time.

Gentex’s solution to this is their SmartBeam system, which BMW has put in its cars and called High-Beam Assist. The High-Beam Assist system uses a tiny camera-on-a-chip combined with computer algorithms to automatically determine when to turn on and off the vehicle’s high beams depending on traffic conditions.

The camera is located on the interior’s rear view mirror and faces forward. When the system detects that it is dark and no other vehicles are present, the high beams are automatically turned on. When traffic in front is detected, they are automatically turned off. A manual override for the driver is also provided.

The BMW High-Beam Assist system is available in the BMW 5, 6, 7, and X6 models. It is also available in Malaysia on various models including the BMW 523i SE.