2004 Bmw M3 Base Coupe 2-door 3.2l on 2040-cars

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On Location in California with BMW and Mini

A mid-winter escape from frigid Michigan to drive a trio of new BMW and Mini products? It'd be a busy couple of days, but you can't argue with Southern California in February. The temperatures in LA, where we drove the Mini Cooper S Convertible, hovered in the mid-80s, and it was solidly in the 70s further north, at Monterey, where we drove the M2 and X4 M40i. The highlight of the trip was Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, which is a rewarding track to drive in a street car. The M2 was a blast there. The canyon roads above Malibu in the Mini were a close second, but even the lazy drive down the PCH to Big Sur was a blast. More important is the California state of mind we were in when driving all three of these cars. I've spent a lot of time in this state, and it has a complicated relationship with the car – and there's also a huge difference in attitude between the greater Bay Area and Southern California. Ample sun and twisty roads clash with image-consciousness, eco-consciousness, and brutal urban gridlock, and each BMW dealt with that paradox admirably, in its own way. Take a quick jaunt to California with me and check out the locations and experiences that helped form our impressions of these vehicles: the 2016 BMW M2 First Drive, the 2016 Mini Cooper S Convertible First Drive, and the 2016 BMW X4 M40i Quick Spin.

BMW i1 EV rumored, based on electric Mini

With just two BMW i cars currently available — and aging — we've been hankering to know what new EVs are coming down the pipeline for the Bavarian automaker. We've had news of the iNext and i4, caught wind of an iX3, and as BMW is in the early stages of a large electrification push, there has been a multitude of "i"-prefaced trademarks registered. The next we can expect, if the rumors from Spanish outlet Motor.es are to be believed, will be a diminutive i1 EV, based on the same platform as an upcoming electric Mini Cooper. As such, it would share the electric Mini's front-drive/front-motor configuration — previewed on the Mini Electric Concept, shown above, that debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year. It stands to reason that the i1 would be smaller than the high-roofed i3, possibly borrowing the five-door hatchback format from the 1 Series sold in Europe (which would be a long-awaited dream come true if it made its way to the United States). The electric car would be about a foot shorter than the 1 series, though, according to the report, at about 158 inches long. It would be built on an electric version of BMW modular UKL platform. Keep in mind, the BMW i1 is just a rumor at this point, with Motor.es keeping its sources unnamed. If true, though, it could replace the i3 in BMW's lineup five years from now, in 2023. Related Video: News Source: Motor.es via Motor1 Green Rumormill BMW MINI Hatchback Electric Future Vehicles bmw i mini ev mini cooper ev

BMW mulled ten, eight, and six-cylinder engines for i8 before going hybrid

There's little doubt that the 2015 BMW i8 is one of the most radical and groundbreaking performance cars this industry has seen in a long time. From its unique carbon-intensive construction to its 1.5-liter, three-cylinder and electric motor plug-in powertrain to its concept-car appearance, the flagbearer for BMW's new i venture challenges the very notion of what it takes to be a supercar.
Yet apparently the i8 almost didn't do that at all. Yes, it probably still would've had innovative assembly techniques, serious performance and come-hither bodywork, but according to a new report in the Telegraaf, it was very nearly a much more conventional beast, drawing its power from a V10 engine. According to the report, that line of development never got much beyond the drawing board, but BMW engineers then shifted their focus to both V8 and six-cylinder motivation, going so far as to build prototype cars. The higher cylinder-count engines were eventually dropped altogether after BMW decided to turn the i8 into a hybrid, with the six-cylinder reportedly nixed due to heat management and weight issues. In the end, of course, BMW went with the PHEV powertrain that offers a total system output of 362 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque - plenty of thrust for this lightweight, all-wheel drive coupe while still enabling an incredible 94 miles to the gallon on the EU cycle. Regardless of how it turned out, it's still fascinating to think that BMW didn't have a much firmer conceptual idea of what it was after when it started the i8's development.
Here at Autoblog, we're genuinely thrilled about this new generation of greener hybrid super- and hypercars, a movement spearheaded by the i8, Porsche 918 Spyder, Ferrari LaFerrari and McLaren P1. But even so, our inner-gearheads can't help but wonder what might have been had BMW pursued a more conventional i8, either in place of, or in addition to, the car they did build. What do you think? Have your say in Comments.