Auto and Cars

Maximilian Gunther wins valuable points in latest Race at Home Challenge As we are all painfully aware, all types of racing is currently suspended due to the new COVID-19 outbreak. All motorsport events have been put on hold and we’re all just waiting for them to come back. In the meantime, most people have moved in the virtual realm, including the BMW drivers. Maximilian Gunther, for example, the new kid behind the wheel of the BMW iFE.20 Formula E race car, has been competing in the ABB Formula E Race at Home Challenge. He got off to a splendid start, with two wins and a third place in the first outings but then some bad luck stripped him from getting better results. In the most recent race he came in seventh after some more bad luck. Günther was in fourth place when a feis...

VIDEO: The E92 BMW M3 Lime Rock Edition is a Future Classic Many car collectors like to keep their eyes out for potential future classics; cars that aren’t worth a huge amount now but might be in the future. One such car from a particular Bavarian brand might be the E92-generation BMW M3 Lime Rock Edition. What is the BMW M3 Lime Rock Park Edition? Well, it was a special edition version of the E92 M3 Coupe to say farewell to the E92-generation. Only 200 units were ever made and it cost $70,100 when new. Mechanically, it wasn’t much different than a standard M3 Competition Package of the time. It did get a new inconel-titanium lightweight exhaust and some carbon fiber aero to make it sound better and reduce a bit of weight. In this new video from Enthusiast Auto Group, we get...

BMW set to auction M2 CS for the South African market The limited edition BMW M2 CS is already sold out in many markets. Pre-orders for the new hot coupe have started years before the car was announced, so it comes as no surprise that some markets are finding innovative ways to sell the car. BMW of South Africa has come up with a novel idea to sell the upcoming BMW M2 CS. 28 units are allocated for the South African market and BMW SA is hoping that lockdown levels would have eased to allow it to host an auction with about 200 bidders. The auction will include their top customers and regular customers have shown interest in the M2 CS. BMW SA product communications manager Sbusiso Mkhwanazi says if all goes well they’d like to host the auction at the Kyalami racetrack and if social...

SPIED: More Video of BMW M3 and BMW M4 Hitting the Nurburgring Some new video of a recent manufacturer’s test pool at the Nurburging and it shows many of the hottest upcoming sports cars doing some camouflaged testing. Due to the Coronavirus, the ‘Ring was closed for awhile but it’s back open and car companies are testing yet again. In this new video, get to see several awesome cars, from the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series to a Porsche 911 GT-series car of some sort. Among them, though, are both the upcoming BMW M3 and M4. You see the BMW M3 first, at around the 47 second mark, and it looks good. You can tell the driver wasn’t really on it but it still looks agile and smooth. It also looks pretty quick, getting out of corners with some authority, even with the driv...

SPIED: BMW 6 Series GT Seen in Camouflage Ahead of Official Reveal If there’s any BMW model that’s going to benefit from the new styling direction of the 4 Series and M4 models, it’s the BMW 6 Series GT. Prior to seeing the Concept 4, which debuted BMW’s new grille design, it was the 6er GT that received the most hate from enthusiasts. Ironically, the hate doesn’t come from its driving dynamics or interior, as those are both great for what the 6er is supposed to be. No, instead the hate comes from its looks, as it truly is a funky looking car. However, it apparently looks good enough to sell well enough to get a facelifted model, such as the one seen in these new spy photos. (We don’t own the spy photos but they can be seen here) The BMW 6 Series GT w...

What Sort of Wrenching Are You Learning While in Quarantine? During this uncertain time of quarantine, a time unlike any in our lifetime, people across the globe find themselves with more free time than they’ve ever had before. With that free time, many people are learning new skills. It seems as if every human on Earth now knows how to make their own sourdough starter. However, some car enthusiasts are using this newfound free time to learn how to wrench their own car in ways they haven’t before. While there’s a good portion of the BMW clientele base that wouldn’t be caught dead with oil on their hands, there’s also a huge portion of it that revels in it. Some car enthusiasts just flat-out love to work on their cars themselves, get their hands dirty and be...

Video: Savagegeese Review of the BMW 840i lays it all out The revival of the BMW 8 Series nameplate didn’t go as smoothly as the Munich high-wigs might’ve expected. There have been some hiccups along the way, despite being a compelling product. Not long ago, we heard dealers complaining about the BMW 8 Series pricing, and that may very well be the reason why the 8 Series is not selling as it should. Pecuniary issues considered, the BMW 840i might the best choice in the range right now. That’s what the guys from Savagegeese set out to find out. They took the BMW 840i out for a spin to see whether it rises to the challenge. As you may well know, the 840i is the cheapest 8 Series you can get and for that, you also get cut from a couple of features. You don’t get all...

Video: Blast from the past – the 360 km/h BMW M5 Hurricane RR Touring Today we’re taking a walk down memory lane as I stumbled upon a video that caused some older memories to pop up. Remember when BMW used to make M5 wagons? Remember the E61 M5? That was probably the first wagon supercar, one of the very few that can wear that title without being accused of false advertising. It certainly was one of the most impressive creations to come out of Munich and when it got in the hands of the crazy people from G-Power, it turned into a monster. If you recall, the G-Power people somehow managed to squeeze not one but two superchargers inside that already stuffed engine bay. As you can imagine, a twin-supercharged 5-liter V10 engine can deliver a lot of performance and that’s what ha...

VIDEO: Watch the BMW-Powered Aston Martin DB5 James Bond Stunt Car The upcoming James Bond film “No Time to Die” has unfortunately been delayed, due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. Which is a really bummer for all Bond fans. But it’s also a bummer for car enthusiasts, as the cars and car chase sequences in most Bond films are epic. In No Time to Die, the featured car in the action sequences is a classic Aston Martin DB5, which is replete with the same sort of classic Bond kit we’re all used to; machine guns, ejector seats, the works. However, the car that was actually used to shoot those scenes obviously wasn’t a million-dollar classic DB5. Instead, it was a bespoke stunt car and it was/is powered by a BMW engine. In this new video from Carfection, we get...

Can the New Lincoln Corsair take on the BMW X3? Executives at BMW have to be getting annoyed by now, with all of the new competition entering the segment. Years ago, the suits in Munich only had to worry about Mercedes-Benz and Audi, really. Now, it has Volvo, Alfa Romeo, Lexus, Cadillac and even Lincoln to keep an eye one. The latter of which hasn’t been considered a proper luxury brand in decades, more often than not just rebadging Fords and calling it a day. However, the American luxury brand’s newer cars are far more impressive. So can the all-new Lincoln Corsair really challenge the stalwart BMW X3? Motor Trend compares the two in this latest test. The BMW X3 is a surprisingly good car. While most enthusiasts scoff at the notion of buying an SUV, the new X3 drives with ...

MINI to Expand Oxford Edition Models to All Customers and Adds Countryman to Lineup MINI is bringing its value-proposition “Oxford Edition” to all customers in the US market, to get new car for cheaper than usual, so long as you don’t need as many features. previously, the Oxford Edition MINI models, were only available for college students, active-duty military and recently retired military, to give them a more affordable way to get into a MINI. However, the 2020 MINI Oxford Edition models will now be available to all customers in the US, to help out during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our Oxford Editions are all about offering MINI models with incredible value, at an attractive price, without giving up style, substance, and MINI’s fun-to-drive characteristics....

Rolls-Royce Cullinan 1:8 Scale Replica is More Detailed Than Most Cars Everything Rolls-Royce makes is stunningly beautiful, meticulously crafted and hilariously expensive. There’s a cost to all of that fine craftsmanship and it’s paid by the customer. It’s not only cars that Rolls makes so beautifully, though. The famous British brand makes all manner of things but, recently, has taken to making something rather… different. Customers of the Rolls-Royce Cullinan can now get a 1:8 scale replica of their very SUV that’s more detailed than most actual cars. Each hand-made replica is made from over 1,000 parts and takes an astonishing 450 hours to build. Ford builds about a million F-150 pickup trucks in that same time. In fact, that 450 hours is about half th...

Could Pop-Up Street Charging Stations Solve Urban EV Problems? The biggest issue with owning an electric car is simply finding a place to charge the damn thing. If you have a charging station at home, that’s great but there’s still often a need to charge on the go and many owners don’t have the ability to install a home charging station. However, public charging infrastructure just isn’t enough in most parts of the world, so creative charging solutions are necessary to make EVs more usable in the real world. One such solution was created by UK startup Urban Electric, who developed a pop-up charging station for the street. Urban Electric develop this solution awhile back. They created these pop-up chargers that hide underground for the majority of the time but can...

BMW iX3 electric SUV production will kick off in Summer 2020 The BMW iX3 will kick-off its production in the Summer 2020. The first fully electric SUV will be built in China, but it won’t be coming to the United States. Despite the global pandemic, BMW CEO Oliver Zipse says that “the preparations are proceeding according to plan despite uncertainties that have resulted from the coronavirus pandemic.” BMW’s iX3 will also be the first model from Munich to use the flexible architecture that can underpin combustion engine, plug-in hybrid and battery-powered cars. The same flexible platform will be used by the i4 electric in 2021. View this post on Instagram First-ever BMW iX3 pics – no camouflage #leak #bmw #bmwix3 A post sha...

BMW X6 M Competition in Alpine White with Sakhir Orange interior The newest Bimmer on display at the Abu Dhabi dealership is the all-new BMW X6 M Competition (F96) featured in Alpine White exterior paintwork. The new generation BMW X6 M Competition is a gargantuan vehicle. The high-performance Sports Activity Coupe is the most powerful X6 model in history, boasting a peak output of no less than 625 PS (617 hp). The uni paint finish of the exterior ensures a great visual contrast with the high-gloss black body ornaments and the 21″/22″ alloys with a burnished grey look (code 818 M). The equipment list of the new X6 M Competition ordered by the Middle East BMW showroom also includes several M Performance Parts, such as the carbon fiber exterior mirrors and the carbon fiber tr...

RUMOR: No BMW X7 M Planned — X8 M Will Be Standalone Model Ever since the BMW X7 made its debut, there have been rumors surrounding a potential X7 M. Those rumors haven’t seem to have died down, as they still continue to trickle out. The most recent, but certainly not the only one, came from Motor Trend who reported on such a car. Obviously, we’re not trying to disparage any publication but we do want to clarify that, according to our sources at BMW, there is no X7 M currently in the works or even planned for the future. In fact, BMW has never planned on making an actually M Division variant of the X7. Instead, it’s given the gargantuan SUV an M Performance model and the ALPINA XB7, the latter of which is more powerful than almost any M Division product anyway. So ther...

VIDEO: Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce is a fascinating brand. Few brands of any kind have the sort of prestige as Rolls and few names are as instantly recognizable. It’s a brand that’s been around for over one hundred years and has built a reputation for making the most incredible luxury vehicles in the world. Because of its rich history and fascinating products, it’s a brand worth learning about. Which is what this video from Roadshow is about. In this video, we get to take a look at three cars from Rolls-Royce; the Phantom, Dawn and Cullinan; to check out how the famous Double-R brand tackles luxury in different ways. First up is the Phantom. While the Rolls-Royce Phantom has historically been a car to be driven in, rather than actua...

BMW Now uses AI in the painting process, for a perfect result BMW announced today the start of a new pilot aimed at using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the painting process. This way, BMW hopes to deliver the best possible paint quality, without any imperfections or dust particles in the mix. The first plant to get this new AI-powered process is the one in Munich and, if the results are satisfactory, all other plants worldwide will get the new technology consequently. According to BMW, every new car will be inspected in the paint shop before the actual process can kick off. Data gathered in these inspections will be used to develop a comprehensive database for dust particle analysis. The specialists are now applying AI algorithms to compare live data from dust particle sensors in the ...

VIDEO: Which BMW Engine is Better in the Toyota Supra? It’s no secret that the all-new Toyota Supra is powered by a BMW engine. That’s been well known for at least a year now. However, the Supra is now available with a choice of two BMW engines; the 382 horsepower version of BMW’s B58 3.0 liter turbocharged inline-six and a 255 horsepower version of BMW’s B48 2.0 liter turbo-four. The question that now remains is: which one is better? At its face, that might sound like a silly question. Of course, the more powerful engine is the better engine. Right? Well, maybe not. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, so there could be an argument made that the smaller engine is actually the better engine for the Toyota Supra. In this new video from Everyday Driver, we get...

BMW i4: 2021 Market launch not endangered Despite the COVID-19 setback, BMW’s plans for the future i4 electric car are still on track. In a detailed interview with the Austrian Industry Magazine, BMW’s Michael Schmidt and Markus Baumann talk in detail about the challenges of production preparation. According to the two engineers, even though some things are not absolute certainty at the moment, the BMW i4 is currently fully on schedule and nothing stands in the way of the market launch in 2021: “The project is at the moment completely in the green area,” Markus Baumann, Head of Test and Digital Commissioning, told the magazine. The purely electric BMW i4 is built in the BMW plant Munich on a production line with the current 3 Series and the other variants o...

Photo Comparison: BMW X7 M50i vs ALPINA XB7 As long as ALPINA models exist, there will be debate about whether or not they’re actually better than the standard BMWs on which they’re based. Typically, that question has an easy answer — “yes”. However with the new ALPINA XB7 and the BMW X7 M50i, that answer might not be so clear cut. The X7 M50i is already a seriously good performance SUV and the ALPINA XB7 might be the least upgraded ALPINA product we’ve seen in awhile. Though, we haven’t driven the new XB7 so we can only compare their style. Let’s dig in. Up front, they’re extremely similar cars. The biggest differences lie in the front air intakes and the kidney grille trim. The BMW X7 M50i looks sportier, with darker grille trim a...

Photo Comparison: ALPINA XB7 vs Mercedes-AMG GLS63 Mercedes-Benz has been at this game longer than BMW and far longer than ALPINA. Making big SUVs fast is something that the three-pointed star has been good at for ages. It all started with the Mercedes-Benz GL63 AMG, a three-row SUV with a stonking twin-turbocharged V8 a more performance than an SUV had the right to have. However, the folks in Stuttgart no longer have the monopoly on such cars, as BMW introduced an uber-fast, three-row SUV of its own — the ALPINA XB7. Admittedly, the XB7 isn’t actually an entirely BMW product. It started out life as one but then ALPINA took a standard BMW X7 and gave it some juice. Now, it’s stronger, faster and more luxurious and right in line with the fastest brute from Affalterbach ...

Video: Pickup BMW E46 M3 shows up at the Nurburgring Even though BMW M built quite a few interesting one-off concepts over the years, what you’re about to see was never part of their experimental process. BMW M is known for playing around with different concepts. A few years back, the company revealed some of its never-before seen contraptions, and took the world by surprise. While all of them were interesting, one body style combo you couldn’t find there was a BMW E46 M3 in pickup guise. There was one E30 M3 model turned pickup in that line-up, but not an E46 M3. In the past, we saw a Touring model on that platform which still haunts my dreams. But getting back to the video at hand here, what you’re going to spot during this Nurburgring Touristenfahrten day is a uniqu...

1972 BMW 3.0 CSL previously owned by Jay Kay going under the hammer The BMW 3.0 CSL is a legendary car for a couple of reasons. Even if we leave out the outrageous exterior design that earned it the “Batmobile” nickname, the 3.0 CSL is the first car developed under the Motorsport colors. The BMW M division was in its incipient phase back then and the 3.0 CSL helped it become the legendary division it is today. As if that wasn’t enough, today we’re showing you one that’s going under the hammer Saturday. This one was owned by Jamiroquai’s own Jay Kay. The singer/songwriter is known for his impressive collection of cars. He is one of those celebrities who has a real taste for cars and owned several special models over the years. This one is special as we...

Video: Is BMW Testing an M8 CS Convertible on the Nurburgring? Summer is coming up soon in Germany and the Nurburgring will become a perfect track for all sorts of tests. Especially since the unpredictable weather of the Eiffel Mountains will stop surprising everyone. This is now the perfect time to start testing again and BMW along with other manufacturers are making the most of it. As you’re about to see, all sorts of cars are being tested on the Green Hell right now, including a suspicious M8 Convertible in full camo. The BMW M8 was unveiled last year and has been on sale in all body types for quite some time. Therefore, seeing one in full camo on the Ring is a rather peculiar appearance. As you’d suspect, such a presence on the track wouldn’t go unnoticed and our t...

ALPINA XB7 – Download Your Wallpapers Today! The ALPINA XB7 coverage continues here with the first set of wallpapers. Courtesy of ALPINA, we can now share with you the XB7 in all its glory. The wallpapers below give us a closer look at the beautiful design of the ALPINA XB7, the first seven-seater luxury SUV from Buchloe. The new ALPINA XB7 joins the 7 Series-based ALPINA B7, and will sit at the top of the X7 lineup. And it’s the closest thing you can get to a BMW X7M. Compared to the “standard” V8 TwinTurbo, BMW’s 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 has been cranked up by ALPINA to 612 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque. The result is an impressive increase over the top X7 model – the X7 M50i which comes in at 523 hp and 553 lb-ft. The extra power takes the AL...

Rolls-Royce Gives us the Buzz for World Bee Day May 20 has been declared World Bee Day by the United Nations. At first, it might seem odd to dedicate an entire day to the same pesky insects that ruin backyard barbecues but bees are actually extraordinarily important to our entire way of life. Bees pollinate almost 90 percent of the world’s wild flowering plants and more than 75 percent of global food crops. So without bees, our food and plant life would soon die off. What’s frightening about that is the fact that bees are actually threatened by climate change and loss of habitat, all of which is due to us humans messing around. So the UN has declared May 20 World Bee Day, so we can all take a moment to appreciate those little buggers, who might sometimes be incredibly annoyi...

This is the new MINI Countryman powered by X-RAID The partnership between MINI Motorsport and the X-RAID rally team continues in 2020 with a new MINI Countryman model. According to a press release issued today, X-RAID is offering a special off-road package for the MINI Countryman. First off, the off-road package increases the ground clearance up to four centimeters. The increase of ground clearance is achieved through a combination of a two-centimeters aluminum body lift kit and larger rims and tires combination. The more robust wheels, together with tire with a higher sidewall, are the result of the Dakar Rally experience and they can help avoid tire damage. Furthermore, a wheels ring is used and therefore it is not necessary to replace the complete wheel in case of having a damage. A...

Chicagoland BMW Dealerships Team Up to Give Back During COVID-19 We currently face a pandemic like never before in our lifetime. COVID-19 has impacted not only just our country but the entire world. To do their part and help give back to the community, as well as the people helping to keep us safe, eleven dealerships from the Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana areas teamed up with BMW Central Region to help deliver goods to the people that need it most. The BMW dealerships also partnered up with Siebert Inc., a local Illinois company that specializes in making chemical products, to help deliver necessary hand sanitizers and wipes to people deemed high-risk during this crisis. Retirement communities, food pantries, shelters, hospitals, police departments and firehouses were all given sup...

2020 BMW X5 xDrive45e Review – The New Best Buy In the olden days, premium SUVs were not even a concept. Anything that rode as high as a modern SUV does today was deemed from the get go as a ‘utility vehicle’. Therefore, there was no need of such “luxuries” as leather upholstery or double-zone climate control. Cars back then were used in completely different ways. SUVs, in the meantime, became the norm and people just can’t seem to get enough of them these days. Since that’s the case, manufacturers have to adapt and offer different drivetrains to the customers, who are now seemingly hellbent on buying only high-riding cars. It first was the BMW X5 xDrive40e That’s probably what led to the introduction of the BMW X5 xDrive40e a few years back. N...