Section: Opinion
Jan 7th, 2012
Usually when I sit down to write an opinion piece I write it six or seven times. Yes, I am a bit nuts (as regulars here can surely attest) but I try my best to be as honest as possible and to not napalm everything. This time this is a first draft stream of thought and it will be as raw as I can get without needing the bleep half of it out.
A person in the business, BMW’s of course, recently told me that I am often a bit negative and I should try to be a more positive when it comes to what BMW has to currently offer. Here comes my candor, I am not some guy stuck in the past that doesn’t embrace technology or progress. I am not bemoaning the demise of the Weber carb and the eight track or the fact the dealer or someone with a specialized computer needs to wrench on my car. What is annoying me at this moment is the softening of BMW at its core and the establishment of BMW Performance and M as the only way to get back what was just there a few years ago, namely handling, feel and sound.
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Dec 27th, 2011
I need room. Two kids under three means at least one of my cars has to now be able to do some serious family hauling every so often. So my wonderful 2004 330i ZHP has to go. But the problem is, what to replace it with?
Given my need for performance, a hint of efficiency and the desire to feel like I’m driving a sports sedan, the only choice is to go with a wagon.
Since BMWNA axed the 5 Series wagon anyone looking for utility within the BMW range was either forced in the 3 Series wagon or up into the SAV range. The problem is that there are many people that don’t want a crossover and need something a bit larger than the current 3er wagon. And with the larger F31 3 Series wagon at least a year off, the only choice is either a used 5 series wagon or to look at other brands.
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Dec 14th, 2011
This may come as a huge surprise, but like Gabe, I actually am a fan of the new 6 Gran Coupe. Since we first heard that BMW was going to build this car I’ve been a skeptic- with good reason as it is entering a market full of coupes that are sedans. There is a Benz, a VW, and an Audi to go along with an Astin and I’m sure I’m missing one or two that are being touted as four door coupes (Panamera?). I don’t understand the fascination with this concept but it seems to sell in acceptable numbers.
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Oct 29th, 2011
I’ve known about this comparo for a few weeks now and have had some time to let it gel in my brain a bit. I learned of these results at a recent event where one of Motor Trend’s regulars was in attendance (great guy). This nameless individual was discussing how both Pobst and Bell came away unhappy with the 1M on the track. He continued on that they BOTH said the brakes in the 1M were horrible and how they warped the rotors. They also BOTH said the car was understeering enormously and wouldn’t turn in. Me being me, I called this out as this differed significantly from my experiences, I tend to express my take on things and opinion quite often (for better or worse).
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Oct 20th, 2011
It has been nearly a week since BMW took the wraps off the all new 3 Series sedan. I’ve read complaints ranging from the exterior is bland to the interior is too busy. I have yet to be confronted with the issue that iDrive will be standard. Where are all those that gap their own spark plugs and rock out to 8 tracks? Seriously, less than 5 years ago I recall many complaining about how BMW will be ruined if they make iDrive standard as nobody wants that screen and system in their car, a car is for driving and all those electronics are just distracting.
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Sep 27th, 2011
Before we dig in and let our views on this highly controversial subject fly we need to take a trip in the not-so way back machine. The year is 2009, and we are at Road Atlanta for the X6 ///M launch. The inter webs were full of hate towards this vehicle for taking ///M to turbo charging, SAVs and all wheel drive. These were a lot of things a lot of people wanted to hate but they also didn’t want to learn or look deeper into what M was doing with this and the X5 for the future of performance and the brand.
Taking the X6 ///M on the track, putting it through its paces and being amazed at how well it drove at 10/10ths there was little for journalists to bemoan except the huge weight, the soundtrack that came out of the exhaust and the limited sound that entered the cabin. The X6 M introduced many of us to cylinder deactivation on shifts but that combined with the cross bank manifold and strange firing order of the S63 created less than a harmonious sound. Many including us referred to it less than affectionately as a burp or even worse, a flatuant.
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Aug 30th, 2011
When BMWi revealed the i3 and i8 Concept cars last month in Frankfurt they introduced the world to the future of production automobiles. In a way paralleling a future that was proposed by American brands to come many decades sooner than now. During the 1950s and 1960s concept cars were used to drive interest to individual brands and pique the interest of consumers that were intrigued by all the advances in technology- space travel, and atomic energy rather than to tout a specific model. Flying cars, atomic cars, electric cars and lightweight cars made out of inexpensive aluminum with large glass domes were all the rage.
The promise of the Detroit brands was that by the 1980s Americans would be taking their seats in self propelled (coincidently the i3 will be able to drive itself in traffic!) or flying cars that were fast, luxurious, efficient and required little maintenance. The style of these concepts was straight out of the eras designer’s dreamed up future; one we should be living in now if progress was how these visionaries intended, the Jetson’s era should be upon us.
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Jul 28th, 2011
What began as a bet with myself turned into one heck of a day, one of the most memorable solo days in a car not on a track in a long time. The “bet” or shall we call it a race- was if I could beat high speed rail back home after picking up an unnamed press demonstrator in Munich. Mind you I was taking the Inter City Express, or ICE for short, Germany’s version of a bullet train. According to the DB schedule and the website’s estimates my trip would be just over 90 minutes including a transfer. ViaMichelin.com estimated my time in the car on the return trip to be 10 minutes longer- hog wash!
I happened to miss the afternoon rush hour escape from Munich thanks to careful planning. This plan centered around my hopes to get on the autobahn when it was after dinner and most Bavarians would be settling down for the night at home after eating a heavy dinner. I’d like to think of my plan as a smart one and smart people tend to think alike (or so people say), so to my surprise I saw some headlights I was not familiar with in my dazzle dipped rear view. These lights were insanely bright, looked very white and LED lit, as the car closed on me I saw squared off Angel Eyes. Could this be my first real life encounter with a moving F30 3 Series?
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