What will race cars look like in 2025? The Los Angeles Auto Show, in its fifth annual Design Challenge, posed this question to automakers' design studios. Entrants from Audi, BMW, GM, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Volkswagen show off differing takes of what will be required for future racetracks.
Throughout the year, we've seen some pretty amazing cars at CNET Car Tech, but two stood out for our sports car-oriented gear heads. We reviewed two versions of the BMW M3, the first a coupe with a manual transmission, the second a convertible with an automated dual-clutch transmission. Given the model history, we expected these cars to be good, and they were. Between these reviews, we had the 2009 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, which proved a more than pleasant surprise. Similar in size and price to the M3, the C63 is Mercedes-Benz's idea of a small high-end sports car, … Read more
At the 2008 Paris Motor Show, we got our first chance to try out the new version of BMW's iDrive in the new version of the 7-series. Unfortunately, the language was set to French so we only had a vague idea of what we were accomplishing by selecting various menu areas. But it was still enlightening to get a feel for the new interface and imagine how it might work in English. From what we could tell, it will be a vast improvement over the current system, and take away our major criticism of BMW's cabin tech.
Click here for photos of BMW's updated 7-series with the new iDrive system.. … Read more
We've all thought of some prohibitively expensive or impractical vehicle customization that would convert our daily driver into a dream car. For example, I've always wanted to convert my Acura RSX Type-S into a midengined, rear wheel drive sports coupe, but for the money, it'd be cheaper to just buy a Porsche Cayman S and be done with it. But what happens when there is nothing vehicle on the market that fits your dream? What if your dream car is an M-Powered pickup truck? Australian golfer Stuart Appleby found himself in this situation, so he built his … Read more
At the 2008 Paris auto show, BMW unveiled its new crossover SUV for the 1-series, the BMW X1. But does the world really need another BMW crossover?
Freshly unveiled at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, the BMW's 7 Series luxury sedan gets updates inside and out, with a new exterior aesthetic and an updated iDrive system.
Not wanting to be left out of the luxury hybrid market created by Lexus, BMW unveiled the ActiveHybrid 7 Series at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. A mild hybrid by definition, the electric motor exists only to assist the gasoline engine. We can't help but to wonder: how much electric assistance do you need with a 4.4 liter, twin-turbocharged V-8 under the hood?
Although we've seen a trend toward small cars at the Paris Motor Show from traditional economy car companies, entrants from BMW and Audi signify that the trend is important enough to interest these premium car companies. BMW showed off the X1 small SUV concept, while Audi came to the show with its A1 city car concept. Mini also enters a new small car at the show, but its concept is actually bigger that its current model line-up, showing Mini has nowhere to go but up.
Click here for photos of concepts by Audi, BMW, and Mini at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. … Read more
• Chrysler's three new electric cars
• California bans texting while driving - crazy people up in arms!
Following on the recent announcement by Mercedes-Benz of its mild hybrid sedan with lithium ion batteries, BMW announced its own mild hybrid sedan with lithium ion batteries.
Although it may sound like cutthroat competition, it's more conspiracy, as Daimler and BMW co-developed their hybrid components. And where Mercedes-Benz announced a production car, BMW is still at the concept stage with its Concept 7-series ActiveHybrid. But in keeping with its sport aspirations, the BMW shows no compromise in power, using a twin-turbo V-8 assisted by the mild hybrid system. The twin-turbo V-8 delivers 407 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque, … Read more
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