2001 Bmw Z3 Roadster Convertible 2-door 2.5l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2015 BMW Alpina B6 xDrive Gran Coupe

Alpina has been lovingly modifying BMWs for half a century, but as we learned during a tour of the company's HQ in Buchloe, Germany, Alpina has been in the wine distribution business for nearly as long. The company has an estimated million bottles on reserve in two warehouses and a beautiful wine cellar/tasting room on property in western Bavaria, just yards from where its 1,500 hand-crafted automobiles per year are produced.
What does that have to do with the new B6 Gran Coupe? Well, it may help make sense of the overall character of Alpina's automobiles, especially vis-à-vis the similarly priced, similarly powerful M Cars that BMW sells in far greater numbers. Alpinas are built by wine connoisseurs for wine connoisseurs, or wine connoisseur types; they are not rip-snortin' racecars for the road - that's M's domain. Alpinas are esoteric, rich in character and nuanced. But make no mistake: they are very, very fast.
Our brief first drive of the B6 Gran Coupe - the only 6 Series-based Alpina we'll get in the US for 2015 - took place on German autobahns and Austrian alpine roads, where the car is more at home than anywhere in the world, both literally and figuratively. With 540 horsepower and 540 pound-feet of torque on tap from its twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 and xDrive all-wheel drive, the B6 is said to be able to hit 60 miles per hour in 3.7 seconds on its way to a top speed of 198 mph, a massive 43 mph faster than the M6, which is electronically limited to 155 mph. Yet even at insane speeds - we saw an indicated 190 mph on one particularly lonely stretch of Autobahn - the B6 feels more luxurious than sporty, taking the countenance of a low-slung Bentley Continental GT or an Aston Martin Rapide S, not a knife-edged supercar. It doesn't feel scintillating like a Porsche 911 GT2; rather it feels rock steady, like the 4,780-pound luxury sedan it is.

BMW M850i Coupe, Jeep Wrangler Rubicon and a 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser | Autoblog Podcast #585

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Alex Kierstein and Senior Editor, Green, John Snyder. This week, they talk about driving the BMW 8 Series Coupe, Jeep Wrangler Rubicon and Toyota Corolla Hatchback. Then they talk about the news, including electric Hummer rumors and Tesla pickup timing. Finally, they consider whether or not Greg should buy his neighbor's 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser. Autoblog Podcast #585 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving: BMW M850i xDrive Coupe Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Toyota Corolla Hatchback In the news: Is an all-electric Hummer in the works? Tesla pickup truck is on its way Spend My Money: 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:

2015 BMW X4 gets its small-screen debut

It's easy to dismiss the 2015 BMW X4. On one hand, the high-style crossover seems more like a boardroom decision than a practical one. In a world with the 3 Series, 4 Series, X3, 3 Series GT and 4 Series Gran Coupe, is BMW really being inundated with requests for a baby X6? Of course, when we finally got behind the wheel of the CUV for our First Drive, it proved rather entertaining, and certainly the X6's global sales success suggests that it's worth the relatively low-cost risk for the Bavarian automaker.
Now, it's the general public's chance to weigh in on the latest crossover Bimmer and vote with their dollars. The X4 is just hitting showrooms in the US, and BMW is beginning its marketing campaign for it with the slogan "Embrace the Unknown." The first TV ad shows off the CUV driving through the world's major cities as they undulate like the rolling ocean. A woman flatly says phrases starting with "Go," while a synth-heavy score plays underneath that wouldn't be out of place over the end credits in an '80s sci-fi movie.
Visually, it's actually kind of a cool ad and evokes some of the special effects from Inception. Focusing on an urban atmosphere is probably a good idea, too, because the percentage of X4s going offroad is likely to be in the low single digits, if that. Now, let's see if BMW buyers are willing to embrace the unknown of the X4. Scroll down to watch it for yourself.