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2016 BMW M2 First Drive

Don't skip down to the conclusions, because I'll save you the trouble and spell it out for you right here. The 2016 BMW M2 is superb. Lay out your criteria for a contemporary sport coupe. Then check all the boxes. There are gripes. We've gotten good at uncovering the little issues in an age where the difference between the best and worst car in a class is smaller than ever. But they're that: little. It's a small price to pay for a vehicle that delivers so much more to the driver than the M235i – engagement, performance, pleasure – that it seems a bargain at $52,695 to start. Moreover, it's the right-sized M car we've wanted since the M4 burst its chrysalis and turned into an extra-large, if not overweight, butterfly. BMW had us out to Monterey to sample two M2s: a 7-speed DCT on Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and a six-speed manual on the fog-kissed Pacific Coast Highway. The formula here is old-school – thank heavens. It's a compact sport coupe with swollen wheel arches and a hot-rodded inline-six. The proportions are classic: longish hood, short rear deck, reasonably airy greenhouse in the tradition of sporting BMWs, and plenty of meat on the sticky tires. Long Beach Blue paint provides depth to the sheetmetal scalloping and contrast to the fender flares – and the M2 looked great in this bold color. I can't say the same for the less-exciting grey example parked in the hospitality tent. Like most modern turbocharged BMWs, the torque curve is fatter than an In-N-Out Double Double, Animal Style. The overall rightness of the proportions compensates for the more polarizing details. The dimples in the rear bumper, the "scoops" in the lower secondary air inlets, the obligatory fender vent (which is at least small). They're all intended to communicate aggressive sportiness, and succeed to varying degrees, but it's just jewelry. Inside, BMW's excised some of the cheapness that plagued the 2 Series' predecessors. The blue contrasting stitching looks great, the sport steering wheel is perfectly sized, and the carbon-fiber patterned accents at least provide a little texture to break up an unapologetically black interior. On the other hand, the door pulls are not only cheap-looking, but also so large they're impossible to ignore. It's a baffling misstep in an otherwise simple and classy interior. As a quick aside, the HUD is clear and functional – not a new feature for BMWs, but worth noting.

BMW 2 Series Active Tourer is the world's first front-drive Bimmer [w/videos]

While BMW has been showing concepts for its Active Tourer for over a year, they never seemed entirely real. Why would BMW, a company that has built its image on sporty, rear-wheel drive sedans, move into the five-door, front-wheel-drive market? The answer is still not entirely clear, but the new BMW 2 Series Active Tourer is very real. It launches in Europe later this year and is rumored to come to the US in 2015.
To brand purists, a front-wheel drive BMW may seem anathema to everything the company has built, and the production Active Tourer has clearly been built to provide drivers with a luxurious but utilitarian package first and foremost. It is 170.9 inches long and rides on a 105.1-inch wheelbase, but despite its compact dimensions, its high roof allows for 16.53-cubic-feet of cargo space with the rear seats up or 53.33 cubic feet with them folded flat. Its general appearance is nearly identical to the previous concepts, except with a blunter nose and cleaner lines. The front end wears BMW's traditional dual circular headlights and naturally, while the profile incorporates the company's traditional Hofmeister kink into the greenhouse's rear pillar. The interior has been designed to be especially useful with a sliding rear seat, adjustable rear backrests, fold-flat backrests and optional features like an automatic tailgate and panoramic sunroof.
Unlike both previous concepts, none of the Active Tourer models at launch use hybrid power. For Europe, the hatchback is going on sale with three engine options. The basic version is the 218i Active Tourer with a 1.5-liter, turbocharged three-cylinder with 134 horsepower that we just previewed in the 2014 Mini Cooper - good enough for average fuel economy of 48 miles per gallon in the EU cycle when equipped with a six-speed manual. The next step up is the 225i Active Tourer with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that makes 228 hp and offers 39-mpg average fuel economy. Finally, there is the there is the 218d Active Tourer with its 148-hp, 2.0-liter turbodiesel and 57 mpg average fuel economy on the EU cycle. A six-speed manual is standard on all of them, but there is a six-speed automatic option for the 218i and eight-speed automatics available for the 225i and 218d. All-wheel drive will be available on future models.

Ferrari, BMW lend expertise to Olympic bobsled, skeleton, luge

LONDON — There are plenty of reasons why the sport of bobsleigh is sometimes referred to as Formula One on ice, but few as obvious as Italy's World Cup sleds. Resplendent in Ferrari red, and with a set of team sponsor Pirelli's P-Zero tyres painted on the sides, they are even liveried to look like racing cars. Ferrari, Formula One's most glamorous and successful team, have worked with the Italian federation, whose sleds run without sponsor branding at the Olympics, since 2010 and in the run-up to next month's Pyeongchang Winter Games. Former rival BMW, title sponsor of the World Cup, has long partnered the U.S. bobsleigh team, while McLaren teamed up with Britain's bob and skeleton athletes for the 2014 Sochi Games in Russia. "There's always the link between the Formula One companies, or any motor company, and skeleton and bobsleigh," says Rachel Blackburn, the engineer who has been involved in Britain's skeleton program since 2006 and who used to work for McLaren. "There's the Ferrari sleds and the BMW sleds ... when we were at McLaren it kind of made a good story," she told Reuters by telephone from her home in Dubai. That somewhat manufactured rivalry has died down in the years since Sochi, with McLaren no longer involved and Ferrari's presence low key. But the worlds of grand prix motor racing and sliding sports still have plenty in common. Bobsled, luge and skeleton are among the fastest of Olympic sports, with bobsleds reaching speeds over 90 mph. Drivers are subjected to gut-wrenching G-forces, and crashes can be fatal. And then there is the ongoing debate about cost controls, the direction of future rules, preserving a level playing field and obsessive secrecy — all endlessly recurring themes in Formula One. 80 mph on a tea tray Blackburn said skeleton, where riders hit 80 mph on what has glibly been compared to an oversized tea-tray, sits somewhere between Americas Cup yachts and Formula One cars in terms of speed and aerodynamics. "Applied engineering is far more interesting than the pure stuff, so when its applied to something that's fun and exciting it does make it a lot easier to solve problems," she said. "There is the Americas Cup, sailing, Formula One and the high speed ice sports as well. It's the same concept.