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First shots of blue F10 BMW M5 leaked on the internet!

June 15, 2011 at 3:43 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars

Leaked photos of new BMW cars prior to its official release by the PR department seems to be getting more and more the norm these days.

Today we have a preview look at the new F10 BMW M5 in full glory, albeit not very high resolution images. You get to see plenty – every angle of the exterior, some of the interior (seems to combine a dark trim for the gear lever area with aluminium hexagon for the dash trim) and even one shot of the engine bay (looks like a mechanical squid!).

Considering the E60 M5 was priced at a tad over RM898,000, you can expect this new F10 M5 to be around that figure as well, perhaps even touching the RM1 million mark. After all the E71 BMW X6 M is priced at RM1,188,800. In Singapore, the F10 M5 is expected to go for around SG$500,000.

Enjoy the images after the jump.
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VIDEO: MINI Cooper S Countryman Review

June 8, 2011 at 2:55 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars, Test Drive Reviews, Videos

No, Driven isn’t back yet… but we’re trying out our first online video review. Remember the hijack video that was on this site sometime back? Harvinder has a little fun both on and off the road with the MINI Cooper S Countryman. Look after the jump for a full hi-res photo gallery. Or you can read our text test drive review by Danny Tan.
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VIDEOS: F20 BMW 1-Series in motion, featuring One Origin Two Originals casting competition winners

June 7, 2011 at 6:19 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars

We’ve seen static hi-res photos of the new F20 BMW 1-Series hatch, but how does the car look in motion? BMW has released two new videos of the new F20 hatch in motion, featuring the winners of a casting competition that BMW had quite some time ago.

BMW had this campaign called One Origin Two Originals that called for a pair of siblings that had completely different personalities. And here you have them – “Sportline” Adam and “Urbanline” Freddie Lund.
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MINI Coupé previewed – four versions available at launch

June 6, 2011 at 9:16 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under BMW, Cars, International News

It’s not quite the official debut, but BMW has effectively introduced its upcoming MINI Coupé by means of a preview. The car, which was showcased in its concept form at the Los Angeles Auto Show back in 2009, will roll in as the first two-seater in the brand’s model range – the company says that it will promise unrivalled handling agility and the best performance figures of any model in the MINI line-up.

The design, which is also the first “three-box” MINI, features a flat, coupe silhouette with a GT-style rear end. Sitting 29 mm lower than the MINI, the Coupé features include a distinctive “helmet roof” with an integral roof spoiler and an active rear spoiler which deploys automatically at 80 kph to optimise airflow at higher speeds, as well as a high-opening tailgate and large luggage area with through-loading facility into the passenger compartment.

At point of launch, the 3.728 metre-long car will be available in Cooper, Cooper S and John Cooper Works variants, joined by a diesel version. Effectively, the Coupé forms will wear the 1.6 litre petrol engines seen in the current MINI range, with no revisions to the output.

As such, the Cooper’s NA four-cylinder fully variable valve management block delivers 122 hp at 6,000 rpm and 160 Nm at 4,250 rpm, and performance specs include a 0–100 kph time of 9.0 seconds and a top speed of 204 kph.

Meanwhile, the Cooper S Coupé’s twin-scroll turbocharger, direct injection mill has 184 hp at 5,500 rpm and 240 Nm at 1,600–5,000 rpm (260 Nm overboost) for output numbers, as well as a 6.9 seconds 0-100 kph sprint time towards a 230 kph top speed.

As for the JCW version, the 211 hp at 6,000 rpm and 260 Nm at 1,850–5,600 rpm (280 Nm overboost at 1,700–4,500 rpm) propels the car to the century in 6.4 seconds and takes it to 240 kph tops.

The fourth model in the lineup will be the Cooper SD Coupé, which features a 2.0 litre common-rail injection turbodiesel mill that bags 143 hp at 4,000 rpm and 305 Nm at 1,750–2,700 rpm, a 7.9 seconds 0-100 kph time and a 216 kph top speed.

The car will come with a six-speed manual gearbox fitted as standard, with a six-speed Steptronic automatic tranny optional for the Cooper, Cooper S and Cooper SD versions.

Other standard issues items are electric power steering and DSC, with Dynamic Traction Control with EDLC (Electronic Differential Lock Control) on the options list (the latter two comes standard on the John Cooper Works Coupé, of course).

The Cooper will come wearing 15-inch alloy wheels as standard, with the Cooper S and Cooper SD versions getting 16-inch wheels. As for the JCW Coupe, that one will come specified with 17-inch, weight-optimised alloy wheels in JCW Cross Spoke Challenge styling.

A very large gallery of hi-res photos await you after the jump.
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2012 BMW 1-Series (F20) unveiled – details and photos

June 6, 2011 at 5:16 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars

The new 2012 BMW 1-Series with the codename F20 has been unveiled. The 1-er is now both longer and wider, and rides on a longer wheelbase as well, which should hopefully translate into better interior space.

Wheelbase has grown by 30mm so it now stands at 2,690mm, which is just 10mm shorter than the current generation Honda Civic sold in Malaysia, because of the car’s short overhangs and aft of front axle engine placement, most of the wheelbase is actually in the area between the wheel and the door.

The car is also wider by 17mm. Front track has been increased by 51mm and the rear track by 72mm. Ride height remains unchanged at 1,421mm. The rear seats have 21mm more legroom, while the luggage area is 30 litre larger, now standing at 360 litres before the rear seats are folded down. The car remains rear wheel drive.

There are a few engine variants announced at launch time, though I suspect the F20 1-Series will not be limited to these engines only. There are two petrols, both powered by 1.6 litre inline-4 twin scroll turbocharged engines with Valvetronic, Double VANOS and direct injection. The 116i makes 136hp at 4,400rpm, with a peak torque of 220Nm between 1,350rpm to 4,300rpm. The more powerful 118i makes 170hp at 4,800rpm and peak torque of 250Nm between 1,500 to 4,500rpm.

The remaining three engine options are all based on a 2.0 litre inline-4 diesel engine. The baseline is the 116d, making 116hp at 4,000rpm and 260Nm of torque between 1,750 to 2,500rpm. The mid-range is the 118d making 143hp at 4,000rpm and 320Nm of torque between 1,750rpm to 2,500rpm.

The most powerful engine in the range so far is the 120d’s engine, which has similar specs to the 2.0L diesel engine in the 320d, 520d, X1, X3, etc. It makes a full 184 horsepower at 4,000rpm and a peak torque of 380Nm between 1,750rpm and 2,750rpm. This is the most powerful F20 1-er so far, and also accelerates to 100km/h the fastest in just 7.2 seconds. I’m pretty sure a petrol 128i with the new N20B20 2.0L turbo 4 cylinder will take the most powerful F20 crown later though. And looking at what BMW can extract from the MINI Cooper JCW’s 1.6 litre lump (200+ horses), there’s probably the opportunity for a 123i with a more highly strung 1.6L turbo as well.

All engines come by default with a 6-speed manual, but there is an optional 8-speed automatic transmission. Both manual and auto transmissions have Automatic Start/Stop as standard. There’s also a switch near the gear lever that you can use to activate an ECO PRO mode, which supposedly tunes various parameters to allow better fuel efficiency – this probably means more efficient throttle mapping and quicker upshifts.

BMW has launched the car with two different trim levels – the Sport Line and the Urban Line. This is something unusual, since we’re used to BMWs being either standard, M Sport or further customizable with BMW Individual.

The Sport Line (the red car you see here) and Urban Line (the blue car) has different front and rear bumpers, and the Sport Line gets some additional red stripes on the interior and even on its key fob. Even the front grille is different, with the Urban Line getting a chrome grille with silver-coloured slats (like the one on the F10 550i), while the Sport Line gets a chrome grille with black slats.

BMW has also allowed buyers to tick some more upmarket options on the spec sheet when ordering, such as high-beam assistance, parking assistance, a reverse camera, Lane Departure Warning, Collision Warning, BMW ConnectedDrive, and etc.

Look after the jump for an extensive photo gallery of the F20.
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2012 BMW 1-Series pictures leaked on the internet

June 4, 2011 at 2:09 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars

The first official product photos of the new generation 2012 BMW 1-Series have found their way onto the internet.

It actually reminds me of a modernized E46 ti compact, with a peculiar choice of styling at the front end, mostly because of the decision to make the lower edge of the headlamps slope sharply upwards towards the kidney grilles.

As a result, there seems to be lots of body surface in between the headlamps and the kidney grille – a trait not usually found on any other modern BMW other than the BMW 5-Series GT. If you recall, the E46 ti also had weird headlamps.

At the rear, the design is an evolution of the current 1-Series hatchback. The car pictured here is the 120d, which has a single round chrome tipped exhaust pipe.

The side character lines of the body no longer features that droopy slope found on the current 1-er, which in my opinion looks much better.

Now, the lower character line only slopes up towards the rear wheel arch – before this the line sloped up towards both front and rear wheel arches giving the impression that the car was sagging under its weight.

The interior features a similar iDrive display panel design as first seen on the new 6-series. The instrumentation cluster is of a dual meter design, with the fuel gauge integrated into the lower half of the speedometer.

There seems to be a black panel style multi-info display at the bottom of the RPM meter.

Look after the jump for the rest of the leaked pix.
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BMW 528i M Sport is now available for RM449,800

June 1, 2011 at 12:09 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars, Local News


Click to enlarge

BMW Group Malaysia has introduced its latest model, the BMW 528i M Sport. This new variant features more aggressive M Sport styling on the outside and comes with BMW ConnectedDrive, which includes on-board internet access, Bluetooth audio streaming and Office functions, among other uses.

Breaking down the changed bits, the 528i M Sport features the M Sports package with M Aerodynamic trimmings consisting of the M front bumper with large air intakes, M rear bumper with anthracite insert and side sills. The window frames are no longer in chrome, but in BMW Individual High Gloss Shadow Line trim. There are also exhaust tailpipe embellishers in Dark Chrome. And of course, the 18-inch double-spoke M light alloy wheels (style 350M).

Inside, this sports sedan offers sports front seats, BMW Individual headliner anthracite, interior trim finishers in Aluminium Hexagon, M leather steering wheel and M door sill finishers. It is powered by the N52B30 3.0 litre NA inline six with 258 hp and 310 Nm. 0-100 km/h is done in 6.7 seconds and top speed is 250 km/h.


Click to enlarge

The instrumentation panel has also been updated to a full black panel display that has a multi-info display covering the entire width of the instrumentation panel, instead of the current batches of F10 which only has a smaller panel in the bottom right. Future batches of the 535i has been updated to have this extended black panel as well.

The retail price for the locally assembled 528i M Sport (on the road, without insurance, with BMW Service Inclusive + Repair) is RM 449,800. This is the same price as the standard CKD 528i when it was introduced in October 2010. But in return for the M-Sport bodykit and trim, you’ll lose the non-M Sport 528i’s sunroof and reverse camera.

This car receives the baton from the highly popular E60 525i M Sport; like the previous gen car, it’s the flashy member of the family alongside more sober siblings. But for the style, one will have to pay a huge premium over the most affordable F10, the RM333,800 520d.
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BMW 5-Series GT flops in America, CEO regrets using it as a replacement for the 5-Series wagon

May 24, 2011 at 11:46 am By Danny Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars, International News

The 5-Series Gran Turismo is one of the more divisive cars in the BMW range, and the controversy is in the looks, or more specifically, that rear end. Making its debut in the US in November 2009, the 5GT has been a sales flop, and the man in charge has shown some regret for bringing it in, according to a report.

BMW of North America CEO Jim O’Donnell also wished the company hadn’t stopped selling the 5-Series Touring. They had expected the 5-Series GT to appeal to those wagon buyers, but whichever few buyers the GT is luring, it’s from the 7-Series market.

“The disappointment I have is that I thought a lot of our 5-Series station wagon customers would go with the GT. In point of fact, that is not happening. We have lost those customers to the competition – mainly to Mercedes-Benz,” O’Donnell said.

“The GT has attracted 7- and 5-Series customers and conquests, but not the station wagon customer we had hoped,” he added, citing that in Florida, 10% of BMW 7-Series owners have replaced their cars with the 5-Series GT. BMW would ideally want Seven buyers to stick with the more expensive car, and not see the “good value” of the GT, which sits on a 7-Series platform.

When the GT was launched in the States, BMW said they expected annual sales of 4,000 to 8,000 units. They sold 2,848 in 2010 and just 720 in the first four months of 2011. One public dealership group has stopped ordering the GT because of slow sales. Other dealers said they sell one or two units a month.

No making the same mistake again, so BMW will keep the 3-Series Touring in its lineup. “We are not giving up the 3-Series wagon because if you give it up, they will go straight to the competition,” O’Donnell said.

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Castrol EDGE Experience Nurburgring: we finally drive on the Green Hell, and what an experience it was!

May 20, 2011 at 12:12 am By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars, Castrol EDGE Experience Nurburgring

Castrol

There have been many things said about the Nurburgring Nordschleife, with one of the most famous nicknames given to it being “The Green Hell”, given by Sir Jackie Stewart.

Many consider it the ultimate test for both man and machine, with many car companies using lap times achieved at the ‘Ring as benchmarks for the performance of their vehicles. The Ring has become both a marketing tool and a proving ground for car performance.

The jobs of spy photographers have become easier in a way too, as most spyshots of European cars these days can be snapped at the Ring while the cars are being tested there.

The Nurburgring track was completed in 1927 after 2 years of construction, led by architect Gustav Eichler. It was built to showcase German racing talent and engineering – man and machine.

The original circuit consisted of four track configurations with a total of 174 bends. The track is narrower than usual tracks, at 8 to 9 meters wide on average.

At the beginning, the four track configs are the Gesamtstretcke or Whole Course which is 28.265km long, the Nordschelife (Northern Loop) which is 22.8km long, the Sudschleife (Southern Loop) which is 7.747km long and the Zielschleife or “Finish Loop” which is 2.281km long.

The Nordschleife has undergone some architectural changes since it first opened in 1927. You can either drive the Nordschleife on its own which is 20.8km in length, or you can combine it with the modern Nurburgring GP F1 circuit as well as the GP circuit’s modern pit facilities for a total length of 24.4km. The full 24.4km is what’s used for 24 hour endurance races. We’ve already driven the shorter GP circuit the day before we hit the Nordschleife.

I won’t deny that I was both excited and very intimidated at the idea of having a go at the ‘Ring thanks to the Castrol EDGE Experience Nurburgring program.

With much having been said about the track, you wonder if the ‘Ring is really all that crazy as people make it out to be, or just an over exaggeration.

After all, there are many people who have “mastered” the ‘Ring on realistic computer games such as Gran Turismo.

Preparing yourself with computer games and perhaps even YouTube videos of the track might help but there’s really nothing like a real life experience there.

While the GP circuit is rather short at 4.5km long and quite safe as it was built in the 80s and has wide roads and lots of run-off area, the Nordschleife next to it is a completely different animal altogether.

The sheer length of the track means that you can be driving half of the track in rainy conditions and the other half of the track in sunny conditions.

Unfortunately for us that was exactly the weather situation at the Nordschleife that morning. Well, I wouldn’t say it was completely a bad thing, it meant we could experience exactly what made the Nordschleife so scary, but the only downside is we’d have to go a lot slower around the track.

The weather at the Nurburgring is crazy – the past 2 days were sunny and you could even get a sunburn from standing outside too long, but on the morning we were to drive the Nordschleife, it was pouring rain. Later in the afternoon after our driving session it even started snowing – such erratic weather!

There were loads of cars arranged for us for our drive – ranging from the 1-Series to the 7-Series and even SUVs like the X5, X6 and X6 M. The participants were divided randomly but grouped according to their country of origin.

All the SUVs including the torque-crazy X6 M were in a group, and so was the entire fleet of 7-Series. It’s a good thing we didn’t get those huge machines – I personally something smaller and less powerful would be more suitable.

I think Khairul and I ended up getting the most interesting vehicle of all. Our weapon for the day was the BMW 325d M-Sport Coupe, with a 6-speed manual transmission. I think it was the only manual transmission car in the entire fleet, if not one of the very few. You also don’t get 25d cars in Malaysia so this was something new for me to experience.

It was not my first time driving a manual transmission car in left hand drive but it was Khairul’s first time. But he got used to it pretty quick. This baby has 204 horsepower and 430Nm of torque.

We started our laps around the track in groups of about 8 to 10 cars, each with a BMW Driver Training instructor leading us in a BMW M3 Coupe pace car.

And then we found out – everything that has been said about the Nordschleife is true. The roads are narrow, so there’s not much of a safety net. If you slide and you don’t manage to catch your tail back again, you’re in a wall. There are so many elevation changes – uphills, downhills, tilts – all of these, you can’t feel when you’re driving the track in a racing game.

There are random tight turns that catch you by surprise right after a long fast section, and because the Nordschleife goes through a very nice and green countryside with lots of trees, you can’t really see far ahead to predict the track layout. There are a lot of blind corners and you really need to be on the ball and memorize the track if you want to go fast around it.

There are many corners which were seriously very slippery thanks to the rain, and thanks to the water and the off-camber mid-turn elevation changes, even as you try to get your car around the bend as smoothly as possible, the car can get a little tail happy and the DSC light turns on to let you know that BMW’s safety nets just saved your ass.

Trust me, when you drive here for the first time you’re going to wonder if the track you are driving on is the same one as the ones you see on YouTube videos or drove in your racing simulator as you’re going to feel many things that you could never feel watching a TV screen.

As we went around the turns, the BMW Driver Training instructor gave us a ‘tour’ of the ‘Ring, naming each turn as we approach it. My favorite is the Karussell, which is one of the slower corners on the circuit and takes you on a banked U-turn to the left. This is probably one of the best spectator and photography spots on the Ring as there are multiple viewing angles around the turn and it’s easy to snap a shot of the passing cars as it is a slow corner.

Some parts of the track felt just like going up and down a highland locally, just like Genting or Cameron, but with a one way road that’s wider than the narrow 2-lanes that go up Genting but narrower than a modern racetrack. The elevation changes are just that big, especially downhill. Now just add lots of rain into the picture and you’ll have an idea what driving on the Nurburgring is like.

The high torque and responsiveness of the 325d pedal made it challenging to go smoothly around the corners. But it was one of the most fun I’ve had in a fast car around a track! How many people can say they’ve driven on the Nordschleife? Khairul and I can, thanks to Castrol!

If you ever get a chance to visit the Nordschleife in the future (perhaps in the same contest next year if Castrol Malaysia decides to have one again), it is very important that you take it slow around your first one or two laps as it really has one of the most challenging tracks around, if not the most challenging. Leave your ego in your hotel room, seriously you don’t have to impress anyone.

You don’t even have to go fast around it, as the scenery is quite beautiful so you can focus on perfecting your driving lines and throttle play while you take in the lush green scenery. I took my time to look around while I was a passenger. You just gotta love European scenery.

If you’re not a very very very good driver, don’t pick a super powerful car to drive around the track – something like a 325i/330i or a Golf GTI with stability control should be good – loads of power will kill your brakes faster and amplify every little mistake you make. The track is very long so it’s going to be very confusing figuring out where you are in the lap.

And it’s a public road so public rules apply – only pass on the left and let faster cars pass you on the left, as it’s a left hand drive country.

All in all it was an amazing experience, and our winner Khairul is definitely one really really lucky man to be able to experience all of this. It all would not have happened if it were not for the Castrol EDGE Experience Nurburgring Challenge, so THANK YOU CASTROL! :)

VIDEO: Khairul driving a lap around the Nordschleife

Look after the jump for a huge photo gallery of the cars.
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Good debut performance from the MINI WRC at Sardinia

May 10, 2011 at 12:37 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under BMW, Motorsports

Over the weekend, Rally God Sebastien Loeb won the Rally d’Italia in Sardinia, his 63rd career win to reinforce his lead in standings, but what’s more interesting was that the MINI WRC had a very good debut rally. Kris Meeke put the red car as high as fourth on the opening day before a throttle glitch sent him off course, while Spaniard Dani Sordo in the other MINI finished in sixth place.

“I think we have shown the performance of the car. We have proved what we can do and I think it has set the mark and set the standard. I wish Kris could have carried on the way he was in the early stages. If he had carried on like that I think we would have been in a very strong position, but that is life, this is testing and we are learning as we go along,” said team boss David Richards.

“All signs are really encouraging and we have no real reliability problems at all that we are concerned about. We have to take a lot of positives from the event,” he glowed. MINI took home the Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally Award.

The Prodrive-run team will contest five more rounds of the championship this year. This half-programme is more for the development of the John Cooper Works WRC than to challenge Citroen and Ford immediately, and also to attract privateers and sponsors. Next year, the team is set to do the entire WRC season.

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