Archive for BMW

12 cylinders and 8 gear ratios, that’s what you get in the car above. I was almost thinking BMW had decided to axe its plans to introduce ZF’s new 8-speed auto when it didn’t appear in the Rolls-Royce 200EX Concept recently, but here it is now finally in the new BMW 760i and its long wheelbase 760Li counterpart!

Under the hood of the 760Li is a new 6.0 liter V12 engine featuring two turbochargers, which BMW now calls BMW TwinPower Turbo Technology. The 750Li already offers V12-like power levels thanks to its twin turbo V8 so its only natural that the 760Li has to take it one step higher.

Power outputs are 544 horses at 5,250rpm and a massive 750Nm of torque from as low as 1,500rpm all the way to 5,000rpm, making this the most torquey standard BMW engine out there now, but of course it loses out in terms of horsepower to the twin-turbo V8 in the X5 M and X6 M.

The 60-degree V12 motor has a bore and stroke of 89mm by 80mm, and a compression ratio of 10.0:1. Unlike the V8, this engine has the turbochargers on the “regular” position of outside the V-bank. It has iron-coated aluminium pistons, forged conrods and crank, and an all-aluminium block construction. The block uses a closed-deck structure which holds the cylinder head down onto the floor-plate of the crankcase with bolts.

The engine is mated to an exhaust system that handles the massive amount of exhaust gas produced by 2 turbos and 6 liters of displacement with the largest possible diameter for the exhaust pipes possible. BMW has also designed the system to be as straight as possible. There are flaps around the silencer that are electronically controlled by the ECU to produce the right sound according to driving conditions.

ZF supplies BMW with an 8-speed transmission for the new 760i, but despite an additional 2 gears, there are no negative effects on the size or weight of the transmission. Four simple gearsets and five gearshift elements form the 8 gears, and at any time only 2 clutches are open in each gear to reduce frictional losses. The 6th gear is a direct 1:1 gear, with the 7th and 8th being overdrive gears. The next generation of BMWs will also receive this new ZF gearbox.

You can identify this top of the line 7-Series by subtle touches such as an extra wide chrome lining for the already huge front kidney grilles, a V12 badge on the side, and an extra chrome bar between the exhaust pipes at the rear which mirror the one on the front bumper. Open the doors and you’ll be greeted with illuminated door entry trims with V12 badging. Look after the jump for a full hi-res gallery of the new V12 7-Series.

Click here to read the rest of BMW 760i and 760Li: flagship V12 turbo power!

When the E90 3-Series first came out, it was not to many people’s tastes. The signature L-shaped tail lamps were gone and the front kidney grilles had a little chrome bar running across the top, a design feature nicked from the 6-Series.

The 3-er had also swelled to proportions nearly the same size as the E39 5-er, so enthusiasts started to worry whether it would lose the qualities that made the E46 so popular. Despite all of this, it sold well of course, and minor design concerns can barely do any damage to the 3-er’s fantastic road-holding and agile feel.

The 3-Series facelift is now in Malaysia, with a new variant, the 323i. We’re not going to touch on that today, instead let’s go into the details on what has changed in the new 3-Series on the overall, as it’s not just a reskin on the outside, but it introduces BMW’s new and much improved iDrive sytem. We’ll also look at BMW ConnectedDrive and the features it offers the owner.

You’ll also read our impressions of a 335i automatic and a 330d manual, which features BMW’s new and improved 3.0 liter single turbo diesel engine.

Have a look at our write-up after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of 2009 BMW 335i and 330d LCI Review

There’s no denying that purists will have a field day trashing these two SUVs that have joined BMW’s M line-up. The fact that they both debuted together like this probably shows that BMW considers the X5 and X6 internally to be two different bodystyles of the same car, like the E90 and E92.

In any case, the reason these two siblings exist is because of the ML AMG and the Cayenne Turbo. People buy them. Both the new BMW X5 M and the BMW X6 M carry many firsts for the M division. First off is the fact that they are the first set of all-wheel drive M cars. They are also the first to be fitted with a torque converter automatic transmission. They are the first M cars to use run-flat tyres (even the latest M3 uses regular tyres). And they’re also the first to feature a twin-turbocharged V8.

BMW calls the engine under the hood the M TwinPower Turbo engine. It’s a 4.4 liter V8 (likely derived from the xDrive50i engine) that produces 555 horsepower between 5,750rpm to 6,000rpm and 680Nm of torque between 1,500rpm to 5,650rpm, thanks to 1.5 bars of boost. There’s no official word on the engine code yet but it being called S63B44 should be likely? Like the non-M N63B44, it features the two twin-scroll turbos in the middle of the V bank. Both the X6 M and X5 M are EU5-compliant.

The M engine has its own specific cooling system designed to sustain the higher boost levels. The water reservoir is dropped in the V-bank to reduce the amount of coolant and weight of the system. There is a second radiator, and an additional electrical cooling pump with an after-run function for the turbocharger bearing mounts so they continue to be cooled after switching off the engine. The engine also has its own M pistons and camshafts. Compression ratio has been dropped from 10.0:1 to 9.3:1.

0 to 100km/h takes only 4.7 seconds and this applies for both of the cars. The car goes up to 250km/h but this is electronically limited. If you buy the M Driver’s Package you get an additional 25km/h of top speed. The engines sip only 13.9 liters per 100km in the EU cycle, and puts out 325g/km of CO2 emissions.

The transmission is called the M Sports Automatic transmission and is likely supplied by ZF, like all its other automatic transmissions. It has a special aluminum oil sump with a finned structure for M usage. 6-speeds are swappable either by letting the gearbox do its own thing or via aluminum paddle shifters on the steering wheel – left for down and right for up. The transmission can briefly cancel out fuel injection and ignition to achieve extremely short gearshift times. There is also a launch control mode that can be activated in the M Mode.

BMW uses a specific M Servotronic system that switches between two control maps. Low speeds use one mapping which increases steering assistance, this allow comfortable parking while there is another map that provides better feedback at higher speeds. The sporty map can also be called up using the EDC or M Drive button.

A system called Integrated Chassis Management controls various stability functions such as xDrive all-wheel drive, Dynamic Performance Control, Dynamic Stability Control, Adaptive Drive and even the above mentioned Servotronic system. The suspension uses a double wishbone design with electronically adjustable dampers, and the rear shocks use air suspension with self-levelling. The X5 and X6 M are 10mm lower compared to the non-M models.

Of course being an SUV there will be people using these two M cars for towing so the X5 gets a towbar with an electrically swivelling ball head, while the X6 gets an optional towbar with a removable ball head. The max trailer load is 3 tonnes.

Other than the fact that these are M SUVs, there is another WTF that springs to my mind – for one, look at the interior. The front seats barely have any side support, and even the M-Sport models (which aren’t really M cars) have this in cars like the 1-er and 3-er. Is this car not supposed to go very much sideways?

Look after the jump for many very high-resolution photos for your enjoyment – they’re all huge and are very suitable to be cropped down to be used as wallpapers. There is also a video allowing you to hear the new turbo V8 in all its glory. Enjoy!

Click here to read the rest of BMW X5 M and X6 M: Official Details and Video!

Here we have it, BMW’s most powerful M car ever, a 550 horsepower monster that should be making over 650Nm of torque. It’s also an SUV and happens to be turbocharged, has a relatively low redline of 7,000rpm (compared to the M3 and M5) and is probably mated to an automatic gearbox.

No official specs or details of this new BMW X6 M are out yet but these are an initial low resolution leaked batch of photos which found its way onto the internet. It has a very aggressive front bumper with no foglamps and plenty of large air intakes for the turbo M engine, and a quad tailpipe rear end for the exhaust gases to escape after they’ve done their job spooling up the turbine.

Like the regular X6, the X6 M has paddle shifts too but they are in the proper left to downshift right to upshift config instead of BMW’s two-way push and pull paddles that they put on the non-M cars. There’s really nothing much to say at the moment, except the X6 M is due for an officla reveal at the NYIAS next week so official details and high res photos should be released really soon.

Check out more shots of the first M SUV after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of First low-res photos of the BMW X6 M

Vorsteiner’s new bodykit for the M3 sedan is slightly more than just a few lips and skirts, they’ve completely redesigned the bootlid too. The new rear bumper design does abit more better than the stock bumper at hiding the M3’s huge backbox but it’s still quite visible, which is really okay if its a nice-looking backbox but other than the sexy looking quad tailpipes the backbox itself is not really very pleasing to the eyes. Vorsteiner says thanks to the extensive use of carbon fiber in its bodyparts a Vorsteiner M3 should end up being lighter than a standard M3 sedan. Look after the jump for a full photoset.

Click here to read the rest of Vorsteiner bodykit for the E90 M3 Sedan

BMW’s MINI in their usual quirky spirit have released a new viral video related to the MINI Clubman. There are alot of interesting “stunts” in the video, which shows two dudes cruising on the Autobahn tailing what appears to be two MINI Clubmans driven by potential stunt drivers. It gets interesting from the 50 second mark onwards where we’ll see the people in the video “awaken from the Matrix”, watch the video and you’ll know what I’m talking about!

Click here to read the rest of VIRAL: MINI Clubman – have you seen that?

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In this latest generation of BMW cars, we are seeing many of the “experimentation” in design removed to revert to something a little more conservative.

One obvious example is the difference between the E65 and the F01, and the addressing of several common complaints with the E90’s design. I feel the most of the lines and curves of the 1-Series look very good, except somehow they just had to add an odd sagging line at the bottom.

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Then I remembered we have Theophilus Chin and his magical Photoshop, and the result is what you see above. The 1-Series really looks so much better without that sagging line!

But of course, the 1-Series was first introduced in 2004 and the hatchback was already facelifted in 2007. But the 1-Series coupe was only introduced recently and is actually a full half generation behind the hatchback, so I wonder if the coupe will be “facelifted” in 2010 to “fix” this.

Look after the jump for more 1-Series digital plastic surgery!

Click here to read the rest of BMW 1-Series Line-up Digital Plastic Surgery

BMW has axed the BMW Z4 M because according to them, there is no business case in such a product in this time and age, thanks to the economic downturn and the lack of interest in such a model.

Yes, yes, I know, no business case for the Z4 M but no problem for the X5 M and the X6 M, hardcore versions of now-frowned-upon SUVs? Well, think of it this way, with some of the rich losing alot of their investment values in the crash, most can no longer afford a big SUV for the weekdays and a sports car for the weekends. They will have to buy a 2 in 1 vehicle, something that serves both functions. Oh my, how tragic!!!

The reality is that these products begin development long before we even hear of them and the X5 M and the X6 M had been signed off long before all of this mess happened, which is why BMW is going ahead with them anyway.

The top of the line Z4 is going to be a M-Sport Z4 which has yet to be revealed, and will get the usual wheels, bodykit, suspension, steering and etc. It may even get BMW Performance parts thrown into the mix, either as standard or as an option. The flagship Z4 is the xDrive35i and BMW Performance could make available a BMW Performance Power Kit for the Z4, similiar to the kit they did for the same twin turbo engine in the 335i and the 135i. It upgrades the engine’s power from 306hp and 400Nm up to 326hp and 450Nm, equalling the tuning found in the BMW 740i. As it is, that’s more torque than the new M3 by a good 50Nm, and spread wide across the RPM range too.

Coupled with the recent announcement that the next gen M3 and M5 will go small-engine with twin-turbo power instead, it looks like the delicious high-revving S65B40 4.0 liter V8 will not find its way into any other production BMW other than the M3

As a tribute to the S65B40, there are 2 orgasmic sound files after the jump of the engine being worked hard on the dyno and on the track as well. Enjoy!

Click here to read the rest of E89 BMW Z4 M scrapped – no business case!

Fashion is an unusual subject for this blog, but it does prop up sometimes whenever car manufacturers do things that fuse their cars with the subject matter. The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is a yearly affair and I personally watched a BMW MINI fashion show at MINI Plant Oxford back in 2006.

After all, it is their target market, all these upper society fashionable people surely must get to their parties in stylish transport.

BMW collaborated with Vogue magazine to create a new special edition BMW 7-Series Individual. It was a project between BMW design chief Adrian van Hooydonk and Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani. They also held a Vogue & BMW New York Fashion Week party to commemorate the car. This happened in February this year. What a cheeky thing to do at an event officially sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, haha!

There is a short video after the jump – even if you are not interested in such a thing there is some nice footage of the F01 7-Series in question to admire.

BTW, the F01 is in Malaysia.

Click here to read the rest of BMW and Vogue team up for F01 BMW 7-Series

It started off as what seemed to be a fairly usual video that BMW would make about its concept cars. It revolves around an interview with the 5-Series GT’s project leader, Hans-Jurgen Branz. But there is something exciting about this latest video of the BMW 5-Series GT, previously known as the Progressive Activity Sedan.

Things start getting interesting beyond the 1 minute mark when a grey-coloured 5-Series GT appears. This one is missing some of the concept car’s details such as the chrome bits on the door handles and the funky door mirror mount. I believe this is the actual production version that is going to be released!

Watch the video with some screencaps after the jump. Unfortunately the video is in German only for the moment, so I have no clue what he’s talking!

Click here to read the rest of Production BMW 5-Series GT previewed in video!