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BMW i8 pitted against M4 in sibling rivalry track battle

We recently watched Auto Bild challenge the BMW i8 against the M4 in a German drag race of decide the quicker of the inter-brand rivals. The hybrid took a commanding victory in that fight. However, Autocar now has a new battle for the two coupes. The siblings are together again on the Castle Combe Circuit to find out which of them offers the more enjoyable experience at the track. Unfortunately, we don't ever get a perfect point of comparison in the video because host Steve Sutcliffe never does a full lap in anger with either of them to set a time. Instead, he focuses more on how the BMWs feel behind the wheel. Sutcliffe also admits midway through the clip that the i8's electric motor is out of juice to power the front axle's electric motor. That only leaves the hybrid with its 228-horsepower and 236-pound-feet-of-torque turbocharged three-cylinder to spin the rear wheels. Still, Sutcliffe spends ample time explaining the benefits and downfalls of driving these coupes. See where his opinion falls between the M4 as the traditional German sports coupe and the i8 as the new-school hybrid in the video, above.

BMW M3 driving off cliff is a chilling PSA

We're a little shocked that the unnamed owner of this cliff-diving E46 BMW M3 would upload the in-car footage of his accident to YouTube. Not only that, he uploaded two videos: raw footage of his roll down the cliff (it looks like somewhere in the Southwest, maybe Arizona) and a tribute video for his BMW that suffered the most severe consequences of understeer. Not only does uploading the videos leave him wide open for judgment by fellow enthusiasts (just read the YouTube comments), but we imagine if the police and his insurance company somehow don't know about the incident already, they will shortly. Scroll below to view for yourself.
The raw footage shows the sort of driving that led to the M3's violent tumble, and it serves as a good public service announcement reminder for everyone out there: Just like the Spengler's streams, double yellow lines aren't meant to be crossed. Also, hard driving is one thing, but hammering on public roads at speeds clearly above your skill levels as a driver is not only a recipe for legal trouble, it's a script for ruining your car at the very least, if not your life.

Land Rover could build a baby Defender on a platform sourced from BMW

The collaboration between BMW and Jaguar-Land Rover started out small, it was originally limited to motors for electric cars, but it might not stay that way for long. The Tata-owned British sister companies will allegedly rummage through Munich's sizable parts bin to build nearly half a dozen cars scheduled to come out during the 2020s. According to a report by British magazine Autocar, Jaguar has started designing two small cars that will join its growing family of Pace-badged soft-roaders. They'll be new additions to the firm's portfolio, not replacements for existing cars. One will be a regular crossover, while the other will be a swoopier, form-over-function four-door model ostensibly marketed as a coupe. Both will slot at the very bottom of the Jaguar portfolio, below the already pretty small E-Pace, in a growing market segment where the competition is fierce, and profit margins are thinner than an i3's tires. Here's where BMW apparently comes in. Instead of developing a platform from scratch, the two crossovers could ride on the hybrid-ready, front-wheel drive FAAR architecture found under the third-generation 1 Series hatchback and the upcoming 2 Series Gran Coupe. If we believe an earlier report claiming Jaguar and BMW will also share engines, most of the hardware found under the sheet metal will have German genes. All-wheel drive will certainly be available, and it could also come from BMW. The same platform -- and, presumably, the same engines -- would provide the basis for a Land Rover-badged model positioned in the same segment. Autocar learned it will be to the next-generation Defender (pictured) what the Mercedes-Benz GLB is to the G-Class. Some key design cues will carry over, but the two models will share absolutely nothing under the sheet metal. The soft-roader could resurrect the Freelander nameplate when it goes on sale during the 2020s. Looking even further ahead, the front-wheel-drive platform the next Mini Countryman and X1 will utilize could find its way under the replacements for the next Range Rover Evoque and Discovery Sport. These plans could very well change; the Evoque and the Disco Sport barely entered their second generation, so they're not due for a replacement until the second half of the coming decade. While neither company has confirmed or denied the report, the partnership makes sense from a business standpoint.