BMW is finally doing something they should have done a long time ago: Add all wheel drive (what BMW calls xDrive) to their top of the line 7 series. Their 3 and 5 series has it, why not the 7? What, rich people don’t need more traction? They don’t drive in snow or something … one way or the other, BMW has seen fit to give its top of the line AWD, and the technical details are, as always, interesting, and very German.
Alex Zanardi won back-to-back races in Brno, the Czech Republic this past weekend’s FIA World Touring Car Championship. Along with co-driver Sergio Hernández this makes it four wins out of the last six races in Brno for Roberto Ravaglia’s racing team and it was Zanardi’s fourth WTCC win
So what, a racer won a race, what’s the big deal? The big deal is that Alex Zanardi has artificial legs, and for all intents and purposes, he should have died eight years ago.
This is a bit old, so forgive me if you’ve heard of this ridiculous story already.
But— it seems like one dude, after suffering from a distorted “pimp sense” and chronic inferiority syndrome, decided to fix up his life and boost his self esteem…..by plating his BMW M5 in gold, complete with a chrome (platinum?) racing stripe.
There are several parts I don’t understand about his decision. First off, why? Second, if your self esteem was truly that low, why plate a M5? I assume that he is not short of money, with gold hovering at around 1000 dollars an ounce, so why not plate your Ferrrari? Or Bentley? Or Rolls? And third, if you get clipped, scratched, dented, or impacted in any way, it’s gonna be GOLD that falls off your car, instead of paint. Not to mention the problem of thieves trying to shave off your handles.
More pictures after the jump: Continue Reading…
BMW, a company that has been obsessed with technology since they started, recently showed off a bunch of what it considers answers to offsetting carbon emissions in London. Makes sense. London has been on the forefront of emissions regulations in Europe, and is also a large market for what BMW makes.
The real question is whether BMW’s low carbon technologies will make it to the States.
Is Subaru Moved Into German Territory? Or more precisely, “Has the 2010 Subaru Legacy Moved Into German Territory?” was the brief question offered up by the fine folks at Edmund’s the other day. Whether it was a coincidence or not, I happened to be thinking the same thing.
It looks like BMW was serious about not only building an electric version of its MINI (all caps, and boy is that lame), but they’re also serious about actually selling the things. Not that there’s anything wrong with these ideas at all, just ask Peter Trepp of Pacific Palisades California, because he’s the first guy in the country to get one.
Other MINI customers in Los Angeles, New York and New Jersey will take delivery of MINI Es by the end of June, but Peter Trepp is the lucky #1 when it comes to this car.
So what sort of person do you think would be the kind of guy that would jump through all the various hoops to actually get a MINI E (and you know that getting one of these quiet little runabouts wasn’t like going to the store to pick up a loaf of bread)? Continue Reading…
