The 2008 BMW 535xi
The 2008 BMW 535xi sport sedan is a satisfying automobile to drive. It’s good enough — and enough of a value — to earn Kiplinger’s Best in Class for sedans over $45,000.
Going down the road, it’s a blast. The car helps you do whatever you intend — and maybe some things that you wouldn’t have thought about absent the car’s superlative handling and 300-horsepower, twin-turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine.
BMW makes faster versions of the 5-series — the marginally quicker 550i and the faster-than-most-sports-cars M5 — but the 535xi is still plenty quick. The 200-pound weight penalty of the test car’s all-wheel-drive system didn’t seem to be much of a hindrance. BMW says that the 535xi will go from standing still to 60 miles per hour in 5.6 seconds.
Playing it safe
So it’s a good thing the car comes with a long list of safety equipment. It has standard front and side airbags for the people in the front seats, as well as head-protecting airbags in the front and rear. The seatbelts have automatic pretensioners and force limiters that go into action if you hit something solid. And BMW has equipped the 5-series with four-wheel anti-lock disc brakes with BMW’s Dynamic Brake Control. It stops darn well.
The all-wheel-drive system never made its presence obvious. I drove the car in light rain and wasn’t aware of it doing its thing. The car stays planted and makes you feel safe. The automatic windshield wipers worked well, too.
The model BMW sent over had a few options that boosted its $52,375 base sticker price (including destination charge) to $61,825. My test model came with an adaptive cruise control that adjusts your speed automatically should you approach slower-moving vehicles, as well as parking-assist feature that beeps as the car gets close to objects around it.
A premium package added leather and auto-dimming mirrors, and a “Sport Package” provided some exterior trim, a grippy steering wheel and upgraded front seats (which adjusted ten different ways and were very comfy). The car also had an optional premium sound package and HD Radio. Very nice — decent power and good tone made the Chili Peppers sound even better than usual.
iDrive blues
Of course, to operate that sound system you’ve got to go through BMW’s iDrive. That’s when the frustration begins.
First, there’s the matter of its basic operation. Depending on which iDrive menu you happen to be in, sometimes you turn the control knob and sometimes you move it left, right, up or down. Despite on-screen indicators, it’s easy to do the wrong thing — in which case you must pause for a moment to figure out what you should have done.
Second is the matter of making simple things more complex. For example, before you can even tune in a radio station, you must first punch up the radio dial on the iDrive screen (starting with the “Entertainment” menu, not the “Communications” menu).
But get the radio dial on-screen and you find that it works like an old-style stereo tuner. Why does iDrive include a feature that mimics technology some of its younger drivers may not even remember? And why, if BMW prefers old-school radio dials, did it not simply put in a radio with a dial?
Go to BMW’s Web site and you can watch a short video about iDrive (and click on the iDrive link) in which Chris Bangle, design director of BMW AG, tells you it is “an intuitive approach to driving ergonomics” and that “it puts the driving experience first.” That’s debatable.
A couple of other nits: BMW has forgone a conventional gear selector in favor of a joystick-like control. It seems to work well enough, although an operation that was once intuitive is now less so. Was this a problem that needed fixing?
And the turn-signal stalk is different, too. Press the lever slightly and the turn signal blinks a few times and then shuts off. Press the lever harder and now the signal stays on. It will self-cancel when you’ve finished your turn. But if you’re just switching lanes in town and you press the lever too hard, you’ll have to cancel it. If you do so by moving the lever again, there’s better than a 50-50 chance you’ll signal a turn in the opposite direction.
But in the end, I could live with the quirks. All annoyances aside, the 535xi really is a joy to drive.
Via Kiplinger.com
500,000 Guests Have Visited The BMW Welt In Just 3 Months
Within just a short time, the BMW Welt in Munich has become an extremely popular highlight for visitors. In the first 100 days following the Opening Ceremony on 17 October 2007, more than 500,000 guests have visited the BMW Welt.Right from the start on the opening weekend the curiosity aroused by the building’s trend setting architecture created by Professor Wolf D. Prix and the specific exhibitions presented by BMW attracted no less than 80,000 people to the BMW Welt. Since then more than 15,000 have joined in guided tours of the location, all of them fully booked. To date BMW Welt was also the starting point for 25,000 visitors going on the new Plant Tour on the Production Mile in the BMW Plant next door, where some 900 units of the 3 Series come off the assembly lines every day.
A staggering 140,000 guests have so far enjoyed the wide range of culinary delights offered at the three restaurants and the coffee bar in the BMW Welt. The Events Forum has attracted 10,000 guests of BMW and other organizers, and 6,000 visitors have enjoyed the panel discussions and free jazz and classic concerts with internationally renowned artists in the Double Cone. 100,000 visitors, finally, have come to the shops in the BMW Welt, buying no less than 55,000 products.
Among children and young people between 7 and 13, the Junior Campus is an absolute highlight. In all, 4,800 girls and boys have attended the workshops on the subject of mobility in the Campus Laboratory and Campus Workshops, building cars themselves in small teams. And so far 71 school classes have visited the Junior Campus, with 700 children celebrating their birthday there.
Car pick-up service available in further countries in 2008.
No less than 3,500 cars have already been handed over to their proud owners in the Car Delivery Centre, where customers are absolutely thrilled by the detailed and individual briefing they receive on their new BMW and the festive handover ceremony. With deliveries starting on 23 October 2007, both German and North American customers have been able to experience the BMW Welt. 700 custom-ers from the USA personally picked up their new BMW at this unique location, at the very heart of the brand.
Capacities are being consistently increased in 2008 to meet great demand from other markets. And so, like the ramp-up of a new model, the BMW Welt Car Delivery Centre will increase its activities step-by-step.
Outlook 2008.
Maintaining a highly attractive series of open cultural events, the BMW Welt will continue to offer free jazz concerts and cultural highlights. All citizens of Munich and many tourists visiting the city will therefore have the opportunity to enjoy a highly entertaining and high-quality series of events at the BMW Welt.
New specific exhibitions, concerts, a visit to the Junior Campus or the wide range of culinary delights – there are many reasons in 2008 to visit the BMW Welt and have a great time.
With the New BMW Museum being opened in 2008, the overall experience of the BMW Welt is being rounded off once and for all.
Source: BMW Group
2011 BMW 5 Series Spyshots
The latest prototypes of the 2011 BMW 5 Series have been caught on the streets of Germany, and like most of the test mules we’ve seen before, they indicate only minor design changes for BMW’s next midrange sedan.
Unlike the current BMW 5 Series that ushered in a whole new design philosophy, the next-generation (known internally as F10) will most likely soften the current model’s line instead of reinventing them once again. The overall size of this prototype doesn’t appear substantially different, so we don’t expect any major changes in terms of passenger room either.
There’s a good chance that the top-of-the-line versions of this 5 Series will use the same twin-turbo V8 introduced in the 2009 BMW X6. Some rumors also suggest that an eight-speed automatic transmission will be used.
Via Edmunds.com
Test Drive and Review of135i
Here is an MSN autos review and test drive of the BMW 135i
BMW to Offer Loaner Program In America
BMW of North America is creating a national loaner car program that could be ready in April.
BMW dealers attending Sunday’s make meeting learned that the program could be announced at BMW’s national aftersales conference in April, says Barton Cohen, chairman of the BMW Dealer Forum.
“It’s to make certain our customers have a consistent and excellent service experience,” Cohen says.
He described the initiative as an enhancement to the existing reimbursement program for dealers who provide BMW loaner cars.
“Everyone’s anxiously awaiting this program,” Cohen says. “It’s been on everyone’s radar screen.”
Dealers didn’t get much detail about the program, says Warren Waugh Jr., managing partner in the Lyon-Waugh Auto Group in Peabody, Mass.
“But a committee’s looking into it,” Waugh says.
“Our loaner car expenses have risen over the years.”
Tom Purves, CEO of BMW of North America, says there must be a balance between this expense and giving BMW owners an excellent service experience
Original article from Automotive News
M5 Madonna Commercial
Here is a classic commercial/ short film of the best car ever produced. It is hilarious.
BMW CS Closer To Reality
Based on the luxurious 7 Series, it should go on sale in 2010 and closely resembles the Concept CS shown at Shanghai last year.
Dubbed the Gran Turismo (the final name has yet to be decided), the car should boast many of the 7 Series’ features and engines, and will challenge the forthcoming Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide.
The Gran Turismo is likely to be even longer than the 7 Series, and will also lose a seat, giving occupants even more room.
BMW is hoping to attract buyers of both luxury saloons and sports cars, thanks to the car’s four-door design and coupe styling.
BMW ConnectedDrive
ConnectedDrive, BMW’s ground-breaking safety and assistance telematics service, is expected to be supplied on 30,000 new BMW cars in the UK in 2008, bringing added peace-of-mind and convenience to drivers. ConnectedDrive offers drivers a dedicated website and a unique combination of facilities, emergency and breakdown assistance as well as driver convenience services, with new features such as Google Send-to-Car and RSS internet information feeds directly into the car.
The Google Send-to-Car feature marks a partnership with Google, the world’s most frequented internet portal, and offers BMW drivers an innovative new proposition. The time-consuming destination selection process of navigation systems has been virtually eliminated. The driver can now select one or more destinations through Google maps from the comfort of their work or home office. These are then sent directly from their PC to the car through the ConnectedDrive web portal. Once in the car, the driver simply accepts the destination, saving time and ensuring that their full focus is on driving.
Another new feature is the use of RSS news feeds into a car (except Z4 and X3 models). This new innovation gives the owner of a ConnectedDrive-equipped car the opportunity of ‘clicking and dragging’ RSS feeds from the internet into the ConnectedDrive web portal. In the car, those RSS internet news and information feeds are then displayed in the iDrive screen when the car is stationary.
In addition, the driver has access, through a manned call centre (not a computerised database), to a vast listing of UK locations such as cinemas, restaurants and sports facilities. One call to the Information Plus operator finds the desired destination which, like the Google system, is then sent to the car and accepted as a destination.
Alongside these notable driver aids, the safety benefits of the existing eCall emergency connection to the 999 emergency services and bCall link to the BMW breakdown service remain. The BMW breakdown service confirms that January is their busiest month for roadside assistance and in the event of an accident, the driver only has to press the SOS button from the on-board monitor or in the roof lining to gain instant access to the Police, Ambulance or Fire services through the 999 emergency services.
If the driver is involved in a severe incident and the airbag is deployed, the eCall element of BMW ConnectedDrive takes over and automatically instigates contact with the 999 emergency services. If the driver is incapacitated and thus the operator receives no feedback, the car has already sent the navigation co-ordinates of the location using the embedded SIM card to the emergency services call centre for help to be dispatched. Equally, if the BMW driver witnesses a serious accident, he can inform the 999 emergency services through the eCall system, potentially saving other road users’ lives.
And there are already many instances of where ConnectedDrive has literally saved lives. One situation occurred when a BMW X5 was involved in an accident that rendered the driver unconscious. As the airbag deployed, the car instantly contacted the 999 emergency services who were dispatched to the location of the incident, arriving before the driver had regained consciousness. The car was written off as a result of this accident, but the driver potentially saved from serious injury.
ConnectedDrive is supplied as standard on all new BMW cars equipped with Navigation and Bluetooth mobile telephone connectivity for three years, with BMW expecting 30,000 cars to be specified with the options in 2008.
Spy Shots: 135tii
Few models in the BMW lineup have as much tuning potential as the newly released 135i, and the Bavarian boys and girls are intent to capture as much of that market as possible. The BMW 1-series tii concept proved that BMW was serious about offering performance parts to boost (and possibly lighten) its new turbo’d coupe, and a member of 1addicts posted photos of what could be the first 135 to get the in-house tuner treatment.
