BMW X Models News

 ... the arrival of the Mercedes-Benz M-Class with an entry price of $81,400. All X5s will now come standard with the company's "Innovations Package". BMW Australia spokesman Piers Scott says the package amounts to more than $16,200 of extra value on the base 3.0-litre turbodiesel, which is priced at $92,100. The equipment upgrade includes xenon headlamps with high-beam assist, a reversing camera, electric front seats, satnav system and head-up display. A pair of electric exterior mirrors and an automated tailgate completes the pack. Scott says the pack addresses the equipment difference between the rivals and points to the BMW's better performance compared to the 2.1-litre engine in the Mercedes. "I can't see us putting a four-cylinder into an X5 purely from a performance point of view," he says. Mercedes-Benz Australia spokesman David McCarthy says imitation is the highest form of flattery. "We said it was game on when we revealed the M-Class," he says. "It's still game on . but now we've got more players on the field." "They (rivals) don't know what to do about this (car). The ML is priced between the BMW X3 and X5, so it's going to take sales from both. The same applies to the (Audi) Q5 and Q7." How they rate:                           

Full details are coming within two months although sales of the X1 MkII, which is easily picked by its trendy LED daytime lamps, are unlikely in Australia before 2013.

Kids aren’t usually a factor in Car of the Year judging.  But child friendliness rates highly with women buying cars – and with women judging cars.The countdown has been kicked off to decide the Women’s World Car of the Year, and the kid factor is one the judges pay a lot of attention to.“Statistics show that women drive children in cars significantly more often than men – and that means women need to take that into account, both when buying and as judges of cars,” WCOTY president Sandy Myhre said from New Zealand.“Any woman who has grappled constantly with child seats and belts and children considers those things when looking at buying a car.  Men might too but the fact is, women drive children in cars more than men.“Women would not consider that aspect in a Porsche 911 more than a bloke. The point is, it can be considered in these awards - and that is one of the points of difference in these awards.”Myhre points out that significant research into buying habits show that in addition to buying for themselves, women have a major influence in household purchase decisions for big ticket items.Ford Australia, for example, says their research shows that women are behind the majority of purchases of the Territory SUV – either as single women buying one, or in influencing the joint decision with their partner. “A report from Mattingly & Associates in Australia concluded, in part, that businesses that didn't understand this influence would be hard-pressed to stay in business.  That report was aptly called 'When I've Made Up Our Minds',” Myhre says.However, the kid factor is just one of the criteria by which the 2012 Women’s World Car of the Year will be judged.There are four categories in the Women's World Car of the Year – Family Car, Luxury Car, Sports Car and Economy Car. Points are allocated to each of ten criteria: driveability, engineering, comfort, child friendliness, style, interior, storage, dashboard efficiency, carbon footprint and colour range.The 20 judges from eleven countries have submitted their own personal short list and more than 300 cars were suggested. These individual choices were then whittled down to form a master list of 32 in terms of popularity. Judges will now allocate points for these cars from a criteria list.The announcement of the winning cars in each category and the supreme winner will be made before the end of March. The supreme award trophy and category certificates will be presented to the car companies concerned at the Mondial de l’Automobile 2012 – the Paris Motor Show – in September. The supreme trophy will this year be made in The Netherlands. Category-winner certificates will be designed at Peartree Studios in Colerne, UK.The first winner of the Women's World Car of the Year was the Jaguar XF in 2010 and the trophy made in South Africa was presented at the Jaguar boutique showroom in Knightsbridge, London. In 2011 there was a dead-heat between the Citroen DS3 and the BMW 5 Series. The two trophies made in India were presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2011. 

More than 13.5 million new vehicles were sold in Europe, which compares favourably against a 2.6 per cent drop in Australia to 1.008m.Worst-hit countries were the debt-crippled economies of Portugal (-31 per cent), Greece (-30 per cent), Spain (-18 per cent) and Italy (-11).The UK was down 4.4 per cent, while Germany was up 8.8 per cent, according to analysis from JATO Dynamics.Research boss at JATO, Gareth Hession, says Germany is leading Europe in both sales of new cars "as well as manufacturing models which appeal to consumers across the region"."This is even more impressive considering the challenges we saw in the overall European market during 2011," he says.The only other brands in the top 10 to increase sales were all German.Volkswagen increased its market share to be Europe's best-selling brand, up 9.1 per cent to 1.67m, ahead of Ford (-2.8 per cent) and Renault (-8.8 per cent).BMW was up 5.2 per cent and Audi 9 per cent. Mercedes sales were static.Japan's only representative in the top 10 was Toyota with sales down 9.4 per cent because of supply issues caused by natural disasters in Japan and Thailand.VW Golf remained the top-selling car for the third year in a row, despite a 1.6 per cent drop in sales to 484,547.It was followed by the VW Polo with sales up 0.5 per cent to 356,490 and Ford Fiesta, down 13.3 per cent to 348,465.Other models that recorded significant sales increases in 2011 include the new Ford CMax/ Grand C-Max, Citroen C4, BMW X3 and Kia Sportage.EUROPE'S TOP 10 MAKESEUROPE'S TOP 10 MODELS

Just in case you thought BMW had something against even numbers, the German carmaker has slipped another SUV into its line-up, the X4. The announcement was made in the midst of a declaration to spend AU$ 875,000 upgrading the US plant that makes many of the X models.The Spartanburg plant - which has just cranked out its two-millionth Beemer since it opened in 1994 - will also employ an extra 300 people as part of the expansion in production to include the new X4. BMW Australia's Piers Scott says there's not a lot of detail on the X4 but it would certainly come to Australia given the company's SUV success here. "It's coming, it's a vehicle that we have very little information on other than it's a car that we would certainly introduce to Australia, particularly in light of what is rapidly growing demand for our X-range of cars," he says. Mr Scott says the brand's passenger car sales were down last year but SUV sales were up as a proportion of the brand's total. The smallest BMW crossover wagon, the X1, finished the year up 8.5 per cent with just over 2200 sales, while the slightly larger X3 was well ahead of its predecessor. The X5 remains the top-selling SUV (and second only to the 3 Series for the brand overall) but was down 10 per cent, while the X6 sales were down 8.3 per cent and remain small. It is expected the X4 offer a similar alternative to the X3 as the X6 does for the X5 - the X4 is likely to run similar petrol and diesel all-wheel drivetrains to the X3, with overseas reports suggesting an M version is also likely. Mr Scott says the X4 timing for Australia was yet to be determined and overseas reports suggest an appearance in its home market is unlikely before 2013. BMW has already invested AU$729 million in the expansion of the plant for production of the new BMW X3 between 2008 and 2010. The BMW plant produced 276,065 vehicles last year, more than 70 per cent for export to more than 130 markets, a 73 percent increase over 2010, led largely by the new X3, which was up 156 per cent last year to 117,944 vehicles. Since opening in 1994, the plant has produced six different BMW models - including Z3 and Z4 models, as well as the X3 and X5.

It's great to have a remote control that gives you instant opening access at the carpark when you have an 18-kilogram two-year-old in your arms, but once Eli is settled in the back I prefer - much - the operation of an old-school key.Why? Push-button start systems have become trendy, not better. Ask anyone who has misplaced their so-called key, or - far worse - started a car and realised that they have actually left the key behind. Yes, you can do that. I know because it's happened to me at least three times.The first time, I fired a Benz in the driveway and headed out to the fish-and-chips shop on a Friday night emergency run, then realised halfway to the shops that the key was nowhere to be found. Urk. So I left the engine running, and the driver's door cracked open, as I raced inside, paid and headed home to find the key sitting happily on the hook inside the front door. There was enough range to the garage to get the car going, but if I had killed the engine there would have been another emergency run that night . . .The second time I was in a Renault and someone else had the key in their pocket, watching and waving me goodbye. Thankfully, I realised before I had driven the first 200 metres.The third, and most recent, time I was testing a BMW X3 in Italy. After lunch I can remember hitting the plip to open the door, and obviously the key was nearby when the car started, but by the time we got back to base.A sprint back to the lunch spot didn’t unearth the key and so the car had to be parked - doors unlocked, windows open - until a replacement key arrived from Germany. At least BMW HQ was only five hours away. Imagine if it had been in Australia.The X3 mishap occurred because there is nowhere to store the key in the dashboard. Renault has a slot in the Megane and if that's empty then you know to check, while Benz allows you to remove the starter button and use the old-school key instead to fire the engine.But more and more companies think it's trendy and useful to have a key that's not, because these days so much about motoring is based on marketing instead of commonsense.Since the key is no longer essential to lock the steering as the front line against thieves - electronics that only work when the car and 'key' have made an electronic handshake are far more efficient - it's obvious that something different can be done to make your car experience a bit different and special.But different and special don't make something better. Don't get me started on those swipe cards that have taken over from keys in hotels, and fail more often than the quality-control checks on early Korean cars...

The twin-turbo V8 in the muscular new mid-sizer is stretching the friendship with the back tyres in the fifth-generation M5 and there are concerns about customer reaction in snow-belt countries around the world. An all-wheel drive upgrade is the logical solution and BMW M chiefs from Munich admit they are considering the move. "We are thinking about it," says Max Ahme, M5 project leader. "If you are increasing the power more and more, maybe you need it." The basic powerplant in the M5 is the same 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 already used in the M versions of BMW's full-sized SUVs, the X5 and X6, but is tweaked to unleash 412 kiloWatts of power and 680 Newton-metres of torque. "The block is the same, but the cylinder heads are new. The inlet track is new, it has double Vanos (variable valve timing) and more revs. So, more power," says Ahme. He refuses to go into much detail but it's clear that BMW M is making a serious assessment of its first all-wheel drive passenger car. "It's a good idea, but it would add 120 kilograms to the car and it's all over the front axle," says Ahme. Other companies have made all-wheel drive conversions successful, including Ferrari with the lightweight system fitted to its new FF supercar. Ahme admits BMW has had an FF in its workshop, although he believes the system would not be suitable for an M5. "We have looked at this car. We do some swaps with Ferrari." But Ahme is totally black-on-white on one potential stretch of the M5, into a new Touring wagon. "This will not happen," he says. There have been three M5 Touring models in the past but the sales record of the car is not good, and numbers dropped dramatically in the previous-generation car. "It does not make any sense. Just look at the numbers," says Ahme.

The upcoming 520i, priced from $77,900 instead of the previous $82,000 for a 520d, comes after an earlier move on the 3 Series down under. BMW Australia says its objective is to provide better value, as well as a 'stepped' approach to equipment levels that mirrors bottom-end brands from Hyundai and Kia to Holden and Ford. It began the change with the 3 Series and is now moving on the Five with a claim of up to $7000 worth of extra value - most of it in standard equipment - on the 520i. There is also said to be more punch from the engine, which is a new 2.0-litre four with TwinPower turbo good for 135 kiloWatts and 270 Newton-metres of torque. "We've got power up, value up and fuel consumption down. Everyone is happy," says BMW spokesman, Piers Scott. A new four-cylinder 528i - replacing the previous six-pack - is also part of the 5 Series change, with more equipment in the 535i and 535d that means up to $7000 of extra value. Scott says the value boost comes thanks to the engine change but does not deny BMW's stronger emphasis on value at a time when it is taking a battering from Mercedes-Benz and Audi on both sides. "It's really just the fact that this is a brand-new engine that's available to us. That accounts for the 520 and the 528i," he says. "The other changes are to get a logical ladder into the price structure. "The jump from the 520i - which snuggles under the Luxury Car Tax threshold thanks to economy of 6.4 litres/100km and CO2 emissions of  149 grams/kilometre - to the 528i manes 180 kiloWatts and 350 Newton- metres, even though the four-cylinder basics are the same. The 528i is priced from $98,200, helped by also qualifying as a low-emission model under the LCT rules. Prices of the 535i and 535d now start at $115,600 and $120,900 respectively, with the diesel engine now boasting 230 kiloWatts and an eight per cent economy boost, with the 535i also getting a 0.7 litres/100km economy improvement. BMW Australia now also includes stop-start technology on all Fives except the 550i, with its new Active Safety package - closing the windows and sunroof, electro-mechanical belt tensioning and a crash- optimised position for the passenger-seat backrest - also part of the deal.

The spiralling petrol prices mean fuelling a family car like a Commodore or Falcon now accounts for 2.6 per cent of average weekly earnings. But you don't have to sit back and take it in the hip pocket. These families have all taken different approaches to reducing their fuel bills.DOWNSIZINGTheir 2000 Falcon was costing the Andrew family of Brisbane a small fortune to keep running, so they decided to downsize.However, instead of buying one vehicle, they went for two Suzukis, the cutesy Swift and the three-cylinder ultra-frugal Alto.Warren, 47, says the Falcon had a 65-litre tank while the combined tanks of the Swift and Alto are 77 litres. "We now get twice as many kilometres from the same expenditure on fuel," he says. Though it has to be noted that the additional cost of registering and maintaining a second car would probably offset any real cost advantage.His wife, Karen, 43, says having two small cars is more versatile for transporting their children Jess, 12, and Emily, 10, to and from primary and secondary schools. We don't miss the Falcon in the least; maybe we will when we go on holidays," she says."It's been great. Having the two cars means we can take a child separately - one to primary and one at high school. The Swift is really cool. The Alto is a good little runabout but I enjoy driving the Swift. We drive whoever's car is at the back. Warren tends to take the Swift. I think he deliberately leaves it at the back."We fill them with petrol every couple of weeks and we can squeeze into smaller parking places. "Jess and Emily love the cars more than the Falcon. They say it's my car'."LPG Retirees John and Lesley Braggs planned to become grey nomads so they bought a 2003 BMW X5 V8 petrol a few years ago. "You wouldn't get much change out of $120 when you filled it up," he says.About eight months ago they converted it to a dual-fuel petrol/LPG system. "We were travelling around a lot going down to Melbourne and back and have plans to travel to Adelaide and Alice Springs," he says."We only put about 20 bucks a month of petrol into it because it starts up on petrol and then a few seconds later the gas kicks in. "The petrol also kicks in if you run low onLPG but we never run low and need to use it. I only ever have about a quarter of a tank of petrol, otherwise it's excess weight we don't need."He says he hasn't noticed any change in performance. "It seems to have the same amount of power as when it's running on petrol I reckon," he says. They had a 70-litre LPG tank installed where the spare tyre was located under the cargo floor so they didn't lose any luggage space. "I carry around a pressure pack in case we have a puncture," he says.The LPG installation cost about $4500 with the government rebate. "I'm really wrapped with it. There is nothing different with the performance and it's cheap," he says."LPG is currently about 70c a litre. When we first got it, it was about 40c a litre, but it's still cheap."HYBRID The Knights have discovered another benefit of their fuel-efficient Toyota Prius with the recent birth of their son, Thomas."Now that we have the baby we don't have the radio on and we can tell how quiet it is," Tanya says. "It's a bit disconcerting sometimes when it kicks into electric." Tanya and husband Stephen bought the Prius two years ago."We were in the market for a new car and wanted to be as fuel efficient and environmentally conscious as possible," she says. "We came from a Falcon with LPG so I didn't want to go to a petrol car and pay X number of hundred dollars to fill it."We found the LPG wasn't particularly fuel efficient. It guzzled the fuel, but it was half the price. "Now I fill up maybe once every three to four weeks on a 60km daily round trip to school and home. "With highway driving, I can get over 1000km on one 40-litre tank of fuel which is amazing. We're really happy with it and wouldn't go to a petrol-only car ever."Mrs Knight says the Prius is a bit quirky in design and function. "But once you get used to it, it's interesting," she says. "People are astonished. They say the car has turned off."She also defends the Prius as a family car. "It's actually a reasonable size car. We get the baby capsule in and there is plenty of space for other people, she says. "My dad used to run taxis and many in the industry are going to hybrid cars."DIESEL The Webbs were a bit skeptical about diesels when they went to test the Hyundai i30cw CRDi wagon. But Adam and Katie Webb of Brisbane were pleasantly surprised. "My only experience of a diesel was my mate's old diesel HiLux which chugs and smokes," says Adam. "I had done some research and knew a bit about the new turbo diesels but my wife was especially concerned about the noise and smoke of them."However, when I took it for a test drive I was surprised. For a 1.6 (litre engine) when you put your foot down it really takes off. "It's really quiet. Especially on the highway you hardly notice you are driving a diesel. "There's still a bit of noise when you start it up. You know it's a diesel, but it's a lot smoother and quieter than we thought."The Webbs traded in their 1996 Magna wagon three months ago. "We pretty much downgraded in size, but there is still plenty of space," he says. "Me, my wife and the two kids all fit in quite well and when you have a couple of kids their stuff takes up a lot of boot space."The burning question is fuel economy. "We bought it just for the fuel efficiency," he says. "I'm not too sure on the actual economy figures but we drove about 600km to Rainbow Beach and back last weekend and there's still about a quarter of a tank left."He rejected concerns about limited and dirty diesel bowsers. "My wife drives it more than I do and she hasn't had any problems finding a boswer," he says. "Hyundai supply 10 disposable gloves with the car to use when filling up, but we've never used them."

AUDI showed it's Q3, the German company’s move into the compact SUV segment at this year's Shanghai Auto Show. This new all-roader goes on sale in Europe in June but isn't expected on the Australian market for another 12 months. Four engine options, two transmissions and a front-drive only version are destined for some markets with Australian specifications and pricing to be determined closer to launch, but expect pricing somewhere in the mid-$40,000s with rival BMW's X1 starting at $43,500. Taking on Audi's established SUV design cues  - single frame grille, sweeping, coupe-like roofline - the Q3 is a bit shorter, lower, wider and lighter than the Q5. Base, front-drive versions, roll out at less than 1500kg; it's 4.39m long, 1.83m wide and 1.6m high. Ground clearance is 170mm and the wagon sits on 16-inch or 17-inch wheels. Audi says this is a premium SUV with top-shelf engineering from body through drivetrains, driver assistance systems and multi-media systems - "a versatile companion for everyday life with an urbane character". In Europe it will be offered with four, four-cylinder engine options - all two litres, all turbocharged, the choice of petrol or diesel power and outputs ranging from 103kW to 155kW.  There the 103kW diesel (the last to arrive) will be front-wheel drive only with six-speed manual transmission. That same gearbox is also used for the 125kW petrol engine.  Both petrol engines, plus the 130kW diesel, arrive with quattro permanent all-wheel drive. The 130kW diesel and 155kW petrol engines use Audi's seven-speed S tronic gearbox with steering wheel paddles part of the deal.  And among an array of options, Audi 'drive select' is available across all powerplants - allowing a driver to select between comfort, auto, dynamic and efficiency modes, varying throttle and steering responses. Other comfort and convenience choices include park assist for the Q3 to park itself, side assist and lane assist to help change lanes, sports seats, on-board computer and panoramic glass roof.AUDI Q3 Compact premium SUV Size down from Audi Q5 On sale Europe in June; Australia 2012 European base version front-drive; others permanent all-wheel drive Two Petrol, two diesel engines ranging from 103kW to 155kW  Prices here expected in mid-$40,000s.