2001 Bmw Z3 3.0 on 2040-cars

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2013 BMW M3 Coupe Lime Rock Park Edition

Sic Transit Gloria
I like difficult cars. I like turbo "moments," dramatic weight distribution, low-grip, peaky power delivery, and overly quick steering, along with ultra-short wheelbases and any number of other non-racecar-perfect dynamic foibles. I love the newest generation of BMW cars and engines - all turbo'd up with tons of torque and power everywhere in the rev range, too. But what I think the enthusiast community will miss when this 2013 M3 Coupe becomes the 2014 M4 Coupe - replacing its idiosyncratic, small-displacement, revvy V8 for something like a triple-turbo, directly injected, inline six-cylinder powerhouse in the process - is the work it takes to drive the car fast and perfectly. Sometimes small flaws just make things better; my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun, and all that.
The idea of this E92 M3 going away then, magnified by the loss of the M3 badge for the coupe, is at best bittersweet for me. This generation of M car is already surpassed in terms of raw thrills by the better-than-ever Mercedes-Benz C63, a car that doesn't ask its driver to sacrifice low-end grunt or the very latest in amenities in return for stellar backroad performance. Yet any time I've been lucky enough to lap a track in the M3, it has quickly become clear that the Bimmer is the better on-edge tool. With the freedom to wring the neck of the 4.0-liter V8 and room to exercise the lovely balance of the car, the E92 is hard to match (even six years after its debut).

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.

BMW crushing ActiveE EVs, saving all batteries

It's unlikely to spark a movement and a movie, the way a certain EV1 did a decade ago, but anyone who's seen Who Killed The Electric Car? will likely cringe at this bit of news. Despite the fact that crushing and recycling old vehicles is standard operating procedure in the auto industry, when EVs are involved, it's always a touchy subject. The next phase will see "all of the lithium-ion batteries being repurposed for Battery Second Life research projects." So, what's the news? Well, the image you see above, which comes from the spotting of 16 smashed BMW ActiveE EVs on flatbed trailers on California Route 91 near Los Angeles, CA. EV advocate Chelsea Sexton told Green Car Reports, "It's all very deja vu, right down to [BMW's] DriveNow promotion as a don't-look-behind-the-curtain distraction – recall GM touting EV1s being donated to museums and universities? – and VINs spray painted on the sides, allowing former drivers to identify their own cars." BMW's take on this is that the ActiveEs were always meant to have a limited lifespan, and their time has come. As spokesman Dave Buchko tells AutoblogGreen, "The learning begun with the ActiveE will transition to the next phase with all of the lithium-ion batteries being repurposed for Battery Second Life research projects." (You can read his full statement below.) Originally, there were 700 ActiveEs leased to Electronauts (give or take). Yahoo! Autos points out that the ActiveEs were originally imported into the US as "pre-production" cars, which means they can't be sold, they can only be used for carsharing projects or re-leased. Eighty of those ActiveEs recently found a second life as vehicles in BMW's DriveNow carsharing fleet in San Francisco (bringing the total of ActiveEs in the program to 150) and "some have also been returned to Munich for additional research markets," Buchko said. The big picture here is that no one should be sad to see these cars go. Yes, they may have had some life left in them, but the rules say their time is done and everything is being done to crush responsibly in accordance with the law. Like Plug In Cars says, we're in a completely different era now than we were when GM crushed all those EV1s a decade ago. Instead of marking the end of a plug-in vehicle program, sending the ActiveEs away to be recycled is a symbol of the evolution and growth of BMW's i Project.