Dec 22nd, 2011
2011 saw us in everything from a 1973 3.0 CSL to the 2013 F10 M5. Thousands of horsepower, countless black tire marks and a mountain of miles ticked off of odometers meant 2011 was a great year. Our favorite reviews and drives? For me it had to be a combination of the 1973 CSL, 2011 1 Series M Coupe and the surprising 2012 650i. Surely Michael would likely have to hold up the M5 launch in Spain (among others). Which ever was the best drive, we at BF agree on one thing. Even with all the great BMWs released this year, there was a clear winner.
And due to it’s voluptuous hips, brash attitude and it’s embrace of the future while looking to the past, it was an easy choice. (drum roll please)
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Oct 21st, 2011
We recently had the opportunity to sit down with the Head of Product Development for BMW M, Albert Biermann. He was bombarded by questions from us and other journalists and he did his best to answer them as candidly as possible. We touched on many points but there were a few that had more weight to us than others.
There was no talking about future offerings, so no F80 M3 info or anything specific about the M6 aside from it is coming next summer. What he was able to answer gave us a great deal more information about what goes into making an M.
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Oct 6th, 2011
It’s rare when someone affects our lives as much as Steve Jobs has. Whether you have an iPhone in your pocket or not, Steve Jobs has defined our technological present and future more than any one man in the world. And today he passed away at a young 56.
When the iPod Mini was released, Steve said Apple was inspired by the minimalist design of the MINI itself. He thought the MINI was cool because it was small. Less is more was the idea and the iPod Mini delivered on that in a new smaller form-factor. Why does it matter to us? Because here was a man that created the future by looking at what was around him. In this case it was the MINI that inspired his team. In other cases it was the button on a Lecia Camera. Whatever the situation was, Steve took what was right in the world and created something inspired and new. And ultimately something that changed the world in which we live.
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Sep 13th, 2011
We are LIVE at the Frankfurt IAA. Over the next few days we will be bringing you photos and stories from Germany’s largest auto show.
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Aug 28th, 2011
Once each year, 200 pieces of rolling art roll onto the 18th green at Pebble Beach golf course. And every year we see distance images of perfect classic cars being presented by (normally) wealthy car enthusiasts in hopes of winning it all. But what about all the work and build-up to the moment?
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Jul 29th, 2011
We were in attendance during today’s unveiling of the BMWi i3 & i8 Concepts and are digesting all of the information we obtained. While we gain some composure and put pen to paper or more so in our case fingers to keys- enjoy the photos from the Frankfurt. (Full gallery after the break)
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Mar 7th, 2011
In 2001 BMW shook-up the automotive world with iDrive. There were those who loved the concept. In fact Jeremy Clarkson had this to say, “I know it sounds frightening, having one button which does everything, but think of it as the mouse on a computer and it makes perfect sense.” And then there were those that hated the concept. Most arguments centered on the array of confusing menus and the hidden functionality behind them. And there were many people who were simply unconvinced and believed dozens of buttons were simpler solution. But what many missed was that BMW didn’t invent something to simply show that they were progressive. What they were doing was separating driving from information and entertainment functions and thus separating displays from the controls. In other words the main force behind iDrive was to make cars safer.
Fast forward to 2011 and the world has changed even further. We consume data at a rate markedly faster than ten years ago. And with new technology creeping into cars via smartphones there’s a new challenge with technology like iDrive. Thankfully BMW has learned a lot in the years following the launch of that first iDrive HMI system (an industry acronym for human machine interface). They’ve evolved the concept to allow for shortcuts and much more intuitive operation. But more importantly they’ve created a platform that can act as a vehicle for enormous amount of new functionality that weren’t available in 2001. And on top of it all they’ve made it easier to use. How did they manage to pull it off? Read on…
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Feb 28th, 2011
Over the past few days we’ve experienced some extraordinary moments at BMW HQ in Munich. Of course we can’t show you some of the more interesting ones (cameras weren’t allowed inside the Fiz for instance) but we can show you over 200 photos of the BMW Welt, Four Cylinder building and inside the BMW Museum (and the new Art Car exhibit). We’ll have more on the latter soon. Until then, enjoy the photos. (Fully gallery after the break)
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