First it was Jeremey Clarkson calling it the most fun car of the year. Then we followed officially naming it the BimmerFile’s BMW of the year. Now another third of Top Gear has chimed in and given it top honors for 2011. Richard Hammond has named the 1M is own 2011 car of the year. Here’s an excerpt:
Visually, it tells you straightaway that while it might be still right now, what it wants to do more than anything is bounce up and down like a mad thing, crap on the rug and tear off with the TV remote in its teeth. Comparisons are made with the original BMW M3 every time this car is talked about, and with good reason. The M3, when it popped up in 1987, was adored for its track-derived focus, razor-sharp performance and fizzing, raucous energy.
Don’t worry. We won’t ruin it for you like other sites out there. But we do want to advise our readers that you should pick up a copy of the latest edition of EVO. Not only is it the annual ECOTY issue (EVO Car of the Year) but it also features the a couple of M cars prominently. And if you’ve been following EVO this year then you’ll know that the M5 and 1M are held in very high regard but what many proclaim as the best automotive magazine on the planet.
Chris Harris attended the same event M5 in Spain as us and he came away with some similar opinions (no surprise there as the car is sublime). He just posted his video diary on “evo” regarding his time in the all new M5. In this video he sets out to answer these five questions:
Has it got any range?
Has it got torque?
Can you not rev the tits off it and still go quite quickly?
Does its gearbox want to break your neck everytime you change gears quickly?
BMW is said to be developing a new brand of electric cars exclusive to China, giving into pressure from the Chinese authorities. “It will be a purely Chinese brand. It will have no connection with the BMW brand,” board member Friedrich Eichiner told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. He further stated that there would be a risk of brand dilution if the BMW moniker was utilized for the proposed vehicle.
In a strange twist we missed a recent Automotive News piece interviewing BMWNA CEO Jim O’Donnell. In this interview, he discusses the new 528xi coming this fall as well as the new 6 Series but buried in the interview is probably the most interesting bit of news.
Auto News Question: “In the overall luxury market, do you see movement toward more fuel-efficient vehicles? Do you see buyers dropping down in segments: 7 series to 5 series, 5 series to 3 series?
O’Donnell Answer: “I don’t see that. I see us giving the consumer greater choice of electric cars, hybrids, diesels, four-cylinder, six-cylinder, eight-cylinder and ultimately 12-cylinder engines. What we are doing is adding to our choice. We are adding new products at the bottom end, maybe at the top end as well, but volume-wise at the bottom end, where it will enable us to improve our overall average miles per gallon.”
We all know that the end of the naturally aspirated engine is history due to future emission regulations but what is the future? According to the WSJ it is at least for the short term, European luxury brands bringing some frugal powerplants that have been missing from US offerings. Audi and Mercedes Benz plan on offering more diesels, even in their flagship models the A8 and S Class. These diesels will boost each sedans fuel economy significantly and begs the question, Why has it taken so long?
Brilliance Automotive, BMW’s Chinese partner has recently unveiled an all new mid-sized car but its name is not so new- the 530. The Brilliance 530 will debut in 2012 and will feature a four cylinder with a minuscule 136hp output- not competition for a real 530i. We find this idea utterly amusing, BMW’s own partner is now using the German’s naming convention…
BMW and Brilliance also recently unveiled a plugin hybrid 5 Series designed for the expansive Chinese market.
Our readers have commented over the years that BMW should have brought a 5 Series diesel to market when they re-introduced oil burners to the US.
The model that everyone has been clamoring for is the 535d and The Diesel Driver went to Europe to drive just that model.
It comes as no surprise to us that the editor drooled over the 535d’s balance of luxury, power and efficiency. We wouldn’t expect anything different from a turbo diesel powered BMW.
“On our 528 km (328 mile) drive from Munich to Bratislava to Vienna and back to Munich, the 535d delivered excellent real-world fuel economy, using only 7.1 l/100 km (34 mpg) at an average speed of 111 km/h (68.9 mph).”
BimmerFile is dedicated to bringing you the most interesting news, links and reviews related to the BMW brand and it's vehicles.
We believe in the old school BMW ownership experience. We believe in garage nights with a six pack and some friends. We believe in 2002s, in E30 M3s and E34 540s with the 6 speed. We believe in progress in both design and engineering but we haven't lost sight of what made the brand and its products great all those years ago. And yes, we believe in the manual transmission.
We long for the days of the wave and for the days of roll-up windows. Yet we love the gadgets on the inside and the xenons on the outside.
In short, we can't get enough of BMWs. This is BimmerFile.
Sections: //1M\\, In the Press Dec 31st, 2011 5 Comments 
![](http://03071c2.netsolhost.com/blog1/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/brilliance-530-4.jpg" "Brilliance 530")
