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BMW M5 turns 30, celebrates sideways

BMW has a secret, and it's not telling. The brand's M Power blog is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the M5 and is taking a look back at previous models of its Autobahn-storming sedan, but it says that it will end "with a surprise." The celebration kicks off with a short video showing the latest M5 making some smoky donuts.
The original M5 debuted in 1985 and was the company's most expensive model at the time. Still, it packed a 3.5-liter six-cylinder generating a claimed 282 horsepower (286 PS), which was rather potent in its day. The company touted it as the world's fastest production four-door sports sedan at the time.
BMW won't reveal the surprise until it has chronicled all five generations of the M5, but it wouldn't be shocking to see an anniversary edition model appear sometime later this year. Scroll down to check out the video of the muscle sedan celebrating its birthday the only way it knows how.

2014 BMW 5 Series starts at $50,425* and gets a new diesel, 5 Series GT starts at $60,925* [w/video]

BMW itself says it is making "Precise modifications to the design" of the facelifted, sixth-generation 5 Series, and this is the result. The 2014 5 Series will come in four flavors - sedan, Touring, Gran Turismo and ActiveHybrid 5 - the biggest news probably the addition of a diesel engine for the US market.
When they go on sale in August, the 528i sedan will start at $50,425, a $1,700 increase over the 2013 model, and if you want xDrive that adds $2,300 to the price across the model range. The 535d employs a 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline six-cylinder diesel with 255 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of torque and starts at $56,025. BMW portends "substantial fuel efficiency gains over its gasoline-fueled counterpart," but the exact numbers won't come until closer to the on-sale date. The $64,825, top-dog 550i holds pat with 4.4-liter, twin turbo V8, with output upped to 445 hp and 480 lb-ft - an increase of 45 hp and 30 lb-ft of torque. The outputs haven't changed on the twin-turbo four-cylinder in the 528 nor the 3.0-liter six-cylinder gasoline engine in the 535, and *all prices include the $925 destination charge. The engines are also fitted with a coasting mode that uncouples the powertrain when rolling downhill.
Outside there are new "contour lines" for the grille and air intakes, slimmer taillights and elements that accentuate the car's width - as if that were necessary. Xenon adaptive headlights will be standard along with side indicator lights on the rearview mirrors, the options list adds LED headlights, the Luxury Line and Modern Line packages. The former package adds chrome trim to certain exterior elements, the latter adds matte chrome trim.

When Android Automotive goes in the dash, Google wins — and automakers lose data

You've gotta hand it to Google for the way the Silicon Valley tech giant has made indelible inroads into the car on multiple fronts. The most obvious is with its pioneering self-driving car technology that's caused car companies to get their act together on autonomous vehicles — and also collaborate with Google. Google has more directly extended its influence and data-mining capabilities into the car with its Android Auto smartphone-projection platform that most major automakers have adopted along with Apple's CarPlay. And now it's preparing to dig even deeper into dashboards by deploying its open-source operating system, Android Automotive, beginning with Audi and Volvo. Volvo recently announced that its next-generation Sensus infotainment system will run Android Automotive as an OS and include Google's Play Store for cloud-based content, Maps for navigation and Google Assistant for voice recognition, which can even command a car's climate control. By embedding Google in the dash, Volvo says owners will get an improved connected experience. "Bringing Google services into Volvo cars will accelerate innovation in connectivity and boost our development in applications and connected services," Volvo senior vice president of R&D Henrik Green said in a statement. "Soon, Volvo drivers will have direct access to thousands of in-car apps that make daily life easier and the connected in-car experience more enjoyable." Having Android Automotive onboard could benefit drivers — and provide a big win for Google, since it opens a deep and lucrative new data-mining vein for the company. But it's a wave of a white flag for car companies when it comes to delivering their own cloud-based content and services. It also represents a massive data giveaway and, for Audi, a reversal of earlier reservations about letting Google get too much access to car data. Not long after Android Auto and Apple CarPlay were introduced in 2014 and most automakers eagerly embraced the technologies, several German automakers second-guessed their decision when they realized what was at stake: data. At a conference in Berlin in 2015, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said car owners "want to be in control of their data, and not subject to monitoring." A few months earlier, Stadler stated that "the data that we collect is our data and not Google's.