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Consumer Reports' first motorcycle reliability report finds Japanese brands ahead

Consumer Reports has released its first ever study of motorcycle reliability, and students of its ratings on cars might notice a suspicious similarity - Japanese brands require fewer repairs than the leading American or German brands.
The study analyzed the reliability of 4,680 bikes owned by CR subscribers and found that Yamaha had the best ratings, with just one in ten bikes built between 2009 and 2012 requiring a repair over a four-year period. The makers of the R1 and R6 sport bikes were closely followed by Kawasaki and Honda, while one out of every four of the rumbling bikes from Harley-Davidson experienced an issue. BMW had the worst rating of the brands represented, with one in three bikes having problems.
According to CR, neither Suzuki nor Triumph owners provided enough information for a reliable rating. Based on the responses received, though, Suzuki would have finished with the other Japanese brands and Triumph, being English, would have been one of the less reliable makes.

BMW CS reinterpretation proves retro can be sexy [w/video]

Designer David Obendorfer doesn't work for BMW, but perhaps the German automaker should give him a call. His CS Vintage Concept shows a singular ability to understand the brand's classic style and reinterpret it for today. He isn't some amateur, either. Obendorfer has an industrial design degree and has been penning the interiors and exteriors of yachts from the Officina Italiana Design for five years, which counts luxury shipbuilders like Riva and Sanlorenzo among its clients. His website shows a real passion and knack for modernizing '60s and '70s European cars, too.
Obendorfer prefers to reimagine classic automotive styles. "Retro cars are not copies of their predecessors or renovated specimens, rather they are carefully studied reconsiderations, strongly rooted in contemporary style," he tells Autoblog. For the CS Vintage Concept, he worked to update the looks of the seminal BMW 2000CS and its E9 chassis while placing them on a modern platform. Obendorfer's inspiration comes from his belief that the later CS models' design is partially responsible for defining BMW styling, with its shark-nose front and four round headlights.
The CS Vintage Concept's shape starts with a jutting hood and a quartet of LED headlights, but the whole design really comes together in profile. The Hofmeister Kink at the rear pillar with the BMW Roundel is a nice nod to the originals, yet the proportions still find the perfect fusion of classic and modern. The interior is minimalist, with a vast expanse of wood for the dashboard at first glance, but the latter opens to expose the car's infotainment system.

BMW 2 Series Active Tourer pulls its way onto the stage

We know what you might be thinking: here comes another BMW with yet another kind of roofline. Only this isn't just another BMW. It's the first front-drive BMW, and the first time we've ever seen it in person.
That model, of course, is the new 2 Series Active Tourer, debuting here in Geneva as the production version of the Concept Active Tourer and the beefier Concept Active Tourer Outdoor that followed. It shares about as much with the 2 Series Coupe as a jelly donut, but takes BMW into a new market segment - that of the high-roofed hatchback (or micro-minivan, depending on your perspective) occupied by the likes of the Mercedes-Benz B-Class and Volkswagen Golf Sportsvan.
Power comes from a choice of 1.5-liter turbo three, 2.0-liter turbo four or 2.0-liter turbodiesel - but aside from the forced-induction engines what they all the versions have in common is what makes the 2 Series Active Tourer newsworthy: they all sit up front, driving the front wheels. It's an idea BMW purists might not appreciate, but one we'd all better get used to just the same.