First Drive: 2012 BMW 1 Series M Coupe Prototype
Almost since the launch of BMW‘s pocket-size 1 Series, an BMW M version has been predicted. The tii concept car shown at the 2007 Tokyo motor show was the first harbinger, and the blogosphere has barely quieted down since. One of the biggest questions: What would they call it? Millennial enthusiasts might assume M1, but grownups associate that name with BMW’s first modern mid-engine supercar, so that name was a non-starter (it’s being reserved for something more fabulous than the lowest-priced M vehicle). Instead it will be dubbed 1 Series M Coupe.
That name also draws a connection to this latest M’s true predecessor, the quirky two-seat Z3 and BMW Z4 M Coupes. Okay, it’s around a foot longer, seats four, and weighs a few hundred pounds more, but in its cheeky styling and narrow, nippy demeanor it passes the paternity test. BMW has not released many official details about the 1 M (it breaks cover officially in Detroit in January), but during a recent tech-day visit to Munich the engineers let us take a quickie test drive and either admitted to or winked and nudged at the following facts:
Categories: Auto Review, BMW, Car Review, Sedan Tags: BMW
Second Drive: 2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T
Here in the U.S., the mid-size sedan market is thought to be all but impregnable to newcomers. Ruled for decades by models that have become icons of the industry, the segment has enjoyed a long and peaceful reign by the likes of the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. But the funny thing about success is that if you’re not very, very careful, it breeds complacency. While the titans of the four-door kingdom have been sleeping on beds of cash made on the innovations of two decades ago, Hyundai has been busily polishing its reputation and pouring over $550 million into fresh research and development for new and advanced drivetrains for its 2011 Hyundai Sonata.
One of the long accepted tenants of the mid-size sedan is “Thou Shalt Have a Six-Cylinder Option.” Ironically enough, this mode of thought arose as a challenge to the previously held belief that if you wanted to move four-doors in America, you had to offer a V8 under the hood. But when Japan’s Big Three proved they could dish out V8 horsepower with six-cylinder fuel economy, the eight-cylinder family hauler all but disappeared from the scene. Now, Hyundai is out to repeat history by debuting a turbocharged four-cylinder designed to rattle the cages of Toyota, Honda and Nissan.
Categories: Auto Review, Car Review, Hyundai, Sedan Tags: Hyundai
Drive Experience: 2010 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG w/P31 Development Package
Roger Daltrey has gone on record as saying that in the Who’s early days, they were paid ?75 to ?150 a show, yet they would bust-up around ?250-300 worth of gear every time they took to the stage. That’s bad math. Similarly, Mercedes-Benz asks those willing to pay $57,350 for its least expensive AMG model – the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG – to pony up a further $5,950 for the new-for-2010 P31 AMG Development Package that adds 30 horsepower, uprated brakes and a passel of miscellaneous hi-po gear.
From the perspective of a rational consumer, this too, fails to add up, as the standard-issue C63 is already a hooligan’s hooligan, a car from which no sane individual would walk away wishing for bigger stones. But as with Daltrey’s Who, the C63 is a fantastically overachieving beast of rather pedestrian roots, and when it comes down to it, adding the Dev Pack promises to be like dropping off Pete Townshend in the brand-new lobby of a mid-’60s Holiday Inn. With a set of Marshall stacks. Drunk and fresh off a painful breakup. In other words, it might not make a whole lot of sense or be a particularly wise financial decision, but it’s also a brave call with the glorious potential for unbridled mayhem.
Categories: Auto Review, Car Review, Mercedes-Benz, Sedan Tags: Mercedes-Benz
Audi S7 likely headed for Paris Motor show, TT RS for U.S. decision imminent
Autoblog is driving the stunning new Audi A7 Sportback at its international media launch this week in Sardinia, and the scuttlebutt around the hotel bar is that a hotter performance variant, the Audi S7, will make its debut at the Paris Motor Show in the coming weeks.
With garden-variety U.S. A7 five-door powered by the latest evolution of Audi’s supercharged 3.0-liter TFSI six-cylinder engine backed by a ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic, it will be interesting to see what the higher-performance S7 brings to the party. As is often the way with such things, Audi representatives here on the Mediterranean island are stopping just short of confirming the debut altogether, and they certainly aren’t telling us what will lurk under in the engine bay of the all-wheel drive hatchback.
Categories: Audi, Auto Show, Hatchback, Paris Motor Show, Sedan Tags: Audi, Paris Motor Show
Car Review: 2010 Lexus HS 250h
Lexus likes to say that it pursues perfection. Toyota’s luxury brand has been playing the hybrid game for a while now with converted gas-powered models like the LS, GS and RX hybrids, and few would argue that these models represent the zenith of what a luxury hybrid can be. For that, Lexus finally decided to build a dedicated hybrid model from the ground up, and the result is the HS 250h.
Being that the brand’s parent company builds the Prius, the industry benchmark for hybrids in terms of both fuel efficiency and popularity, Lexus has, on the one hand, a much deeper well of hybrid expertise from which to draw than its competition. On the other hand, it has the toughest act to follow in the third-generation Prius. In the minds of many, a true Lexus hybrid should be everything Toyota’s magic bean is and more – it should be the perfect Prius.
Categories: Auto Review, Car Review, Hybrid, Lexus, Sedan Tags:
2012 Mercedes CLS brochure images leaked – plus latest Nurburgring shots
Whoops! The men and women in Stuttgart weren’t planning to unveil the new Mercedes-Benz CLS just yet, but the crew from eMercedesBenz snagged these leaked images showing the new four-door coupe in all its production-ready glory.
As expected, the new CLS takes a lot of its styling cues from Benz’s Shooting Break concept (they’re name, not ours) notably the upright grille and more aggressive front fascia. The sectioned-off headlamp design has also remained intact, and from these photo-realistic renderings, it looks like someone shot the CLS in the eyes with lemon juice. Still, we’re eager to see how this mix of LEDs looks out on the road at dusk. The CLS also uses the more shapely rear hips of the Shooting Break concept, rounding out the revised rear end. It’s certainly more stylish than the outgoing CLS, which says a lot.
Categories: Mercedes-Benz, Sedan Tags: Mercedes-Benz
2011 BMW 550i xDrive debuts along with M-Sport package
Heading into the 2011 model year, BMW is adding even more powertrain variants across its lineup. The most likely candidate for the U.S. market is the 550i xDrive sedan. The 407 horsepower twin-turbocharged V8 can send its 400 pound-feet of torque to all four wheels with the rears getting 60 percent of the grunt. The front-to-rear balance can be adjusted on the fly based on traction conditions, and if the car is cornering, more torque is sent to the back freeing up the fronts for steering force.
In Europe, at least, BMW is also bringing back the 535d, but instead of the previous twin-turbo setup (which is still used in the U.S.) it has a single twin-scroll turbocharger. Output for the top diesel is now up to 300 hp and 446 lb-ft of torque from just 1,750 rpm. Acceleration to 62 mph takes just 5.7 seconds with combined mileage on the EU driving cycle being rated at 38.6 miles per gallon. We already got an early look at the new M Sport package yesterday which gives the 5 Series a slightly toned down M5 appearance.
First Drive: 2011 Porsche Panamera conceals a V6 but gives up little else in the transplant
We’re the lone vehicle in the far left lane of the Autobahn outside of K?ln, Germany. The traffic has lightened, so we mash the accelerator to the floor. While we pull strongly up to about 200 km/h (about 125 mph), the speedometer counts much more slowly as it spins around the right side of the dial. Moments later, the digital indicator on the cluster passes 250 km/hr (155 mph). The late-model BMW 5 Series trailing in our wake has met its electronic speed limiter, so it slowly falls away in our rearview mirror. It takes another ten seconds for the display to stop counting and hover at 261 km/hr (160 mph). Bringing our fun to an end, traffic on the horizon forces us to drop back down to more reasonable speeds just a few seconds later.
Northern Europe is the ideal venue to drive Porsche‘s latest Panamera models, each fitted with new 300 horsepower 3.6-liter V6 powerplants. We spent time driving both the rear- and all-wheel drive models in crowded cities, the open countryside and unrestricted highways. Where did the new V6 come from and what makes it unique? Where does the powerplant position the Porsche Panamera in relation to its competition and what is its new price point?
Categories: Auto Review, Car Review, Hatchback, Porsche, Sedan Tags: Porsche
First Drive: 2010 Saab 9-5 proves being born from chaos builds character
A funny thing happened on the way to bankruptcy court for General Motors. As part of a bid to have its red-stained slate wiped clean, it moved to divest itself of a number of brands in its bloated portfolio, with Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and Saab all earmarked for sale or closure. However, only one brand inspired sufficient passion among both owners and those with the financial wherewithal to rescue it from GM‘s ‘wind-down’ apple polishers. Oddly enough, it was the tiny Swede that successfully swam out to the life raft. Saab, the marque with the smallest and oldest product lineup, lowest volume, and the poorest brand recognition among American consumers somehow found a way to survive.
How, exactly, did this come to pass? For starters, unlike any other of GM’s death-row divisions, owners and fans rallied in dozens of countries, urging anyone who listened to “Save Saab.” Now, we’re not na?ve enough to think that a band of loyalists were all it took to change the course of automotive history, but it’s telling that there were no pitchforks and torches – or even a handful of picket signs – produced over the axing of the other brands. Saab remains a seldom understood, much loved brand, and we know that the displays of unity from Saab’s scorned faithful stoked the fire of unlikely suitor Victor Muller, CEO and owner of Spyker Cars, as his team waded through a stomach-churning series of negotiations. After watching from the sidelines while bids by other small automakers and investment groups fizzled, the Dutch businessman and his team eventually pried the battered brand away from GM – but not before Saab had been partially liquidated.
Categories: Auto Review, Car Review, Saab, Sedan Tags:
2010 Beijing Motor Show Preview: Geely reinvisions London’s iconic taxi with its Englon TXN
Geely may be content to let Volvo do its thing without any apparent outside intervention (at least for now), but the Swedish brand’s new parent company apparently has its heart set on unleashing a wave of taxis on England. A set of renderings just hit the web featuring a freshly designed taxi rolling through London. Called the Englon TXN, the car is slated for an official unveil at the Bejing Motor Show at the end of this month.
Details are scarce at the moment, but the car’s design takes a modern spin on the classic look of the old British taxis. While the exterior shots almost look to be Photoshop creations, the interior pictures appear to be the real deal, and it features a rather nifty driver-centric cockpit.
Categories: Beijing Motor Show, Concept Cars, Sedan Tags:
