bmw

A few years ago, BMW debuted a new, smaller SUV in Europe, suggesting it would also export the car to the U.S. But the X1 never made it to our shores as demand for the car in its existing markets took up all of its production, and the dollar fell against the Euro.

Those unfortunate circumstances seem to have changed enough, as BMW will now be showing off the X1 at the 2012 New York International Auto Show. Bringing it to a major U.S. show means one thing: the X1 will hit U.S. dealers as a 2013 model near the end of this year.… Read more

BMW's original 6-series earned it the nickname "shark" for its profile, but nobody applied that moniker to the revived 6er from the last decade. BMW designers, forced by regulation to make the trunk lid a certain height, seemed to just sort of give up when it came to the rear of the car.

As a result, the trunk lid looked like a piece merely tacked on to what could have been a nice profile. Maybe BMW's designers were hoping an aftermarket would develop in modded trunk lids. Given the price of the car, the 6 buyer … Read more

We drive the 2012 BMW 328i sedan and give you our best guess as to what's going to make tech news at the 2012 Geneva auto show, from new Minis to new Ferraris.

Going from a six- to a four-cylinder engine is a fairly drastic change, and one that could ruin the reputation of even such a stalwart as BMW. But the automaker is in good company, as downsizing engines in favor of fuel economy is in fashion.

And the new 328i shows that those two cylinders may have been extraneous, as technologies such as a twin-scroll turbocharger and direct injection make up for the displacement loss. The real upside comes in the form of fuel economy averaging close to 30 mpg.

Less successful is the idle-stop feature, which is more intrusive on … Read more

According to its specs, the new BMW M6 will hit 60 mph in 4.2 seconds, yet get an average of 24 mpg.

That fuel economy number comes from the European Combined Test Cycle, and will probably be somewhat less under the U.S. EPA test. But those numbers illustrate what technology can do for a sport car, especially considering the M6 weighs in at over 4,000 pounds.

The secret to the M6's success is a 4.4-liter V-8 with two twin scroll turbochargers. BMW designed an exhaust manifold that ducts the exhaust gases from two cylinders on … Read more

BMW iVentures officially opened the doors to its New York office this week, and inaugurated its new space with a panel discussion on digital technology and mobility.

The $100 million fund has already seeded U.K.-based Parkatmyhouse.com and MyCityWay, which will lease space in BMW's trendy West Village office. The firm plans to invest primarily in urban mobility technologies to solve the transportation needs of the future. But the hot topic of the evening was, of all things, parking.

Speaking in front of an audience made up mostly of VC groupies and techies angling for a free drink and an introduction to fund managers, panelists seemed to unanimously agree that the practice of finding a place to park your car was 20 years behind the times. In an industry where advanced technology is considered a gate or the capability to take a credit card, there is obviously a lot of room for improvement. … Read more

I know there are many who look forward to the days when all cars are self-driving.

These are people who seem to believe that technology can not only solve every problem, but actually make life better. Another description for these people is, well, Prius drivers.

It is surely no coincidence that Google's self-driving car experiment seems to be performed exclusively on the exclusive car of the self-righteous. Indeed, one Prius owner in my neighborhood actually has the license plate "Smug Car." I am quite serious about this.

So I bring fine news to those who are intrigued … Read more

My iPhone, with 8GB of memory, can hold about 1,700 tracks. A BMW's internal hard drive has room for almost 3,000 tracks. Now, BMW's new Mog integration puts 14 million tracks at a driver's fingertips.

I sat in the driver's seat of a 2012 BMW 650i, with Robert Passaro, the head of BMW's App Center, in the passenger seat. But we weren't going anywhere. Our entire focus was on the stereo.

Passaro slotted an iPhone 4S into the BMW's cradle, nestled in the console compartment. Tapping the Mog icon on the … Read more

Green Car Journal dubbed the Ford C-MAX Energi winner of the 2012 Green Car Vision Award yesterday at the Washington Auto Show. This is the second consecutive year Ford has won top honors; the Ford Focus Electric garnered the award last year.

The Ford C-MAX Energi, which will be available in late 2012, is built on the same global C-car platform as the Ford Focus and future Ford models, the automaker said.

The C-MAX Energi bested four other finalists, including the BMW i3, the Cadillac ELR, the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-Cell, and the Tesla Model S.

"The C-MAX Energi delivers … Read more