When you think of drifting, names like Nissan, Mazda, and now Ford come to mind, so when I found this video of BMW’s getting sideways I was quite excited. The Valvoline drift team is running all types of BMW’s new and old starting with a E30 M3 all the way up to the E46 and everything in between. It’s not every day you find euro drifting goodness professionally shot and set to good music so enjoy this little gem all the way from Poland.
(Source: Bimmer Post)
New to the BMW connected drive system will be the ability to use iPhone and other smartphone apps on a BMW’s navigation screen. By plugging in a phone into the car’s dock, the car and phone will be able to communicate. Certain apps which have the iPod-out software will appear in the same exact format that you see on your phone. Facebook and Twitter have their own car based view which will only allow you to read summaries of your friends posts, and allow the driver to make preset statuses. What I find the most exciting is the Pandora integration. With the connection of a smartphone and its 3G connection, the BMW will have a full featured Pandora interface which gives you access to all your stations, rate songs and create new stations all from the car. Once this feature is available in more cars, I think it may very well be the end of satellite radio. Overall, this new ConnectedDrive that will allow apps seems to be a huge game changer for BMW.
Akropovic Evolution a BMW tuning company has decided to put the top BMW car, the M3, against their top bike, the S 1000 RR. Both the bike and the car got some tuning work done then raced in an interesting format. The two competitors started on either ends of a track, and the goal was to catch the other. Not much else to say as the video explains it all, check out the video below of a M3 vs. a S 1000 RR.
(Source: BMW Blog)
Yep that’s right, the new baby BMW M1 has been declared faster than its older brother the M3. German Magazine Auto Motor Und Sport took both the cars out to Hockenheim racetrack to settle the sibling rivalry. The result was the M3 putting up a fastest lap time of 1:14.2 minutes and the M1 beating it with a time of 1:14.1 minutes. Their times are super close and with times like that it’s reasonable to assume that they will run about the same time with an average driver behind the wheel. Other cars the two beat out were the Audi TT RS and Porsche Cayman S with 1:15.0 and 1:14.3 times respectively. So, right now it would seem that BMW is the king of the German sports car jungle with both of their cars beating out the competition. Although they are only .1 second away on the track, the M1 comes in at over $11,000 cheaper than the M3 making it not only faster but a much better deal, so if it’s speed you’re after the M1 is the obvious choice.
Most of us will never get to visit that sick M Garage featured a few weeks ago, but you can go tour the new BMW Museum. Newly redesigned at the BMW headquarters in Munich, the BMW Museum has all things BMW. They have exhibits that display their design process, racing history, company history, motorcycles and more. And all of this is right next to the plant where you can take a tour to see how an amazing German automobile is made. The full video gives a much more eloquent description of each of the exhibits and shows off a collection of cars that make me not care that I can’t see the M garage. If your heading to Germany for a car vacation this new BMW Museum definitely should be on the list of things to do.
I’ll admit it, I have love the new M3 GTS and everything about it. So, I was happy to see that other people love it too like Viki from the British show Fifth Gear. For all the specifics you can see my initial write up on the car earlier this year here. Although the presenter may be a bit too enthusiastic about the car for my tastes it is a good sign she puts the M3 GTS on the same level as its rival the Porsche 911 GT3. On top of that it’s cool to finally see a video of the car around a track. This 25th anniversary track ready M3 GTS got great reviews from Fifth Gears’ tests, and hopefully we will see and hear more about this beautiful BMW soon.
(Source: Bimmerpost)
At the BMW Munich dealership another special edition M3 has hit the showroom. This M3 doesn’t have a tuned engine or a limited number, instead its got a crazy color. BMW calls it Java Green Metallic, but really it’s a lime green that normally stays reserved for Lamborghini’s and Pagani’s. Not only did BMW spice up the exterior but the stitching all over the car is done to match. The cost of this flashy paint job you ask? 102,450 Euros which is about 148,000 dollars. This includes every option the M3 has to offer including their M Drivers package and a raised top-speed of 174mph. With the M3 GTS, Frozen Black and now another special edition in Java Green, I wonder when this custom awesomeness will end? I hope not anytime soon, because you can never have enough special edition M3s.
(Source: BMW Blog)
The M3 GTS was limited to a few hundred, but the true 25th anniversary edition is the Frozen Black limited to a fitting 25 cars. With only 8 coming to America, you will be more likely to be hit by lightning than see one on the track or street. So, what makes this limited edition so special? It has a mate black paint job, black leather with read stitching, and gloss black 19″ rims. Then BMW turned to AC Schnitzer for some tuning perfection. AC Schnitzer added a new exhaust, intake, and tuned ECU which will be controlled by BMW’s standard dual clutch transmission found in the other M3s. Overall, this special BMW M3 Frozen Black looks amazing, and if you happen to see one, you may want to by a lotto ticket because it may be your lucky day.
