BMW M Models 2013 News

Well that's one of the rumours coming out of Europe as BMW's M division moves into top gear for the next-generation M5. Unlike typical regenerative braking systems, KERS uses the stored energy for extra power and the touch of a button. The next-generation 5 Series upon which the M5 is based is expected to be shown at this year's Frankfurt Motor Show with the M5 expected to follow late next year or early 2011. BMW Australia's Toni Andreevski says he's not aware of the next-generation's M5's specification, or powerplants. Some reports have suggested BMW will downsize from the massive V10 to a twin-turbo V8 while other sources are suggesting the V10 will grow in capacity to 5.5-litres developing around 410kW and introduce direct injection and turbocharging. "Whether or not the new M5 would have a smaller overall capacity or less cylinders, I guess the first priority is to make sure the performance meets what an M5 buyer expects," Andreevski says.

The new car market is facing the doldrums, but BMW will inject some red-hot summer sizzle to the family sports saloon mix next weekend (SUBS Nov 22) with the launch of its first - for Australia - M3 with four doors. The sports saloon market has been dominated by the potent 6.2-litre Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG saloon, leaving rival BMW out in the cold with nothing in its weaponry to counter. But that's all about to change. BMW's 4.0-litre V8-packing M3 sedan will join the M3 coupe and cabriolet to give its German rival a serious run for its money. The M3 saloon will hit the streets running with, according to BMW, a price advantage over C63 AMG - but that depends on how you look at it. The Benz sells for $144,365 and comes with a seven-speed auto G-tronic transmission. The base M3 with a six-speed manual box has been priced at $145,000 which is $17,901 under the M3 coupe and $31,142 cheaper than the M3 cabriolet. But the M3 saloon fitted with BMW's new Getrag seven-speed dual clutch robotised sequential manual/auto is priced at $152,309. BMW charges a hefty $7309 just for the sequential box. BMW spokesman Toni Andreevski says the M3 manual still holds a price advantage over the C63 AMG: "The M3 saloon comes standard with a rear locking axle which Benz sells as a $5826 option and our saloon has keyless entry; Benz charges $1800 for that as an option and there's no 19-inch alloy wheel availability on the Mercedes." BMW sells the optional larger wheels for an extra $4000. The five-seater M3 offers serious performance from its 309kW V8 with 400Nm on tap which redlines at 8400rpm. Andreevski expects most buyers will opt for the dearer version of the M3 because it packs more performance for less fuel usage over the manual. The dual clutch model is marginally quicker, if set in launch mode, taking a claimed 4.7 seconds to hit 100km/h; the conventional manual takes 4.9 seconds. BMW says the semi-auto is rated at 11.9l/100km, while the best the manual can do is 12.4l/100km. Standard gear includes a brake regeneration system which recharges the battery on overrun or braking, and 18-inch alloys shod with 245/40 ZR-rated rubber up front and 265/40s in the rear. The optional 19-inch alloys have an even lower profile, with 345/35 up front and 265/35 in the rear. The saloon also boasts a full satellite navigation system with 8.8-inch colour monitor, TV, LOGIC7 hi-fi, bi-Xenon headlamps, Novillo leather upholstery, and M-seats which are power adjustable and heated.    

The first words you hear when you tell someone you’ve just been rocketing around a race track are always the same: “Wow. How fast did you go?”Sadly, my answer to this is always a disappointment: “I have no idea; I was too scared to look.”So, last week, when I was invited to tackle BMW’s mumbo-tastic M3 for the first time in the challenging environs of Eastern Creek, I decided to fix this.As hard as it was to keep the speedo needle in focus, because it moves clockwise at such a fierce pace, I did my best. And the numbers I saw do tell at least part of the story about what a beast this car is.Coming out of the hairpin Turn 9 and pelting towards the kinky Turn 10, the M3 rocketed to 180km/h… in third gear. Yes, “wow” is the appropriate response to that, although I think it sounded like “ow”, or “ow my God” from the driver’s seat.The way the bravura Beemer went from a lazy 120km/h coming out of the final Turn 13 to 220km/h down the straight (I think it was in fifth by then, sixth gear being, obviously, for cruising at its limited top speed of 250km/h) can only be described as effortless.A proper driver would have been going a lot faster before dropping back to fourth – a down-change I struggled with several times, which probably has more to do with my shaking hands than any gearbox foibles – and hurling into the Creek’s testicular Turn One. Glancing away from the blurring horizon for a split second, I noted that we were doing a ballistic 170km/h at the midpoint of the corner. Again, wow, but nowhere near as wow as the pro steerers, who would easily carry 200km/h plus through there.And there’s so much torque, everywhere that you have to reassess your gear choices. You really don’t need second at all around the Creek, unless you just want to make a lot of noise.The new, V8-throated M3 is quick, then. Quick like Adam Spencer, or Robin Williams. Quick like Ben Johnson. Quick like a Porsche, but much cheaper.I’d known this would be the case, of course, because I’d salivated over the specs like the rest of you – 0 to 100km/h in 4.8 seconds, a full 0.4 seconds faster than the already awesome old car.You know that’s fast, but you have to feel it to believe it, just like the fact that it can go from 100km/h back to zero in 2.4 seconds. What makes the car such a terrific track weapon is that braking ability. You can go harder, deeper and later than ever before, and that makes for one adrenaline-surge of a lap.I’d also seen the pictures before we met, but they don’t do justice to just how hulking the presence of this new super coupe is. The bonnet bulge, the flared nostrils, the quad pipes and rear spoiler. This car has all the visual aggression that early Q car versions of the M3 eschewed, and then some.It’s also got the sexiest roof in the business – not a phrase I’ve written very often – because it’s made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic, to reduce weight and lower the centre of gravity. And to look very cool.Beneath that bulky, hulky bonnet sits the raging heart of the new machine – four litres of pure goodness, producing 309kW and 400Nm, and revving to a stop-it-my-ears-hurt 8400rpm.Only your ears don’t really hurt, in practice, they just sing. Particularly from 5000rpm upwards, the point at which all eight throttle bodies open and the beast is let fully off the leash.It’s a deep, sonorous scream but, as lustrous as it is, I still prefer the unique note of the old, comparatively weedy six-cylinder M3, which sounded heavy metallic.Of course, now that this version exists, you’d never really want to go back.The best news of all, though, is that what really made the old car, and the M3s before it, so good is still what’s best about the new one – the way it steers and handles.The new uber 3 feels heavier in the hands, but not in an unpleasant way – it just seems beefier than before, like you’ve gone from wrestling a steer to throttling a wildebeest.This car is beautifully balanced and wonderfully chuckable, and the sport settings for the traction control allow you to let it slide out the tail just enough to be exciting.Heart in your cheeks, sweat on your backside exciting.In fact, the new M3 is so track-tastic that, I must admit, it intimidated me for, ohh, about 10 laps. Then I had about five laps where I was really, really enjoying myself – hooting and hollering with joy at how good it felt to corner, how hard it kicked my spine under full throttle – and then a final three laps where I thought “Hey, you should really go back into the pits before you get hurt, Mr Thinks He’s a Boy Racer.”Of course, all these speeds and thrills are a million miles away from the real world, and I’m yet to drive BMW’s new hero on an actual real-world street, but first impressions are very important.And my first impression is that, for $157,000, BMW is offering you a superlative, semi-supercar for what is, relatively speaking, a bargain price.And it’s not often you see the words “bargain” and “BMW” in the same sentence.

   

The 3 Series sedan, Touring (wagon) and Coupe all get the treatment to enhance buyers' choice. The M Sports package offered on the 3 Series Coupe is for drivers who want to get some of the reflected glory of the potent M3 model. Yet the M Sports pack is not just dress-up; it promises extra grip through larger wheels and tyres and lowered, sports suspension. The M Sports pack is available on the BMW Coupes in 323i, 325i and the exciting twin-turbo 335i versions at a premium of $6200, $4700 and $2600. The price varies because of the standard equipment on those models. The M Sports pack has asymmetric 18-inch diameter wheels. These are 8J wide for the front with 225/40 tyres, while at the rear the wheels are 8.5J and are fitted with 255/35 tyres. An option is 19-inch alloys; 8J at the front with 225/35 tyres and 9J at the rear with 255/35 tyres. The sports suspension, which is part of the pack, lowers the Coupe by 15mm. The M Sports pack brings a more aggressive design to the front of the Coupe, including larger intakes. It has sideskirts and distinctive rear bumper panels to aid aerodynamics. Inside, the pack adds sports seats to give greater lateral support when cornering and a leather-clad steering wheel with leather touches on the shift lever and handbrake. The M Sports pack can be ordered on BMW 3 Series Coupes from November. An Individual Luminance Edition is available on 3 Series sedans; bringing special exterior paint and higher levels of luxury. Seats and door inserts have Merino (cattle) leather. Sports seats and luxury steering wheel add to the package, which costs $7500. The Individual Luminance can be ordered on all 3 Series sedans; 320i, 320d, 323i, 325i and 335i.  

While Andretti's comments were motor racing-related they conversely were relevant to road car technology. Sitting in the lagoon restaurant of the Marriott Hotel at Surfers Paradise, Andretti was having a good old natter about whether driving skill has been taken away in this age of electronic overload. “I look at the computer as a tool and I've said it a thousand times, a tool to advance your knowledge.” The 1978 F1 world champion qualified his opinion by saying “a computer does not do the work for you — it gives you information. “But you have to ask the computer what you want to know therefore it's not a substitute for what you know.” That conversation was recalled when a letter to the editor in an issue of Forbes magazine in March appeared where a reader proclaimed his horror at electronic advances in cars. He wrote: “Allowing software unfettered control of our automobiles removes one of our chief assets; human decision making.” Well thanks for coming and don't mind us because for all the fancy pants technology there isn't a car you can buy that does the driving for you. The letter writer suggested if a child stood in the middle of the road and a car was programmed not to swerve into another car then it may instead swerve towards the child and put it at risk of being run over. One car which ranks as a gold medallist in terms of electronic wizardry, if not complexity, is BMW's M6 convertible. For $296,000 there are a trillion things you can program it to do — but you can't program it to run over a human. The M6 soft top possesses the same complex and sometimes awkward SMG Drivelogic 7-speed transmission attached to the 5-litre V10 engine as the hell-raising M5. But the real trickery is in the spider's web framework of M car's software. The driver has an arsenal of tricks from which to chose, depending on mood, road conditions or whether you can hire a track for a day to let the full complement of the M6's considerable athletic juices flow. There are a welter of different settings to suit your taste with the EDC (Electronic Damper Control) smoothing, or firming, ride in three distinct settings. The SMG gearbox is good for 11 different driving programs — six for manual S mode and five in automatic or D mode. Most are plain useless and make you wonder why BMW don't simplify the whole deal and cut the number of settings to normal, sporty, and hyper performance, for example. In sequential mode, the pure driving program is position six and this can only be activated if Dynamic Stability Control is switched off. The magic button to cut all the nonsensical steps you have to take to personalise the settings is M on the steering wheel. Press M (the “magic button”) and it lights everything up like a pinball machine. It gives you an instant extra 100bhp to lift maximum grunt to a neat 500bhp or 373kW, it firms up the dampers to their hardest setting and it gives you the maximum position of the Drivelogic gearbox. Whammo, everything is instantly maxxed out for a red-hot launch. All this smart-alec stuff is no gimmick. The personna of the M6 softtop changes from a little old woman shuffling down the street to a manic pole dancer on an endless prescription of No-Doz. Trying to convey the extent of the grip levels, the integrity of the rebound damping and the quality of the meaty steering feel of this convertible in words seems impossible. You need to taste the real thing to fully understand how the ragtop M6 can transfer all of its considerable energy on to the road with prodigious ease. In fact the dare is to find a road where you can explore the car's limits and the truth is they are few and far between. What helps harness all the brutality is the tricky M differential lock that keeps torque nice and balanced while it feeds varying amounts of torque to the rear driven wheels. That is one of the main reasons why the M6 convertible is such a traction attraction. Flaws in rigidity are always the issue with softtops but flex and shake here is negligible and you really need to be a test engineer who knows how to lap the Nordschleife blindfolded to detect any weakness. The M6 fires from 0-100km/h in less than 5sec but it does not lose marks when it comes to changing direction. Blip the right peg and the induction note and exhaust note coming from the four barrels sticking out the rear spoiler are infectious. This ballistic convertible is simply a car for all seasons, all conditions. It is as comfortable trucking along the city grind as it is in the spaghetti twists. Every now and then you need to glance at the head-up display that beams a colourful graphic of revs, speed and gear selection on to the windscreen. Of course all this silky performance is backed up by a braking package that can bring the M6 convertible to a stop from 100km/h in 36 metres. The two-stage brake lighting display is handy in stop-go traffic particularly if you need to give the pedal a serious nudge in a hurry which is when the area of brake lights grows more intense. Removing the carbon fibre roof that defines the M6 coupe has lost little in the way of dynamics. This V10 is a weapon and like many supercars these days, they are engineered to be driven way above what is socially acceptable on public roads. Expect to clock up the fly-buy points big-time at the petrol bowser as this is a demon on the drink and shows no respect for premium petrol prices heading towards $1.50 a litre. This test car averaged 19-litres/100km on a 450km drive that comprised 300km of 110km/h running and the rest in stop/start weekday traffic. Separately, a spirited run on fast winding back roads lifted the guzzle-rate to well over 20litres/100km. The M6 convertible is not a car for everyone, the price alone backing up that statement. But it is a car you need to spend a lot of time in if you are to have any chance of becoming intimate with the performance and electronic gadgetry. You need to tell it what to do in order for you to extract the best from the experience and learn what particular settings work best in particular environments. And for that, the BMW M6 convertible is truly gifted.