More than one genius has gone to financial ruin thinking they can build a better car than the big boys (and some have gone to jail after breaking no small number of laws in an attempt to prove themselves right). And the siren song of building a better mousetrap has been there since the beginning of automobiling.

What almost all of these small-scale schemes have required though is drivetrain components from an established manufacturer. There were many strictly engine manufacturers early on that didn’t do a lot to differentiate their wares for road, aero, or marine applications and their products found their way into any number of craft, wheeled, winged, or waterborne.

After World War II, the manufacturers of bespoke cars had to work deals with established manufacturers or acquire their engines from scrap yards, dealer parts counters, or under the table deals with a manufacturer that no one would admit to.

The issue for an engine manufacturer is what happens to their reputation when a barnyard manufacturer’s pride and joy explodes on impact (and impact is more likely than not given no consideration to chassis dynamics). So they tend to be pretty restrictive about who they sell batches of engines to.

A further issue confronts the bespoke manufacturer now days, besides the reluctance of manufacturers to sell engines, and that’s the issue of sorting the ECU to work within a foreign body. Engine computers are no longer restricted to getting signals from mass airflow sensors or crank position sensors. They are absorbing any number of signals from stability control units, anti-lock brakes, and transmissions. The small scale manufacturer has to ensure that the engine and its computer work as designed in a chassis that wasn’t designed by the engine manufacturer.

And yet, given all of the reasons not to, drivetrians are still being sold to all sorts of small manufacturers from big name makers. In the US, Ford has been supplying engines to small manufacturers for a long time. One of the latest is a Mexican firm building a coupe called the Mastretta MXT.  It uses a turbo-charged Ford four cylinder mounted amidships.

Of course there’s the company that tried to save Saab, Spyker, that lost themselves in the process. Spyker built a set of cars with Audi (owned by VW) engines and steam punk interiors. And they solved the problem of integrating a traction control system by not including it in the car. Then there’s the German made YES roadster, again with VW based power. And mustn’t forget the Artega GT – also using VW power.

And then there’s the short handful of bespoke cars that utilize BMW engines. Top Gear tipped us to the Ascari KZ-1, sporting a BMW V8. There’s the Veritas RS3 sporting a BMW V8 (and Veritas originally was home to a couple of ex-BMW employees immediately after World War II who reused the M328 straight six in racing cars under the Veritas name).

And we can’t forget the Wiesmann cars, that utilize the newer turbo sixes from BMW. And then there’s the car that caught my eye recently, the Morgan Aero Coupe. Built in the English village of Malvern, Morgan has been around for what seems forever. They still build cars the old fashioned way, not just by hand, but with body skins stretched around wood framing sitting atop a frame. And by god – there’s a real sliding pillar front suspension on some of them to boot!

[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliding_pillar_suspension ]

Morgan defines eccentricity.

The Aero Coupe dispenses with some of the ancient mariner tech, utilizes aluminum chassis and body construction, and a more conventional suspension (though minus roll bars). And the icing on all of that jazz age retro looks, a BMW V8 under the bonnet.

It’s nice that the odd Uncle Henrys of the world can enjoy their BMW goodness in a style suited to their slightly stilted sensibilities.

Following a competition involving six architecture firms, BMW selected the British firm Serie based on its cutting-edge design that will represent a significant architectural addition to the Olympic Park, whilst also reflecting the company’s deep commitment to sustainability.

Tim Abbott, Managing Director, BMW Group UK comments: “As a major investor, manufacturer and employer in the UK, BMW Group is deeply proud to be an official partner for Britain’s first Olympic & Paralympic Games since 1948.”

“This commitment to the UK is also reflected in our choice of a home-grown architecture practice to design our pavilion and we’re delighted that Serie’s final design reflects our commitment to sustainable thinking in such an innovative and eye-catching manner. We believe it provides a truly worthy addition to the Olympic Park”.

About the BMW pavilion

BMW’s pavilion, which has a floor space of 800m2, will be built on an elevated site above the Waterworks River, situated between the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatics Centre. Serie’s innovative design will use river water to provide a sustainable source of cooling for the building before returning this filtered water to the river via an eye-catching ‘water curtain’ feature.

Every element of the BMW pavilion has been designed to reflect the company’s heritage in environmental innovation. The two-story superstructure will be built of steel with high recycled content. Use of carbon-intensive materials such as concrete has also been minimised.

Serie co-founder and principal architect Christopher Lee comments: “The design takes the idea of the pavilion in the park – the Victorian bandstand – but instead of one pavilion we envision nine pavilions clustered together to form a family.”

The top floor will house a number of individual standalone pavilions, which will be used to highlight BMW’s latest vehicle innovations.

The lower floor will house a range of interactive visitor exhibits, articulating BMW’s vision for sustainable mobility and support for Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes including Rebecca Adlington, Tom Daley, Louis Smith and David Weir through the BMW London 2012 Performance Team programme. Over 8,000 visitors are expected to visit the BMW pavilion each day during the Olympic & Paralympic Games.

As Official Automotive Partner to London 2012 and a tier one sponsor, BMW Group will provide a fleet of around 4,000 vehicles to transport athletes and officials during the Games. This vehicle fleet will combine sustainable technologies including electric, hybrid and low-emissions diesel technologies to meet LOCOG’s challenging emissions target of 120g/km CO2 across the fleet.

BMW Group has also been ranked as the world’s most sustainable automobile company in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the last seven consecutive years and is the only car manufacturer to have featured in these rankings every year since their launch.

BMW as a London 2012 Partner

BMW will provide 4,000 low emission diesel, hybrid and electric cars as well as motor cycles and bicycles to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) in support of the Games. These will principally be used as shuttles for athletes, officials, media, employees of the LOCOG, representatives of the national Olympic committees, the international sporting bodies of the IOC and sponsors.

LOCOG set ambitious CO2 emission targets for its operational vehicle fleet at London 2012. BMW will provide vehicles that average less than the 120g CO2 per kilometre required by LOCOG.

BMWBLOG: What is the future of CFRP (carbon fiber) for BMW?

Dr. Klaus Draeger: The first series of carbon fiber will be used for the construction of the complete body of the BMW i3. Currently we already have some experience with carbon-fiber: we are using carbon fiber on the roof of the M3 and on other parts of the M products, like the crash beam of the bumper, but in terms of production, we will see it in BMW i3 and i8.

Let’s have a more detailed look at the i3. We started to understand e-mobility with the MINI E project. The basic understanding behind this project was related to how many km per day do customers drive, in terms of desired range, how they use the car, how often do they recharge, if are they concerned about the range, and so on. In a nutshell we found out that they’re using it basically like they use a normal MINI or a normal BMW 116i: driving it daily, in Germany, for about 38-40 km, and each single driver driving roughly between 8-10 km.

The technology we use on the MINI E was basically more or less standard technology – we used the standard lithium-ion cells which are in most of the laptops and other electronics or electric motors.

The purpose was to understand e-driving. Consumers worried about the range at the beginning, but afterwards they saw that 150-160 km are absolutely sufficient as range. This was basically starting all the our activities in terms of pure electric driving.

The second project we are running is BMW ActiveE, where we are actually testing the whole drivetrain of the BMW i. So we are using the same cells as we will use in the BMW i3, the same ECU and the same electric motor.

Looking at something specific now, if you convert a conventional car into an electric car, it doesn’t work. The reason is that the engine of a conventional car, the gearbox, the cooling system, the exhaust system, etc., everything is so large and it doesn’t fit the engine compartment.

When you’re taking that stuff out, and leave just the electric motor there, you will have lots of spaces there, but you can’t fit the battery in there because it causes real problems in a crash. You try to fit the battery somewhere else, usually where the fuel tank is. The fuel tank it’s pretty small – 50-60 liters, which means also 60 kg, while the battery is – depending on the size – large and heavy.

So you have to try to rebuild the car out. The result is that ActiveE has a weight of roughly 1800 kg, and the i3, which is a purpose-built electric vehicle, will have a 1250 kg. And this was the same electric motor, with the same ECU, and almost the same battery – it’s a bit smaller, because we could reduce the weight, because actually we don’t need much battery capacity aboard.

And this shows why weight is so important, and therefore we have done two things:

1.  We have an architecture that is specifically designed for this vehicle: we have the battery in the floor space, the electric motor and the ECU in the rear of the car, but we can keep the electric motor pretty low on the ECU, so that there is still a luggage compartment. We have a small luggage compartment in the front and we have space for four persons.
2. Using carbon fiber in that case helps further reducing the weight, and this leads to reducing the amount of battery. So the tradeoff I get from reducing the weight of the electric vehicle is much bigger than in case of the conventional car. And this was the idea then, starting to use carbon fiber in the i3, as a real product for the life cell, while the drive module is this aluminum chassis with a battery and the front and the rear axle.

BMWBLOG: How much more fiber production capacity do you think is needed for the CFRP to go mainstream?

Dr. Klaus Draeger: The next product that will actually come after the i3 will be the i8. We will have almost the same technology there, but as you know, the i8 is a plug-in hybrid, so compared to the i3 it will have less battery capacity and we’ll fit that battery capacity basically into the tunnel, having the seats as low as possible. So the middle structure was a tunnel, then all the battery will be from aluminum and the front and rear axle from aluminum as well, and then the complete life module will be made of carbon fiber.

At that moment we will have a look at how far we will be, for later products. We will bring carbon fiber as well for BMW-whatever-next-7 Series, but I think it will be important to have the right material mix, have high-strength steel, aluminum, and in addition to it, carbon fiber. If we look at the current 7 Series, we have quite some aluminum parts: the doors, the front fenders, the bonnet and the roof. What is not from aluminum are the structural items – the engine carriage parts and the firewall because there we have a very good strength, from the high-tense steel. Sometimes it’s even quite useful, because on the old 5 Series we have the frontpad completely in aluminum, and if the crash loads are becoming higher and higher, due to regulations, we have seen it is even lighter to use high-strength steel instead of aluminum, because you can reduce the thickness of the material.

BMWBLOG: What conventional engine will the BMW i8 be using?

Dr. Klaus Draeger: We will stick to the 3 cylinder engine, but we’ll change over from a diesel to a petrol. The reason for that is that we have quite some areas in the world where the diesel is not the preferred fuel. And in order not to develop both a diesel and a gasoline version, we decided to choose the gasoline version, because the fuel consumption is pretty low anyway, and on the other side we would also be able to increase the power. So currently we’re looking at 164 kW output out of this 1.5 liter 3-cylinder gasoline turbocharged engine, with all the high-tech features.

BMWBLOG: Since you mentioned different fuels, how will BMW deal with flex-fuels, additional ethanol current blends, bio-diesel?

Dr. Klaus Draeger: It is something we are looking into. We have already released our engines for Europe for 15% ethanol, and we’ve released them up to 7% biodiesel into the conventional diesel, which is B7. We think it would be pretty critical to go beyond B7, but if we carefully look at the process of diesel processing, we can go to any amount of biodiesel, if the biodiesel is completely processed with the rest of the diesel. What is not a good idea is to have the biodiesel produced, and then mix it with the diesel. If the biodiesel goes through the refining process, then one can probably use any diesel content. Otherwise we don’t see more than 7, maybe 10%.

In terms of ethanol and flex fuel, this is definitely a project for us, we’re working on that. Currently B15 is not a problem in Europe; all the engines, including older engines are released to run on a B15. We think that within a short timeframe we’ll have an engine that can run E85 or maybe E100.

BMWBLOG: What will be the next BMW family that will make use of the N37 3-cylinder engine?

Dr. Klaus Draeger: We said we’re developing a new engine series, and the idea is to have 500 cc per cylinder, because this makes a lot of sense. This of course has a lot of synergies, because then you have 1.5 liter – 3 cylinder, 2 liter – 4 cylinder, and 3 liters – 6 cylinders, using always the same components, but just multiplying 3 times, 4 times or 6 times, meaning pistons, injection valves, valves, springs, etc.

The first vehicle to have the 3-cylinder engine will be the new front-wheel drive architecture, which we will have in 2013 for the MINI.

BMWBLOG: What is the main driver that has made BMW look at the front wheel drive platform?

Dr. Klaus Draeger: We have a lot of front-wheel drive experience. Going back to the days when the R75 was developed for BMW, in terms of the chassis that was a very good vehicle. Secondly was the MINI experience, an extremely good feedback we’re getting from all our customers, as well as when I read the articles about how the MINI drives, and everybody is happy with the car.

So we know how a front-wheel drive should operate and how it should drive. What is important of course is that if we are in a sensitive price segment, to have economies of scale. Just as it is the case with the 3 Series, which is probably the biggest single rear-wheel drive architecture currently in the world, we also need to have synergies on the front-wheel drive.

When we started with MINI, we didn’t have the full idea of that MINI could be, and we started building the MINI hatch – that was the first car. Now we see how we can develop MINI further: the MINI Countryman has come, the different MINI smaller vehicles were just launched, we had the Clubman, and so on. And we have more ideas to come.

Now the point is simply: “if we have to do that, we need a front wheel drive architecture” and we said: “Okay, there are also concept ideas where this front-wheel drive architecture can very well be used for BMW products”. It’s not the classic BMW products that we already have on the market, but the idea is to expand our product range. Let’s think of something like the Mercedes B-Class – we have nothing to compete in that area, and the advantage of the front-wheel drive architecture is that you save about 122-150 mm in car space, meaning that a car which is actually 120-150 mm shorter than the rear-wheel drive architecture gives the customers the same inside length, just because the front part of the car is shorter.

BMWBLOG: How do you best take the coming convergence of the virtual and real worlds into account when building the next generation of cars? (ConnectedDrive is 1.0)

Dr. Klaus Draeger: We’re continuously going to develop this. And there are more and more things to come in, in different areas: it is about convenience, safety, connectivity. Let’s just look at a couple of things. Currently we have a radar system where we can measure the distance between cars, so that the vehicle can then follow and keep a safe distance and so on. The next step will be adding camera systems to it, so that we can also recognize objects that are standing still.

Another example is that at the moment we have the lane-change controls. The next thing would be that in a traffic jam situation or in very heavy traffic, to allow the driver not only to actively drive, but to control its drive. This means that the car follows the car in front; it keeps the lane and just follows the vehicle. These are all ideas that are coming also with the BMW i, and we will spread them to the other cars, as well.

BMWBLOG: BMW i. What are the expectations for short term and long-term? How does BMW differentiate itself from all these competitors coming up with electric cars?

Dr. Klaus Draeger: I’ll try to answer that in a nutshell. We see more and more customers that have the clear wish for premium mobility and absolute sustainability, and this is exactly what we want to give them with the BMW i – either the i3 or the i8. Sustainability starts right after the development process and goes to the suppliers, to the BMW production and of course afterwards to the usage of the car, until it comes to the end of the resulting process.

BMWBLOG: If you want to describe to a customer, how would you differentiate a typical BMW vehicle from other electric vehicles, like Nissan Leaf?

Dr. Klaus Draeger: I think the best thing is to have a look at the Leaf and to look at the i3 – its design, functionality, how the car feels. I don’t want to discuss about the competitors, but if I look at the Nissan Leaf, it’s pretty much a normal car, in terms of how the car is built, made of steel and so on. And this is another important thing, because if we take the BMW approach with the carbon fiber – which is produced in Washington state with hydropower – the way we produce the vehicle in Leipzig with renewable energy, this gives a whole lifetime a reduced CO2 emission. And this CO2 emission incorporates production, components, and the energy usage during lifetime, which is depending on which energy mix you are choosing for electric energy, by 30-50% lower than a conventional vehicle. And this is what I mean with sustainable driving.

BMWBLOG: Do you think a competitive price would speed up the adoption of BMW electric vehicles?

Dr. Klaus Draeger: Of course that we know that the vehicles are price-sensitive. We can’t talk today about a price range, but we know that we have to choose the right price, because otherwise we are not going to make sales.

BMWBLOG: Dr. Draeger, thank you very much for your time!

We pour into the Andretti Hairpin, into Turn 1 and nearly max out 3^rd gear going into Turn 2 and onto 3. By the time we reach the latter half of the track the M3 has only about 3 or 4 car lengths on us and my driver seems thoroughly impressed that the 300 horsepower Twin-Scroll powered N55 is able to hang with the soon-to-be-defunct E92 M3 with its naturally aspirated S85 V8 pumping out 414 horsepower. That says a lot about the new F30 335i Sport Line – considering that the approval and awe came from two-time ALMS champion and Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona winner Joey Hand.

His intended target in the M3? Fellow BMW Team RLL teammate and best pal Bill Auberlen.

This was my introduction to the 2012 335i Sport Line as it was pounded around Laguna Seca Raceway in scenic Monterey, California.

Where We’ve Been…

So this begs the question – can the F30 up the ante enough to keep BMW ahead of the pack?

I think so.

Handling

The F30 pulled off an impressive feat in the execution of its weight – for a new car, it managed to actually more or less maintain its heft over the previous 3 Series (3,594 lbs for the F30 335i versus 3,616 lbs for the E90 335i) which continues to pay dividends when taking the 335i Sport Line to the track. I tried out a 335i Sport Line in both manual and automatic spec to throw around Laguna Seca and see how well it could cling to the corners – though we’ll focus on the six-speed manual.

Thumbing the adaptive suspension into Sport+ mode (only available in Sport Line packaging), DCT turned off (DSC is still left on in this mode – a separate console-mounted button with disable remaining nannies) and the throttle sharpened up noticeably to the joy of my prodding right foot. Off the pit lane and out onto the course – the 335i handles like a typical BMW – tackling corners with aplomb when driven to its limits but pushed beyond those and you’ll encounter the typical safety net of understeer and pushing.

The clutch felt a bit ponderous for it’s release point, though the throws were good and short. In any mode other than Sport or Sport+, the throttle response feels a bit dull.

However, the car feels balanced and predictable and surprisingly well-suited for Laguna Seca as it was easy to load up the weight in the car and fling the wheel over to clip an apex. Both the track and the car rewarded taking clean lines thru the turns – helping keep the understeer to a minimum and the 335i would easily stream from Turn 2 all the way up the hill to Turn 6. The 300  horsepower pumping out of the N55 plant comes in very handy, as it’s just enough to yank you back out of a corner and get back on the power towards the next corner – an advantage definitely not felt in the 328i Sport Line.

Surprisingly, the 19-inch run flats felt very grippy and even with DCT off and a happy right foot. The BMW Style 401 wheels with 19 inch 225/40 R19, 19×8.5, 255/35 R19 optional tire setup for an additional $900 are worth the extra cost on the Sport Line. They will help to visually set the 335i Sport Line apart from the base 328i Sport Line and seem to hold the tarmac with a death grip compared to the non-staggered 18 inch standard wheel setup which had a tendency to relinquish it’s hold of the road well before the 19’s.

Since  Turn 11 is a great place to see what a drifting F30 looks like, many found that the combination of aggressive throttle and sharp turn-in could usually break traction – leading to a sort of ad hoc drift-off by many fellow journalists! In the left hand sweeper  that is Turn 10 after the famous Corkscrew – a bit of extra power gave the feeling that the limits of adhesion had been reached and perhaps an off-camber corner wasn’t the best place to induce oversteer – as fun as it maybe. Despite a strong grip on the tarmac the run flats protested the abuse and did so quite loudly when you begin to ask too much of them.

Overall, the body rolls isn’t terrible, it’s definitely there but it is manageable and the lowered sport suspension  helps keep it to a minimum.

Also – the 335i’s fuel tank was nearly empty by the end of the track sessions – the 328i’s had half a tank left.

However, to cure the shout of the tire roar – I found the ventilated disks of the 335i Sport were more than up for the job of scrubbing unwanted speed in hard braking zones like the turn-ins for the Corkscrew and Turn 11. I have to admit, the disks managed to hold up very well against continued abuse via aggressive journalists. The arrangement was to run two hot laps and a cool down lap for each car, pit, and let the next person rotate into the car. It must be kept in mind the cars had already run twice at Laguna Seca for the first group of journalists earlier in the week and would still hold up to our nearly 4 hour lapping session – plus the one after! Throughout my entire session – none of the cars I drove, 328i models included, never gave a hint of brake fad or a wimpy brake pedal.

Driving Feel

Going into the morning track session I was very curious to try out the steering as I found the electric steering in the F10 5 Series to be both boring and very vague juxtaposed to the Z4 which fell somewhere near the other end of the spectrum giving tactile, immediate feedback – very taut and communicative when pushed in Sport mode and retaining some feedback in Comfort or Eco Pro modes.

Thankfully, the F30 falls much closer to the Z4 than the 5 Series. The F30’s steering never felt vague but when the Sport and Sport+ modes were engaged, along with the throttle response, the steering tightened up and felt well-weighted for track work – making it easy to set up the car for the racing line and hold it all the way thru the corner onto to the track out. The F30 still felt like a car that could be driven by finger tips – and that’s a great thing as the wheel must inform the driver of surface changes and what the front tires are doing at all times. I’m sure many enthusiasts are disappointed by the steering in modern BMWs as they lack a physical link between tires and steering wheel but rest assured that this is certainly one of the better systems available from BMW at the moment.

Driving the F30 you can always sense that the steering is a Servotronic system, an omnipresent sense of electronics lingers in the background, but it manages to never really interfere with the driver’s inputs or need for constant communication with the nose of the sedan.

Aside from the feel of the steering, I rather enjoyed how the F30’s suspension is set up – especially in either of the Sport settings. The predecessor, E90 model, always felt a bit harsh when paired with factory run flat tires – many actually would say that it felt like the suspension was “crashing” over surface changes and bumps giving the sense that the car was constantly unsettled on less than glass-smooth roads. The F30’s suspension seems to have cured the harshness, to a degree, over its predecessor – perhaps attributable to the progress made on run flat tire technology. Turning in early around Laguna Seca and flying over the blue and white curbing the double wishbone front, 5-link rear suspension and 19 inch wheel set up definitely lets you know that you’re on the curbing but never feels punishing or belaying a sense of temporary loss of grip – something that might cheer up a few enthusiasts out there who’ve come to loathe the stock setup of last generation of 3 Series.

Engine Sound

While the suspension and wheel combination might be well and good in the new 335i – hey, a BMW has to handle well out of the box, right? – the exhaust note of the 335i Sport Line’s twin, chrome exhaust pipes is raw and raucous with the traditionally raspy big six-cylinder note pouring out of the rear. Unfortunately, the best place to enjoy the exhaust note is outside of the F30. It seems that a bit of the new 5 Series’ DNA has crept into the F30’s interior sound deadening leaving the exhaust a bit quieter than I’d prefer and more so than the previous E90-based 335i.

I also noticed at higher speeds, the exhaust note, while always present in the background,was muzzled by  wind noise over the mirrors and windscreen quickly drowning out the glorious exhaust note. In fact, around 80 mph it’s surprising how much the wind noise intrudes into the cabin ambiance and washes out the high-pitched exhaust and sweet, burbly overrun.

Where We’re Heading…

At the end of the morning, as our lapping sessions concluded and we yanked off helmets and scurried into the paddock for lunch, I was able to reflect on the F30 335i Sport Line and what it means as the top of the line 3 Series. Ironically, the 335i feels very much like a mature evolution of the E90 335i – though the F30 328i feels like a bigger jump forward over its predecessor.

This isn’t a bad thing, though.

The E90 was an excellent chassis – especially when mated with the potent 3.0 liter Twin-Scroll N55. The combination of the F30 chassis with the single turbo big six is a compelling case and will never leave the majority of owners with a need for more power to overtake or maximize enjoyment on mountain roads. The F30 model manages to cure the few problems that existed in the E90 – cheapish interior parts (for the most part), refinement in the suspension and improved run flat tires. At the same time, the new 3 Series manages to move forward with technology and performance without sidelining the driver.

Cars like the F10 5 Series seem to make use of the latest suspension, traction and steering systems resulting in turn the overall feel as more dull and isolating to the driver. Where the F10 5 Series disappoints by its implementation of onboard systems, the new 3 Series manages the inverse – making the most of the car and its ability versus masking it.

Conclusion

Dare I say it, but the F30 335i Sport feels predictable in the sense that it is a great car – it had to be. This car has been building on a winning formula for decades and with the sales figures BMW attributes to the 3 Series – the F30 is too big for BMW to fail. Thankfully, the crafty Bavarians pulled it off – the F30 successfully evolves the E90 chassis and technologies into the sixth generation of 3 Series but still manages to retain the requisite fun factor everyone’s come to expect from the 3 Series. I went into the test for this car wanting to look at the new 3 Series with disdain as it marked the start of an era in which the perhaps the 3 Series had finally grown too wide, too long and too technically advanced to be fun – mercifully – I was proven wrong.

And if you have any issues with how this car can perform – I’ll gladly refer you to a Mr. Joey Hand on what a 335i Sport can pull out of its bag of tricks.

“I always had the idea, I finally had the engine block, and now came the hardest part – actually getting it home. There are few problems with that: first, I live in a high-rise condo in the middle of a city, meaning that it pretty much has to be finished before it gets there. Second, my wife is very particular about our home, which is not a bad thing, but convincing someone who has zero interest in cars about having an engine block as a coffee table is not easy.”

Prior to moving it into his house, Kamil took the engine block to a shop for a much needed “bath”. Next, some much needed sanding and final detailing.

But since the wife runs things in the household (nothing new, happens to all of us), the coffee table turned into an end-table with a nice glass cover on the top.

“To my surprise my wife did not hate the engine block. She actually liked the bright aluminum and unconventional shape of it, just not as a coffee table. We reached a compromise and the engine block table would end up in our living room, but it will serve as an end-table and not a coffee table. Surprisingly, this actually made the project easier.”

The result? See below.

The 500cc Combustion Chamber

BMW is migrating towards a common combustion chamber for its upcoming 3, 4, and 6 cylinder engines. BMWBLOG covered Innovation Day last year and reported on this engine architecture in April of 2011.

One of the prime benefits of going to a common combustion chamber (and valvetrain) is that the physical properties of the fuel burn are the same from engine to engine (for gas and again for diesel). With the advent of direct injection, variable valve timing, and Valvetronic –variable valve lift, the control of the combustion process is more complicated (and the combustion process itself is much more efficient) than a few decades ago.

Unfortunately the whole process of burning fuel in an engine currently is controlled by lines and lines of code in the Engine Control Unit (ECU). And squeezing every last gram of efficiency out of a quantity of fuel by tweaking code requires a lot more engineering effort than fiddling with carburetor jets. And it’s the promise of reducing engineering effort across a line of engines that is a big benefit of going to a common combustion chamber.

One of the most precious commodities at BMW is engineering. This isn’t a huge car company that can devout engineers to small projects with minimal return on investment. So going to a common combustion chamber makes sense for them.

Of course if the code is wrong and sneaks into production, it will affect a lot of engines. But counter-balancing that is the fact that there is only one chamber that has to be developed, and any gains in one are gains in all.

Left out of the equation at the Innovation Day discussion was whether the V8 and V12 engines would go to the common combustion chamber. That would mean a new generation of V8s and V12s would be developed. BMW did say, when asked, that the V8 and V12 would still be built, but there was no mention as to whether or not new versions would be developed.

Left unsaid about optimizing the engineering effort is what are they freeing up engineering resources to do. I think we know that a lot of engineering effort is being made on providing e-mobility. And that may be the biggest benefit, from BMW’s perspective, of the common combustion chamber.

Wave Disc Generator

The current best IC gasoline engines are about 25% efficient. That means for every four liters of fuel consumed, one actually is converted to work, while the other three go to creating heat. And we may have reached the peak (or are near the peak) of development for piston engines.

Every once and awhile an inventor will come up with some scheme that promises to repeal the laws of physics, ala the 200 MPG carburetor. Most schemes for burning fuel in a combustion chamber have been tried already (with varying degrees of success, see Sterling orbital engines, or Wankel rotary engines). But with improvements in electronics and metallurgy, some designs that are decades old are being revived.

One interesting piece of technology is the wave disc generator. It uses shock waves to create combustion in an air/fuel mixture. The pulse jet was the first analogy that popped into mind. The pulse jet was used in German V1 ‘rockets’ in World War II and by Lennox in furnaces in the 1990s. The pulse jet made an incredibly efficient furnace (and an interesting flying machine – as long as you weren’t on the receiving end), but it was thrust and heat – no mechanical motion.

The wave disc generator utilizes a series of waveform chambers in a spinning disc. It is claimed to be 60% efficient which beats a piston engine by a factor of 2.4. The problem is, how much torque can it produce (think rotary) and how big does it have to be before it becomes
useful. If it can produce power in a small package, the range extenders for plug-in hybrids may be in for an upgrade.

Leather vs Cloth

Sometime in the last half a century in the US, leather replaced cloth as the premium material for seats in the interiors of cars. It used to be that leather was allocated to the driver and footman, who sat at the front of the conveyance, usually exposed to the elements, while the passengers sat in brocaded cloth upholstery in the enclosed compartment separated from the hoi polloi.

But then, sometime in the 1960s or 1970s, leather became synonymous with luxury. I’m still not sure how that happened. I suspect it may have something to do with vinyl being the ubiquitous seat covering for cars in the 1950s on. (And there were some pretty hideous implementations of vinyl – including metallic gold, turquoise, and olive green.) But that’s just a guess.

Cloth doesn’t have the same stigma in other markets that it does in the US. And quite frankly I’d rather have the comfort of a premium cloth than the discomfort of a premium leather. So it’s time for a poll: Given
a choice would you select cloth or leather – if the price was the same. And, if you have any guesses as to why leather replaced cloth as a premium seating surface please share them in the comments.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

At Detroit Auto Show, our own Shawn Molnar spent some time with Weil to learn more about the design language of the iconic 3 Series.

BMWBLOG: Chris, can you tell us what have you done with the design of the new BMW 3 Series?

Christopher Weil: First of all, the BMW 3 Series is completely inspired by history somehow because the 3 Series itself has a great history. That’s why I wanted to bring back some strong elements, like the unit between the kidney grille and the headlamp area, this connection between them. There was already a connection in the past, if we take for example the E21 or E30 – the first 3 Series, they had a headline unit with a black panel, which was leading towards the kidneys, and this here is a modern and fresh interpretation of this unit.

The kidney itself is also tri-dimensional, and with this sharp cut and this piece of chrome the kidney looks more solid now, more tied into the car, like it’s a solid block, like a jewel nicely integrated into the whole body. As the kidney is a very strong icon – the main BMW icon, I would say – I wanted to emphasize this particular item to develop it further, somehow.

BMWBLOG: Are there other design elements on the new 3 Series, anywhere else on the car, that are sort of new, or back to be resurrected, like the connection between the headlights and the kidney grille?

Christopher Weil: If we look lower, we have an aero tech theme with one small band in the middle and two big openings on the sides, which is also new for BMW. We tried to develop this theme towards sportiness, because this is the sportiest sedan we offer. If you take the roof for example, the hood is sloping towards the front – it has a nice sweep and this is also a very sporty element, the way it drops down and the whole body side is enhancing the sportiness.

We also have the double zicke line – which we see for the first time: the zicke line starting at the headlamp, running through the rear door, and the second zicke line, which is starting at the front fender and all the way to the back. This is a new approach, because I wanted to bring a lightweight feeling on the car, and somehow to visualize, if possible, the EfficientDynamics theme.

The air curtains are also very important for the aerodynamics of the car, and they’re working really well. Aerodynamics is fantastic on the 3 Series.

BMWBLOG: The BMW 1M was the first vehicle to use the air curtain technology on a BMW road car. However, we see that now on a 3 Series, but it’s much more hidden. Can you tell us about the way that you incorporated that technology into this car? Did it play much of a role in terms of the styling of the vehicle? Or was it just was more for functionality only?

Christopher Weil: It’s basically for functionality. On the Sports Line edition you don’t see it too much, because it’s covered – it’s in the black panel, but if you look at the basic version, you see it as a subtle detail. But we wanted to show it, we didn’t want to hide it.

BMWBLOG: We know that the drag coefficient for the 3 Series is very commendable, 0.26. Are there any other design highlights that really lend themselves to the aerodynamics efficiency of this vehicle?

Christopher Weil: For example the corner line of the car is also improving the aerodynamics. Then we have a really wide rear-end, which is not good for the aerodynamics, but we really wanted to have this approach because the car has a good stance, also from rear-view. There was a lot of development done on the underbody of the car. It’s nearly completely covered and a lot of aerodynamics is happening where you don’t see it.

There’s also a kind of a diffuser at the back, you can see it only if you look very closely. We worked with an aerodynamic engineer from F1 during the process. I told him we wanted to show aerodynamics on certain parts, like the front – which is very important, but not to affect the car design too much by aerodynamics, so he tried to implement everything in the underbody, and this was very important in this project, as he came up with very intelligent ideas.

BMWBLOG: One thing we wanted to ask you about the front of the car – the way the hood comes down and meets the front fascia, there’s this dividing line, where the hood actually closes above the badge, as opposed to right at the kidney grille, as it did historically. Can you tell us the reason for this switch?

Christopher Weil: It’s serving many purposes: The main reason is the shark nose. The shark nose on this car is even more enhanced, leaning forward. If you hit the car during a crash, the hood will be damaged immediately. When you have a shark nose, you can’t apply the usual design solutions, so you have to move some lines in a certain distance to the front. Another reason is related to pedestrian safety, but mainly it’s because of the crash regulations. Plus the maintenance considerations, because it’s cheaper to repair it in case of a minor crash.

BMWBLOG: Moving around from the front to the sides and the back of the vehicle, this double sickle line that starts from the headlights and works its way back and the second one from the wheel arch all the way back to the back of the vehicle – is there anything new or different to the back of the car, besides the rear diffuser you’ve mentioned?

Christopher Weil: The rear end is looking rather solid, classy and elegant, this was our approach. We wanted to connect the car to the higher class – for example the 5 Series because the BMW sedans are one family in general, even if every member has its own character.

The rear-end has a typical 3 Series approach, so if you take the rear, there is a line above the headlights which is coming down, and the line from the bumper which is sloping upwards, so the rear-end looks fit – that’s a typical BMW 3 Series theme. Of course, it had different interpretation in every generation, but it still remains a 3 Series theme.

We wanted to give width to the car and to give a fresh approach also from rear-end, but the differentiation from the previous generation is not too significant. But if you look at the angle in the front line, you’ll also find it in the taillights, so there is a connection between the front and the rear.

BMWBLOG: Are the rear wheel fenders more flared than they have been on the previous 3 Series?

Christopher Weil: Yes, they are. They evolved – the shoulder is typically a 3 Series one, the angle is really upright somehow. The fenders look really strongly modeled there, like sticking out of the car and providing a muscular look to the car; the reason for this is that it was important to integrate the fenders really well and to give the car power and to emphasize the rear-wheel drive.

These are the first three themes, but if you own the car for a while, you will discover there are more. It’s important that the car still has some surprises for you, when you own it for several years.

BMWBLOG: The 3 Series is BMW’s most important car in terms of volume, and for sure profitability. When you designed this 3 Series, did you do back and focus on a particular 3 Series from previous decades, that you wanted to draw from, for inspiration?

Christopher Weil: Not one in particular, but I looked at early 3 Series models because at the beginning when I started to work for BMW , I had an E21 and I really think the 3 Series had a strong and unique character. Any 3 Series has this character, but it’s also developing, so I looked really deep into history and I think there are some visual things which I’ve liked and tried to implement in this car that have to do more with the treatment of the surfaces.

BMWBLOG: Do you still own your E21?

Christopher Weil: No, I sold it, it was too old. I’m driving an E46 Touring right now; it’s one of my favorite 3 Series. I like all the other ones as well, but this one expresses a pure statement, somehow.

BMWBLOG: Looking at the big picture of design with the 3 Series, is there anything else that you drew inspiration from? Architecture, art, or music?

Christopher Weil: It’s like this: if you are a designer, you are inspired by anything, basically by life. I’m inspiring myself also with art and architecture, but you can’t say: “I took that piece out of that building and brought it into the car”, or “I’m inspired by one particular chair”.

Let’s say that life is inspiring and you need a lot of inputs to give some outputs, and if there is something mind-blowing then I’m really glad if I discovered it.

BMWBLOG: The 3 series keeps growing, incrementally, generation after generation. Do you use certain techniques to hide this size increase, to try to keep the car looking smaller?

Christopher Weil: Sure, there are some tricks to do so. One example is the double zicke line: since the optical weight above the front wheel at a 3 Series is usually lower, and you don’t have metal sheets over the front wheel, this is exactly what the upper zicke line is doing, hiding the weight. We are also using the interplay between shadow and light to create a certain image and hide weight.

BMWBLOG: The current BMW 3 series is not so far off the size of the original 5 Series, and yet it still looks like a 3 Series, not a 5 Series, so there is a continuity in terms of unique, bespoke, stylistic features of the 3 Series, but also size-wise.

Christopher Weil: We also did some very thin looking A-pillars and B-pillars, C-pillars super slim looking from the outside – that’s also one of the 3 Series theme, helps hiding the weight of the car.

BMWBLOG: Were there any design challenges you faced while designing the 3 Series? That you had to overcome?

Christopher Weil: Of course you have to overcome the selection process, that’s the first hurdle. Then you have to find the compromise with the technicians, who are dragging you in one direction, while you have to keep your original design. But in case of this car there was a very harmonic process, the interplay between the engineers and design was really good and everybody was going in the same direction. I think the result is this design language, that was really harmonious.

BMWBLOG: When it comes to the interior of the car, we know that you focus on the exterior, but are there any continuous themes in terms of style? Style elements that continue from the exterior to the interior?

Christopher Weil: At the interior, the main theme was layering, you have surfaces which are overlapping other surfaces. We also tried to bring this to the exterior somehow, but with metal sheet you can’t do everything you want. You may see some hints in this direction, but it is too far away to say that you found a layering theme on the exterior. The sickle line was originally hard-cut and more layered than it is now in the production model. And then you have some nice and easily curved lines which are connecting the exterior and the interior.

BMWBLOG: We’ve spoken earlier that there are some continuities between the different vehicles in the line-up, so we know there are some unique features on the 3 Series that aren’t found on another vehicles. But have you been trying to get this car closer to the 5 Series, for example? In terms of the feel, like for example when you walk up to the car, you want them to have the level of sort of prestige, when they’re entering a 3 as a 5?

Christopher Weil: It was not the intention at the beginning, but the car has developed during the 3-year design process. I think it’s good that there are some resemblances because if you look at the BMW in the past, you had a strong identity of all the sedans and now you’ll find it again. But every car has its own character and that’s important. I think people will also realize, or see it later, that the similarities are not too strong, not too big.

BMWBLOG: Is there something you want to take from this 3 Series and you’d really want to see in the future, accentuated?

Christopher Weil: I think it’s important to further develop the themes that I implemented. As the 3 Series is a car which is appealing to a great variety of people, it has to have this right balance between the elegance and sportiness.

BMWBLOG: Could you describe the ideal 3 Series buyer?

Christopher Weil: There is no typical BMW 3 Series driver because the car doesn’t appeal to a single demographic category only, so everybody could drive it, from a 20-year old to a 85-year old. I think that in the past social climbers were driving this car, and I think this will be the case also with this car.
The car is made for everybody, plus now that we have the three character lines and people can configure their cars to their own character. And I think this will also bring different customers to BMW, because for example Modern line is made for different people than Sports Line.

BMWBLOG: Can you tell us more about the three different lines, Sports, Luxury, Modern?

Christopher Weil: We tried to give the car a different character with that package that includes interior and exterior elements. You can choose any color that you want, but unique for the Sports line for example are the kidney bars, which are more tri-dimensional, wider, and really curved. Then we have these high gloss black elements in the lower area and specific wheel design for the car, and the interior is totally connected to it – so you have your own interior world, a very sporty world, and you can choose between black and brushed aluminum, some red accents if you like, or high-gloss accents. And each line has a holistic approach, and I think it gives the car a strong and unique character.

BMWBLOG: Christopher, thank you very much for your time!

Not all manufacturers can take advantage of the 8HP’s capabilities though. Most mainstream makers don’t produce quantities of rear wheel drive sedans/coupes in the heart of their lineup. Yes, some produce top of the line rear wheel drive cars, but they’re the exception to the
rule. And the 8HP is for front engined, rear drive cars. (Or front engined all wheel drive cars.)

Thanks to the shear audacity of the number of forward speeds, the 8HPs flexible couplings are often overlooked. The 8HP can be configured to use a torque converter, a DCT, or a hybrid drive electric motor, to couple the engine to the transmission. And you can see the light bulbs
illuminating for the engineers when the notion that you can increase fuel economy, improve shift timing, and get a hybrid ‘nose’ for the transmission was presented.

BMW had to have had the N55 in the planning stages when the 8HP became known. Here was a way to multiply the fuel efficiency benefits of the Twin Power turbo-charged technology. The 8HP would become a piece of the EfficientDynamics suite of technology. And it is the coupling of the N55 to the 8HP via the electric motor that will bring BMW’s hybrid vehicles to a wider audience.

The ActiveHybrid 7 and X6 use the turbo V8 motor, and they provide performance and fuel economy benefits over their non-hybrid versions. For example the 750i uses a six speed auto gearbox, goes from 0 to 60 MPH in 5.1 seconds and delivers 15/22 Cty/Hwy MPG. The ActiveHyrbid 7 uses the 8HP gearbox and shaves 0.4 seconds of the 750i’s 0 to 60 time while delivering 17/26 Cty/Hwy MPG.

The ActiveHybrid 5 and 3 are lighter and are equipped with a smaller engine than the ActiveHyrbid 7. While MPG numbers are not currently available, look for either vehicle possibly to offer slightly better fuel economy then their four cylinder versions. The N55 six already is
pretty close to the N20 four in fuel economy when coupled to the eight speed automatic. But don’t look for radical improvements in performance, rather, expect the 0 to 60 MPH times to be the same or just marginally quicker than the 535i/335i version of the ActiveHybrid cars.

Peak horse power of the ActiveHybrid 5 is 340 HP. The N55 engine contributes 306 HP towards that number, and the peak HP of the electric motor is 55 HP. That means that the two power peaks occur at different RPM and you can safely bet that the electric motor HP peak occurs before the N55′s.

The battery pack is not huge, it sits under the floor of the trunk. It isn’t designed for running in all electric mode for any great length of time, in fact BMW expects to get around 2 miles from the charge when running under 35 MPH. And that’s actually sufficient. That’s generally
ample distance between a suburban house and a feeder road posted at speeds higher than 35 MPH. And that’s where the greatest fuel economy savings come in at. When under 35 MPH in residential areas, stop and go conditions. The ActiveHybrid 5 and 3 aren’t city cars, and their optimization as hybrids reflects their intended role and target markets.

The lithium-ion battery pack is configured to provide 317 volts DC. That voltage allows for reduced current loss and wiring diameter. But it does pose a hazard to technicians (as do most hybrid vehicles). And that is why all the high voltage wiring in vehicles is clad in an obnoxious orange color.

In addition to the lithium-ion battery pack used to run the electric motor (and the HVAC system from time to time, another clever feature of EfficientDynamics), the ActiveHybrid cars have at least one additional battery. It provides general 12 volt DC for the car.

Most hybrids will use the electric motor as the starter motor and the ActiveHybrid 5 and 3 can also, but BMW has taken a belt and suspenders approach to starting the car. They have a starter/generator which allows the car to be started and run if, for any reason, the high voltage hybrid system fails.

And of course making all of this work well together requires even more lines of code (lots of software).  It’s not just to ensure mechanical interoperability of the electric motor and IC engine, but also to optimize the promise of the hybrid systems. BMW ties the navigation system into the ECU suite and plans ahead for appropriate use of energy from all of the sources available. There is also talk that this will work even without a navigation entry, based on prior driving habits and applying analytics to those routes taken. Makes sense for a vehicle used for commuting, but still it’s a brave new world.

There are a couple of competitors to the ActiveHybrid 5 worth reviewing. They are the Lexus GS 450h and the Infiniti M Hybrid (M35h). Both use 60 degree 3.5 L V6s and Atkinson cycle valve timing. The Infiniti uses a 7 speed transmission, while the Lexus uses a CVT.

The Atkinson cycle is a variation on the Otto cycle. It’s distinguished by its use of holding the intake valve open longer than normal, actually allowing air/fuel to momentarily escape the cylinder during the compression stroke. Allowing the mixture to move back into the intake manifold reduces the total compressed and burned mixture that generates the power stroke. At the end of the power stroke the cylinder is back to atmospheric pressure. In essence the air/fuel mixture burn produces the maximum usable work from the power stroke.

Unfortunately the power density of a modern Atkinson cycle engine is less than a similarly sized conventional engine. And this is where BMW’s Twin Power turbo technology holds an edge. The amount of fuel injected
in to the cylinder is controlled much more precisely with direct injection than port injection. Subsequently use of an Atkinson cycle is moot in the BMW ActiveHybrid line.

As for competitors for the ActiveHybrid 3, the bulk of them seem to be front wheel drive and not optimized for the driving experience. That’s where the ActiveHybrid 3 will find its niche in the market. And BMW has said that the target markets are Japan and the US for the ActiveHybrid 5 and 3.

BMW has managed to take a specific piece of technology, the ZF 8HP, and use it to full advantage. The promise of the Twin Power turbo engines and the hybrid coupling for the 8HP opens up anew market segment for BMW with both 5 and 3 series variants of ActiveHybrid cars.

On completing his design studies in California, Karim Habib held various posts in interior and exterior design before being appointed Team Leader, Advanced Design for the BMW Group. After a short stint at Mercedes-Benz, Habib returned as the head of the Exterior Design BMW Automobiles department.

BMWBLOG: Which BMW product that you’ve worked on are you most proud of?

Karim Habib: It’s always very difficult for me to point one out because the focus shifts, but I would say the new F30 3 Series. Even as a designer, when you know the car for years and then you see the car on the road for the first time, there are still elements that you discover right then. I’m still discovering it and feel more and more impressed about the 3 Series when you see the car on the street, so it’s probably one of the cars I like best.

The new BMW 3 Series

BMWBLOG: When it comes to the new 3 Series, can you tell us about the overall design and what BMW has done with the new F30 3 Series?

Karim Habib: Generally, the 3 Series is obviously a very important car. The car has always been the leader in its category – so when we approach a car like that, we pay very close attention to the fact that we want to and we strive to still be the best.

This car is a bit longer and a bit wider than the previous generation, and proportion-wise, I think we took a pretty good car and made it a little better. In terms of the design language we liked to play as well with sportiness and elegance. One major thing about the new 3 Series is the new front fascia – it’s the first time we’re introducing the headlights that connect to the kidneys. I believe we managed to do something that looks sportier – you have a directing graphic from one side to the other, which makes the car wider. You can see more chrome and have the feeling that the kidneys have a 3D effect, a sculpted one; we tried to make the car look more elegant, more luxurious.

BMWBLOG: Speaking of the front fascia – we know about the air curtain technology, which contributes towards a drag coefficient of 0.26. What else have you done to improve the aerodynamics?

Karim Habib: Generally the aerodynamics is very important to us and we’re trying to do every little thing we can to improve it, to make more efficient aerodynamics. We have the air curtains and even little details, like the way mirrors have been optimized and even the little things like an edge in front of the front wheel, going from the headlight all the way to the bottom.

We used this as a design theme because for aerodynamics we usually need a very clean surface in front of the front wheel, so that when the air goes from the front to the side, it shouldn’t shoot off and create an empty pocket of air – so this edge will be like a bigger surface. By doing this, we find a way to accelerate the air around the corner so that it sticks to the side of the car, to the body of the car. This is the first time we do something like that. We started ideas like that on the F12, where it has as well a little edge in front of it. We try to make sure that design and aerodynamics work together from the start.

BMWBLOG: The underbody is quite flat as well.

Karim Habib: The aerodynamics has to do with everything, not just with the underbody, but also with the width of the tire, for example. To find out these details, we also do aerodynamic tests at different phases, in the wind tunnel. We send designers to the wind tunnel where they spend time trying different things out and then seeing if they work or not.

BMWBLOG: In terms of limitations to design, crash safety standards or the use of metals and materials you are working with, what would you say were the main challenges in designing the new 3 Series and how did you overcome them?

Karim Habib: In terms of pedestrian safety, you can notice the contour of the hood: for the first time it is created an acceleration around the beginning of the front wheel – the hood is flat, and then it accelerates down. That is something that actually came from pedestrian safety because sometime pedestrian safety is measured in certain ways that might be a little abstract. This is how we found a way to fulfill that legislation by having that slight acceleration by the front wheel.

I personally like that sort of one-two rhythm in the hood; it creates a lot of character to the car, in my opinion.

The new BMW Gran Coupe

BMWBLOG: Taking into account the CS Concept that you designed and moving forward to the 6 Series Grand Coupe – did you have a starting basis for the new 4-door Coupe or was it a totally different approach?

Karim Habib: If we consider the CS Concept, obviously this was the first time we thought about what could be a 4-door coupe for BMW, and we did our best to put that into production – but it didn’t happen in the end. The concept Gran Coupe came, and after that the 6 Series, and the Gran Coupe itself came into production. So yes, it is based on that idea, but we’re not the first on the market to bring this idea. I think the new Gran Coupe is the most elegant, and in terms of performance I’ve heard that we’re doing very well.

Design process, design trends

BMWBLOG: The interiors of BMWs have been very bespoke. Do you have communication with the interior designers as well, in terms of the overall feel of the vehicle and the way that it looks?

Karim Habib: Yes, sure. Actually my first work at BMW was interior design. I come from there as well, and we have to communicate with each other because we’re offering a product where the customer lives in the interior and the exterior. Marc Girard has his office next to mine and we definitely talk about this quite often. We also have workshops for the new projects we do – and we talk with the team and just try to be creative as one – we want this one principle, the spirit of the one car to be interior and the exterior.

BMWBLOG: For the future, do you see a synergy between the BMW i sub-brand design and the BMW cars?

Karim Habib: We wouldn’t have created a separate brand if we wanted it to come together, but synergy…that depends on how you define it. But obviously there will be certain things that overlap, but it’s very important to us that the BMW i sub-brand keeps its own identity, because it should also communicate the different set of values than the M cars do, for example. These are different worlds, very BMW, but with a different view of the future. But they should have their own individual characteristics.

BMWBLOG: With the current line-up of vehicles, the design teams were brought together and made very consistent across the line-up. How would you say that the BMW is positioning itself to really separate, individual products, when the overall design is very similar?

Karim Habib: That is definitely something we’re working on. You are right, there is a family look on all the vehicles, and I think that is pretty important to us. It’s important that when you see a BMW – any BMW – that it feels like a BMW. But we’re also very conscious of the fact that every model has to have its own character – we often say “one family, but different characters for each vehicle”, and that is something we’re trying to achieve with every car. You can see for example that now with the F30 we’re creating a different fascia for the 3 Series, with respect to an F10 – the 5 Series. And we will keep being very consequent about that in the future: same family, but a different character.

BMW LCI design process

BMWBLOG: We know that halfway through the life of a BMW vehicle, it gets a life cycle impulse as it’s called internally, or an overall refresh. At what point in time is that design actually completed? Is that thrown-on very early on, or is it literally half-way through its life-cycle?

Karim Habib: Half-way, literally. This is what we do. We don’t start a new model with the idea ‘oh, then we should keep that for the life-cycle impulse’, and so on. Because a lot of it depends on how close you are to the market. We often do these facelifts as well to bring something new from a technological standpoint. Changes to headlights and taillights have to be brought in as well. But we evolve also esthetically – the world evolves, and we always want to be at the crest of that wave.

BMWBLOG: Is it usual for the same designer to work on the facelift also? Or it could be anybody in the team?

Karim Habib: Sometime it is, most of the time it’s not. We’re trying to open the process up for the rest of the team as well.

Personal sources of inspiration, design vision

BMWBLOG: Tell us more about yourself and your personality and tastes and characteristics that influence the car design. What are your preferences, different types of art that you draw inspiration from, or industrial design? Is there anything that you really look to when you need some inspiration to pen a car?

Karim Habib: It’s very hard for me to pinpoint exactly. My beliefs have a lot to do with authenticity, and I think that is what inspires me the most. I look in different fields and I look a lot into architecture and product design, but what really inspire me are things that have a thinking behind, like when designers think not just how things look, but how they are produced, the kind of materials they’re using, who uses them, how they use them, which context they’re in. And it’s always fascinating how you get different and innovative answers from people.

Recently I’ve seen the movie ‘Objectified’ – Chris Bangle is in there, and there are some designers in there who are not designing products, but designing something almost like cultural experiences, and I think that’s the fascinating thing. For me it’s the sort of the abstract behind the object.

When you design a new car, I think what makes a really good car design is when it brings something to an already pretty mature market. And I think that in general BMW is quite good about that. We have never brought a car that has already been there or hasn’t brought anything to the world of cars, to customers. It really brings something new, and I think that’s the most enriching and inspiring thing, whether it’s architecture art, car design, fashion, etc.

BMWBLOG: How do you see the future of BMW design, in terms of technical details?

Karim Habib: I definitely think we’ll be evolving quite a bit in the future. I think it’s important, the world is changing and we have to be right there, we have to be the leaders in terms of how things look. What is fascinating for me – and I think you’ll see this year, as we’ll have a few things at different shows – is that BMW is expanding what it stands for, what it means. I think that design-wise we’ve got a few good answers coming that way.

For me – going back to authenticity – the most personal thing is that I want us to experiment and push as much as possible in terms of how authentic the design is, as materials. BMW i is working a lot with carbon fiber, for the core products some of that will trickle into those products, and how we’re going to make all that into the form language of our next vehicles will be really fascinating.

BMWBLOG: Going in the other direction, if you wanted a joyride in one classic BMW car, what would you pick?

Karim Habib: I would love to drive the E30 M3, as hard as I can. And to me it’s almost a cliché, but the 3.0 CS is quite fantastic, also looking more into how materials are used, with the chrome all around. These are things that could give us a bit of an insight on the future.

BMWBLOG: Karim, thank you very much for your time!

Lightning Lap can be considered the equivalent of the Nürburgring Nordschleife where many automakers fine tune their cars. The three-minutes laps offers long straight lines, elevation changes, and combination of slow, fast, and, scary-fast corners.

From BMW family, the U.S. magazine chose the almighty 1M, the tuned up 335is and Z4is, along with BMW’s fastest truck: X5 M.

Let’s have a look.

BMW X5 M – 3:11.1

Despite the X5 M’s flabby, 5289-pound curb weight, we expected it to be fast. And it is. Forget about the Grand Cherokee SRT8. The BMW blows its doors off. This SUV is quicker around VIR than the BMW 335is, as well as the Audi RS4 and BMW Z4 M coupe we ran here in 2007. Hell, it hangs off the rear bumper of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.

We also expected that the brakes would perform well, and they exceeded in that regard by shrugging off a five-lap stint.

But we didn’t see this one coming: The X5 M’s plentiful ground clearance benefitted its lap time. Exiting the “Bitch” corner a ­little wide, we dropped a tire off track, which did not faze the X5 M’s chassis even a bit. The four-wheel drive did its job and the left-rear Bridge­stone Dueler kicked up some grass, so we carried on with what ended up being the X5 M’s fastest lap of 3:11.1.

BMW 335is – 3:10.5

The 3:10.5 lap a 335i turned at our 2007 VIR event is just another reason to believe that those early turbocharged BMWs made more power than the advertised 300 ponies. After all, the 320-hp 335is is only 0.1 mph faster down the front straight, at 131.6 mph.

Even with the slower-than-expected lap time, the 335is is so committed to chassis neutrality that it might as well be Swiss. From the sharp left-hand Turn Four until the start of sector two, the 335is will change direction as readily with the gas pedal as with the steering wheel.

A transmission can’t be the only culprit for a car’s disappointing performance, right? Actually, it was the only complaint of the two drivers who drove the 335is. Subjectively, there were no glaring criticisms. Its chassis is slightly more upset by curbing, and the steering turn-in isn’t as immediate as the 1-series M’s. But the brake pedal offers nice initial bite; it’s easy to modulate and thus trail-brake.

The 335is is a joy to drive, even if this one was simply not as quick as the 335i from several years ago. We would choose the stand­ard manual transmission if it were our money. And maybe that would improve the BMW’s lap time. It would certainly increase the fun quotient.

BMW 1M – 3:06.6

If there is anyone left out there unconvinced of the benefits of a wide torque band, they should take a lap in a 1-series M. At VIR, the 1M uses third gear for roughly 80 percent of the track because its 370 pound-feet of torque are available as low as 1500 rpm. That torque and fairly tall gearing (111 mph max in third gear) meant that we could go through sector four without a potentially chassis-upsetting gearchange. That helped the 1M complete that section in 14.7 seconds, tieing the mid-engined Cayman R and Evora S.

The same can be said for sector five, where we sailed along in the 1M, locked in third. In most other cars, we had to perform a fourth-to-third downshift there. With a short wheelbase and M3 suspension components, wheels, and tires, the 1M turns in crisply, without delay, and remains gleefully free of understeer. When we hopped back onto the torque wave exiting a corner, we were greeted with a healthy but manageable dose of oversteer. This was common but most pronounced at slow corners, such as Turn One and Oak Tree. Most of sector four is performed on the ragged edge of a full-on high-speed D1-like drift.

Lap after lap, the 1M’s brakes erased speed without a fight or any fade. And since it topped out at 133.9 mph on the front straight, there was a lot of speed to erase.

Even if the 1M couldn’t top the 3:05.4 lap its big brother the M3 posted in 2010, it delivers real M performance. And, like a bona fide sports car, it demands respect.

Full article at Car and Driver

A matter of redline.

The heart of an M car is always its engine. Historically, M cars have had hearts that beat very fast – as in 8,000 + rpm; in the medical community we’d call that ventricular tachycardia. In the BMW community, we call that spinning to heaven. Predominately due to the specific burn rate of diesel fuel, compression-combustion engines (diesels) cannot rev as high as sparked (gasoline) engines. Most diesel engines in the automotive market today rev to a maximum of 4,000 to 4,500 rpm. Above 3,000 rpm, most of these diesels will sound and feel like they are about to spin themselves to oblivion, becoming rash, noisy and a bit unhappy. BMW diesels, however, welcome revs – whatever their redline might be. In the case of the new M diesels, redline is set to a maximum 5,400 rpm. That may not sound very high in the company of high-revving M engines, but trust us: for a diesel, that is stratospherically high.

Consider that modern turbo-gasoline M engines – such as the S63tu engine found in the new F10 M5 – rev to a maximum 7,200 rpm, and this high-revving diesel appears that much more impressive. The new M diesel gives up only 1,800 rpm to the highest revving turbo-gasoline M engine, and produces prodigious power along the way. This diesel, ladies and gentlemen, is an engineering marvel, a technological masterpiece. We will lay down the farm to bet it will win multiple engine of the year awards. This 3.0 liter turbo diesel is a genuine M engine – let’s get that matter out of the way early on in this tech piece.

One turbo, two turbo. Two turbo, three?

Did somebody say three turbos? Isn’t that kind of a lot of turbos? Indeed it is, and we don’t mind one bit that there are six scrolls packing air into six cylinders in a row. In fact, we rather like the concept and feel it’s a touch exotic. It’s the V-12 of turbos if you will. Lots of turbos – not cylinders. We haven’t had all of the technical information released to us yet, but from what we know so far, the turbo setup on this new diesel M engine is the most advanced turbo layout M – or any other car company for that matter – has ever produced for a production car.

With three twin-scroll turbos fed by and in-turn charging six cylinders, M have dedicated every cylinder to feed one scroll each. We do not have this detail yet, but we imagine all three turbos are of different sizes, a small turbo to spool up quickly at low rpm and provide instantaneous boost, a medium sized turbo to handle mid-rpm, and a very large turbo to produce maximum boost at high rpm.

As if this setup was not impressive enough, each turbo features variable-vane geometry (think Porsche 911 Turbo, though BMW Diesels have long featured this technology) and this allows each turbo to more efficiently spin-up and produce maximum boost across the entire rev-range. That word, “exotic” is once again coming to mind.

Don’t get your fingers near the fuel injectors… not that you would.

You’ll be too busy driving, of course. And for the health of your fingers, that’s a good thing because the piezo injection pressure of M’s new diesels would take your fingers clean off. Fuel is injected at a staggering – are you ready for this?- 2,200 bar. That’s equivalent to 31,908 psi. That is a mind-blowing figure – I’ve simply never heard of such a thing. The highly precise metering and timing of fuel injection allows for improved power, efficiency and responsiveness – extracting every joule of energy possible from every micro-droplet of diesel fuel.

Add more lightness, please.

The M engineers have not disappointed in the area of weight, using light-weight materials as much as possible in the engine. For example, the crankcase – which is normally made of heavy-duty steel to withstand the forces at play – is made of aluminum to stave off weight. We do not have final figures on the total wet weight of the engine, but we can’t wait to find out. We expect the engine block and head to also be constructed of aluminum, significantly lightening the engine. A lighter engine will allow for quicker chassis responses and more nimble, agile handling. The lower weight will also add to the balance of the car, ensuring no more than 50% of the weight rests upon the front axles.

Higher specific-output than the M5(!)

These figures caused me to do a double take, and then sit back in my chair for a moment with eyes glazed over – in mad fascination. As a reminder, the M5′s S63tu unit measures 4.4 liters in displacement, and produces 560 hp from 5,750 to 7000 rpm and 501 lb-ft of torque from 1,500 to 5,750 rpm. The new 3.0 liter M diesels produce 381 hp from 4,000 to 4,400 rpm and 546 lb-ft of torque from 2,000 to 3,000 rpm. That means a specific output of 127 hp/liter and 114 lb-ft/liter for the M5 and – paint me red and shoot me dead – 127 hp/liter and 182 lb-ft/liter for the M diesel. Theoretically, if the M division increased this Diesel’s displacement to 4.4 liters while keeping the same specific output, it would match the M5′s 560 hp while producing more torque – a gluttonous 801 lb-ft.

Yes, you read that correctly, the M diesel actually has superior specific output to the M5. Give your head a shake and start clapping – I don’t care where you are right now – seriously start clapping, slow and loud. Your workmates, family, or fellow shoppers will eventually understand when you give them a ride in your new M diesel.

3 tenths off the M5.

The M550d xDrive sedan will reach 60 mph in only 4.7 seconds, giving up only 3 tenths to the M5. True, various automotive outlets such as Car and Driver have achieved much faster acceleration times for the M5 – as quick as 3.7 seconds to 60 mph. But we’re quoting factory claimed times for both cars, so we expect the M diesel will shave time off of the claimed figure as well.

All of this with hybrid levels of efficiency?

The story just keeps getting better. As if the performance alone wasn’t enough reason to put an M diesel in your driveway, the efficiency should seal the deal. When bolted into the F10 5 series chassis, the diesel will manage 6.3 liters/100 km (44.8 mpg) in the EU test cycle. Consider that the Toyota Prius manages 64 mpg while boring you nearly to death and barely getting you there on time, and the M diesels make a compelling case for themselves.

M Diesel? Bring it on.

We are tickled pink by the release of the new M diesel engine and we positively cannot wait to interview M engineers to learn more about it. Of course, we are even more excited to drive the new line of M diesels just as M cars were meant to be driven: flat-out and a little bit sideways.

Four models have launched with the new diesel engine: the M550d xDrive Sedan, M550d xDrive Touring, X5 M50d and X6 M50d. The claimed accelerations times are 4.7, 4.9, 5.4, 5.3 seconds respectively.

Finally we arrive at the question: why label these diesels under a slightly partitioned off sub-brand? It appears that the character and intent of these cars will be unique from the gasoline powered M cars, while putting out similar performance. The fact they were developed in-house by M proves they are indeed proper M cars. But for now it appears M is distancing them slightly from the rest of the lineup while fans and owners around the world warm to the concept of a Diesel M. I don’t know about you, but we’re already hot under the collar.

Stay tuned for exclusive BMWBLOG coverage of the new M diesels, including a sure-to-be-thrilling first drive review. It’s time for more clapping… slow and loud friends…

In the remote reaches of Cobo Hall one can find a number of vendors tucked away at the NAIAS. ZF was there with a display of its wares and
front and center was a cutaway of the 9HP, nine speed automatic gearbox for FWD applications.

In the fight for ever greater fuel economy (and lower carbon dioxide emissions), compact, efficient transmissions with a wide gear spread, from low to high, will be in great demand. The 9HP fits the bill. By adding three speeds on top of an existing 6 speed FWD gearbox, the 9HP can take advantage of a steeper first gear, the intermediate ranges can be brought closer together (less RPM drop between shifts), and it can still deliver a couple of extra overdrive ratios at the top to further squeeze additional fuel mileage out of the fuel load.

One of the enablers of the 9HP was the first ever use of interlocking dog clutches in an automatic gearbox. The use of dog clutches save space and enhance efficiency when compared to the use of multi-disc shift elements used in other transmissions. Using four simple gearsets, four dog clutches and two brake bands, the nine forward speeds and reverse can be selected. The gearbox is start/stop capable without requiring an additional fluid pump. The torque converter incorporates a multi-level vibration damper which reduces NVH, especially helpful when used with small engines. In addition, the gearbox supports all wheel drive applications. In addition the gearbox is available in two torque capacities, one good for up to 280 NM of torque and one good up to 480 NM.

I have one request though. That is for someone to couple the 9HP with a two speed final drive that allows the four top (overdrive) gears (sixth through ninth) to be doubled, making it, effectively, a 13 speed gearbox. Then all you have to do is equip the car with a really good diesel truck air horn.

FWD

News of a FWD BMW has reared its head again, and it is due to be be unveiled sometime this year according to the latest rumors. There is also be a lot of conjecture as to why, and some pretty interesting guesses as to how the thing will be built.

This is what we know. BMW has made provision for a flexible firewall location in its latest ‘platform matrix’ for smaller cars. That means given a five link rear axle, a set of MacPherson struts up front and other components (sound systems, seats, HVAC, electronics, ABS, etc) you can build a FWD version of a 1er. The FWD BMW won’t be built using the existing Mini chassis. It will be built using a variation of the BMW smaller car matrix.

While this should be BMW’s first foray into a production FWD car, it certainly isn’t BMW’s first attempt at building and evaluating a FWD vehicle. Before BMW bought Dixi in 1928, they had a series of FWD cars designed and several prototypes running. It started in 1925 with the F50 (Fahrgestell, Projekt-Nr. 50) a V8 powered FWD car. That was followed by a transverse four cylinder FWD prototype, F 55, in 1927. A picture that many have seen is the F 55 prototype mule driving with a snowy Bavarian landscape as a backdrop. And in 1928, prior to the acquisition of Dixi, the F 65 was proposed with a six cylinder motor and FWD. In that era, constant velocity joints were just under development. And it was a production quality CV joint that enables FWD. Regardless, Dixi was
purchased and along with it the automobile works in Eisenach, as well as the license to build the Austin 7.

Then after World War II, BMW proposed another FWD car, the 513, utilizing a two cylinder boxer motorrad engine. It was a pretty little car with it’s air cooled engine well in front of the axle, not unlike a contemporary French Panhard. But cash was hard to come by, and BMW settled on producing the Baroque Angels instead.

So it is no surprise, in an age when governments are dictating increasingly strict tailpipe emissions and fuel consumption, across a maker’s fleet, that FWD resurfaces at BMW. As mentioned before, use the three cylinder (the new 500 cc per cylinder architecture) gas or diesel motor with the ZF 9HP and place that drivetrain in an A or B class body. You instantly improve your fleet MPG and carbon dioxide emissions.

It would be nice if they restrict the engine choices to tuned variations of the three cylinders, and whatever else is done, don’t offer a variant of the 3 series in FWD (a BMW S60 – perish the thought!). And, to placate the purists, resist the urge to M-cessorize the FWD offerings.

Looms

I stumbled across a YouTube video of the manufacturing process for Time Bicycles, a French maker of high end carbon fiber bikes. What caught my attention is that they’re using a Resin Transfer Molding process, not unlike the process BMW will (is) using to construct its passenger cells for the i3 and i8.

But the initial moments of the video show the process of weaving individual strands of fiber into cloth that can be formed into bicycle parts. The process of weaving fibers into cloth is one of the oldest human manufacturing processes. And the start of the industrial age was the mechanization of the weaving process using water as an energy source. Eventually the weaving process was automated thanks to the Jacquard loom.

It’s coming full circle, BMW is having fibers spun with hydroelectric power at the Moses Lake facility. What was old is new again. Gives one hope.

Rather a lot, actually. The E30 ascended to cult-classic status because its parts coalesced into one harmonious whole. The E30 was a driving instrument that sought to convey every bit of sensory information possible from the road surface to your brain. Strapping into the E30 was like plugging an HDMI cable into your head – the other end gathering data from the contact patches. As you made progress down the road, this car remained raw and honest. If you only let it, it would please you until you ran out of fuel, tires, or brakes. To put it simply, the E30 delivered purity unmatched by modern cars.

Fast forward to the current millennium and you will find a car-scape mostly devoid of precision driving instruments. Burdened with comfort, technology and safety appendages, modern cars have grown in weight. Through the years they’ve also gown layers, incrementally distancing you, the driver, from the sensory experience. The latest layer to surface between driver and road has risen from the necessity of increased efficiency. Electronic power steering replaces the hydraulic pump that used to reduce the muscle needed in wheeling your steed. Somehow, in the application of this technology, the subtleties wiggling up through the steering shaft have been erased – or at least, reduced. Even the Porsche 911 – fabled for its telepathic steering feel – has fallen prey to this technology, though reviews thus far suggest the damage is limited.

At the racetrack or on a snaking road, only a car free of sensory callus can carry you to driving nirvana. The magical pixie dust of the E30 is no magic at all – it’s a mechanical simplicity that connects you to the driving experience. In the quintessential linguistic contradiction: less is more.

Let’s distill the E30 down to its fundamental ingredients. The car was lightweight, the M3 tipping the scales at a scant 2,865 lbs – earlier non-M models dipping as low as 2,460 lbs. All E30s were rear-wheel drive, save for the iX one-off which pioneered the 3 series’ first AWD system. A manual gearbox was standard. Six-cylinder models and sports four-cylinder models came equipped with a limited-slip differential. While the engines on offer varied widely in power, all engines were responsive and free-revving – save for the Euro market diesels.

The above, in a nutshell, defines the essential DNA of a pure sports car: lightweight, rear-wheel drive, manual gear selection, and responsive, free-revving power delivered through a limited-slip differential. You cannot overlook any of these ingredients without undoing a helmet-full of driving fun. Add much on top of these ingredients, and you begin to distract from the purity of the car.

So then, what cars in the market place today were baked to simple perfection using the prescribed ingredients? All Lotus cars, the Mazda Miata, the Porsche Cayman, Boxster and 911 GT3 RS, all Caterham cars, the Weismann MF4-S, and a few other small-batch independent sports cars. By and large, the short list is very, very short. Recent favorites such as the Honda S2000 and Mazda RX-8 have gone the way of the cassette player, and their presence is sorely missed.

Of course, all of these cars fail to embody the essence of the iconic E30. For one reason or another, they all miss the mark in some way. The car that comes closest is arguably the Mazda Miata. It combines all essential ingredients into a handsome package, at a reasonable price point. Yet the Miata is still slightly soft relative to the E30 of its day – particularly the E30 M3, which had a telescopic focus on performance. The others on the short list are overpriced, bordering on exotic – which the E30 was not. What we’re looking for is the simple everyday performance car – attainable, and thrilling, for all. And if our candidate is to truly match the E30, it must also have a side of practicality and everyday utility – just as the E30 mustered.

Enter the long awaited Toyota FT-86. That the name Toyota has even appeared in the acclaimed company of the aforementioned sports cars is nearly cause for alarm or moderate stomach upset. Defibrillator cast aside, desperate chest-thumping abandoned – we had all gone home, the collective body of driving enthusiasts considering the Japanese brand clinically dead.

A blip occurred on the EKG over 5 years ago when rumor began to spread of a pure sports car surfacing from the brand. As much as it pained sports drivers to glance their eyes on Toyota dealer lots – lest their eyes set hold of the world’s most homely and boring automotive lineup – memories of happier times could still be called to mind. Iconic cars such as the Sports 800, 2000GT, Corolla GT-S and Supra spring to mind – dating back to the late 1960′s. The Corolla GT-S, internally code-named the AE86, finds a special resting place in many enthusiasts’ hearts, as this car captured much the same appeal as the E30. It was a simple, honest performance car that combined all essential ingredients into an affordable package, while retaining everyday usability and practicality. It was, to some extent, a Japanese E30.

Now, in January of 2012, we can add the Toyota FT-86 to the list of pure, uncompromising sports cars. The mandate of this car is in parallel with that of the original E30, and this Toyota’s mechanical similarities may surprise you. Since we’re all driving enthusiasts at heart, let’s use the E30 M3 as a reference point. The M3 weighed in at 2,865 lbs, the FT-86 weighs an impressive 2,700 lbs (final figures are not out yet, but some expect it to weigh as little as 2,600 lbs!). The M3 was powered by a naturally aspirated 2.3 liter inline-4 cylinder that produced 192 hp at 6,750 rpm and 176 lb-ft of torque at 4,750 rpm, en route to a 7,300 rpm rev limit. The FT-86 is powered by a naturally aspirated 2.0 liter boxer-4 cylinder that produces 200 hp at 7,000 rpm, 151 lb-ft of torque at 6,600 rpm, eventually bouncing off the limiter at 7,400 rpm. The M3 was rear-wheel drive with a limited-slip differential standard, the FT-86 follows in kind. The M3 transfered power through a 5-speed manual transmission, the FT-86 offers a 6-speed manual. The M3, along with all other E30s, offered surprising practicality with a sizable trunk and 2+2 seating configuration. The FT-86 features a 2+2 layout with a sizable trunk and fold-down rear seats expanding total storage volume.

What of the alleged successors within the BMW brand? Some – not least the marketing department – will point to the 1 series as heir to the E30 thrown and go on to insist that the 1 series M Coupe is the true successor to the E30 M3. I’ve spent a healthy amount of time behind the wheel of the understeering 1 series, and it lacks two of the core ingredients necessary to make it a worthy successor. The base 128i weighs 3,208 lbs, putting it a stout 200 lbs over the pivotal 3,000 lb tipping point that tends to exemplify a light weight sports car, and all other cars mentioned fall below this weight. The 1 series fails to include another ingredient: a limited-slip differential. What of the 1 series M Coupe? The car goes further astray as mechanical muscle adds considerable weight, the 1M registering 3,296 lbs on the scales. 431 lbs is a monumental amount of weight to be added to a sports car, and it permanently and irreversibly alters both the driving experience and the spirit of the car. I’ve driven the 1M in haste and while it delivers in all other departments, there is a spiritual element missing. In sports car rhetoric, that spiritual element is called, “lightness.” Further, it’s not a sports car for everyone, as hardly anyone can purchase it.

If you long for the visceral appeal of a BMW E30, the best solution may be to go out and buy a classic E30. If you’re bent on the sublime M version, then you’ll have to gather up a few more dollars, because current appreciation of the car has a low-milage specimen sitting at approximately $25,000 to $30,000 USD. Coincidentally, the Toyota FT-86 is expected to launch with a base price just over $25,000 USD.

While I’m smitten by the E30 and stand in awe of its driving appeal, I’ve already been down the vintage car path. I’ve owned an E30 and loved every minute of it, but for an assortment of reasons, I’m ready to drive cars built in step with modern hair styles. Even the most hard-core among us might rationally insist on owning a car built within the last decade.

If you fall into the category of reformed vintage sports car driver, or earnest enthusiast looking for a modern E30, your options are limited – but no longer absent. As far as I see it, there is only one car that closely matches the performance of the E30 M3 while capturing the spirit of the car. BMW have reportedly played with the idea of a Z2 sports car, but as of yet, this car is set on the far off horizon – and there is tragic rumor that it may launch with front-wheel drive. It’s clear that in the year 2012, there is only one true successor to the BMW E30: the Toyota FT-86.

I’ve yet to drive the Toyota, but I’m eagerly awaiting track-time at the helm. The only complaint I’ve read thus far from recent reviews would be that the tire size is a touch to small, leaving the car needlessly searching for traction. Stock tire sizing is 215/45/17 square, so I imagine going to a 225 sticky compound all-round would solve this issue, and allow for serious track pace. If this car delivers half the fun of an E30 on track, I’ll be smitten – along with thousands of other track-addicts.

If you’ve never heard of the Toyota FT-86, it could be because it carries so many different name plates. In actuallity the car was conceptualized by Toyota, but executed by Subaru – hence the ripping boxer-4. Subaru’s version is called the BR-Z while the Asian market retains the FT-86 moniker, and North America gets the flabby Scion FR-S badging. I cringe at the thought of owning a Scion – imagine: a brand below Toyota. But you mustn’t judge a car by its badge – not when the ingredients are so pure underneath. Hail the new E30.

What car do you believe is the true successor to the E30? Tell us in the comment section below! (As a reference, remember that weight must be well below 3,000 lbs!)

[Photo Credit: bmwroad.com | bmwtuner.net | usautoparts.net | pbase.com]

“The aphorism “it’s not the destination, but the journey that counts” is a well worn one, and a lesson that can be applied to any life situation. When looking back at the development of IND’s portfolio service thus far, this old wisdom applies perfectly. More than a means to an end or part of some master plan for IND’s success, IND’s Portfolio Service has made the projects themselves the goal all of us are working for.

Working with each client to customize their M3 to their specifications has become an opportunity and a privilege here at IND, and I’d like to thank all of the readers of BMWBLOG for helping us realize these opportunities.

We’ve had a comprehensive thread showcasing our cars for some time, but wanted to create a quick and easy interface to let people view each car at their own pace.

With that, here are each of the Portfolio Projects to date, from our own E92 M3 (one of the first modified M3s in the US), all the way to IND’s Red Death, Silver Standard, Blue Max, and many others.”

See the IND portfolio

Bangle wants his readers to sketch out those concepts and submit the ideas. The grand prize winner will receive a trip to the studios of Chris Bangle Associates (CBA) in Italy or €2,000. Ten other winners will have their designs showcased on the official Chris Bangle site and published in the second edition of the book.

The contest is open to “design students of all disciplines” who are not paid professionals.

His retirement in March of 2009 marked the end of a decade and a half of service designing automobiles for BMW. Born in the USA, Christopher Bangle, aged 52, has been Head of BMW Group Design Development since October 1992. After studying at the University of Wisconsin and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, he began his working life in Rüsselsheim, where he worked for Adam Opel AG. In 1985 he joined FIAT, where he became Director of the FIAT Centro Stile in 1992. Shortly afterwards he left the Italian automaker to come to Munich.

Over the years numerous designs for new vehicles and vehicle concepts have been developed under Christopher Bangle’s leadership. As well as continuing the BMW 3, 5 and 7 Series, he and his teams were responsible for a range of other models, including the BMW Z3, BMW Z4, BMW X5, BMW Z8, BMW X3, the new BMW 6 Series, the BMW X6 and the BMW 1 Series. Other developments under the auspices of Christopher Bangle include the new MINI and Rolls-Royce models and a number of innovative motorcycle concepts. During his tenure, Christopher Bangle was also instrumental in making the company’s consultancy subsidiary, BMW Group DesignworksUSA, what it is today: a global design agency in North America, Munich and Singapore for leading international brands and companies in a wide variety of industries.

[Source: Autoblog ]

BMW have long set the bar so high in the sport/luxury sedan segment that their German and Japanese competition have had an impossible time keeping up – let alone surpassing. With the launch of the new F30 sixth-generation 3 series, BMW have once again pole-vaulted a good field ahead of the competition, and those looking at the back-end of the 3 series have a lot of catching up to do. But perhaps not as much as with previous generations. The gap is narrowing – there is no doubt. Audi have finally figured out that understeer sucks, weight should be further aft, and more power should be sent to the rear wheels.

Well – in actuality all power should be sent to the rear wheels and weight should be distributed equally, or predominately over the rear axles, but at least they’re getting closer. The Japanese have mounted an honorable fight with their sport sedans, namely Infinity with their G and M class sedans. A stint behind the wheel of the G37 coupe will have you thinking, “who put wasabi on this bimmer?” as you hang the tail out through a corner. And finally the Koreans have thrown their flag in the ring with the launch of the Genesis sedan and coupe – the latter squarely aimed at stealing Infiniti G37 and BMW 3 series drivers. The Americans, meanwhile, have always been about an ocean away.

Have the Yankees finally stepped up with a worthy competitor in the midsize sport sedan segment? Let’s take a look at the fighter’s specs before we place a wager. Of course, we’ll need to get behind the wheel – preferably on a racetrack – before we can pass final judgment.

Cadillac lands a punch or two. Maybe three.

Right off the bell Cadillac lands a punch with superior power output from their 2.0 liter turbo four. BMW’s N20 unit of the same specification puts out 240 hp, while the ATS’s unit churns out 270 hp. That is a significant power advantage from an engine of the same size and aspiration. Then, a surprise left hook from the Caddy, as its sport suspension (FE3) adds a mechanical limited slip differential (LSD) between the rear wheels. Wow. Where were you on that one BMW? Not only does the Cadillac deliver more power, but it more effectively transfers it to the road when getting on with it. The Germans are left in a stupor, knees bent, clinging to the ropes.

Finally, a third swing. Did Cadillac land the blow? Hard to say – we won’t know until we drive the ATS. Mark Reuss, GM’s North American President, stated that the ATS sports, “the best steering [he's] ever tested.” Them be fighting words. But will the driving experience stand behind them? We can’t wait to find out for ourselves. Cadillac has fitted a ZF sourced (sound familiar?), belt-driven, rack-mounted, variable-assist electronic power steering (EPS) unit. Bespoke to the Cadillac, we’re very curious to see how much information the system will translate up, into the steering wheel. BMW has set the bar so low in this department relative to previous generation 3ers that, frankly, we wouldn’t be shocked if Cadillac betters the BMW for steering feel and feedback. Somebody alert the driving Gods: Hell hath frozen over.

Round two, equal match.

Both the ATS and 3 series tip the scales at an impressive 3,300 to 3,400 lb window – and bearing in mind the lengths BMW went to in order to reduce weight, the fact Cadillac goes toe-to-toe in this arena is extremely impressive. The ATS touts magnesium engine mounts, an aluminum hood, and clever use of steel in the suspension to shed pounds.

Both cars are available with 6-speed manual transmissions, which should keep the purists happy. I’m not sure how many Cadillac drivers are drivers, but I expect the manual take rate to be much lower on the American cars. At least they offer the manual transmission, should you be one to connect with the driving experience on a regular basis. That Cadillac even offers it lends credibility to their affront in the sport sedan segment.

Cadillac has finally lost the knife and brought a gun to the gun-fight with a more advanced 5-link independent rear suspension, appropriately weighted with 50% of the mass resting over the rear wheels at a stand-still. Don’t forget about that LSD mounted between the rear wheels – not even an option on any BMW 3 series short of an M car. Cadillac spent ample time honing the suspension setup on the N’ring and several other race circuits; we get the feeling the ATS may actually ‘bring it’ on track and at least keep up with the BMW.

BMW strikes back.

The F30 finds its feet and returns blows with its hewn-from-granite build quality and fine materials. Its advanced EcoPro technology – usable tech that is incredibly well applied in the car – adds value to the car and improves efficiency by a large margin when in use. iDrive extends BMW’s lead in the tech area, and creates a mobile office the likes of which Cadillac can only dream.

Self-inflicted blows?

Finally, Cadillac does the strange (but not entirely unexpected) and knocks a few of its own teeth out. Yes, the resultant look is, umm, how do I say this? Somewhere from Alabama? Your right to bear arms can’t touch me here in Toronto… fire away. Take the interior build quality for example. It’s atrocious. I mean, it’s horrendously bad – let’s say roughly where Hyundai was 25 years ago, with employees drinking a few too many Soju mid-shift on a Monday. Check out the photo below, showing lumpy, fat-roll-esque leather surfacing on the side bolster of the brand new show car. Is that cellulite? Remember: this is the best example Cadillac could find to showcase to the world’s media. Yikes.

Next, consider the unequal gaps on either side of the center-dash console. The difference is nearly a cm wide, and stares you in the face like a hideous hairy mole at the tip of the nose.

The cup holders don’t offer much in the aesthetics department either, feeling of cheap plastic and in no way belonging in the company of luxury cars. Not everyone orders the “Biggie Size” fountain drinks – do they really have to be so large? It appears that far too much space has been devoted to them, and with their placement at your elbows, McDonalds may be in for a “burnt elbow” hot coffee suit.

The touch screen info-tainment display is a bad idea on many levels. The screen will constantly be dirty and smudged since your fingers are frequently all over it. The reach is too far while driving, and requires you to lean forward from your seat, and the overall look and design of the software is not up to par with systems from the European competition.

But worse still is the uber-cheesy center console flip-up button pad, revealing a small cubby hole once lifted. Button activated, the swing up device feels cheap and screams “Gimmick” from the mountain tops. It’s sure to impress the 3 year olds in the car, and no one else. Why do the Americans lower themselves like this in the company of such refined competition? They finally brought the fight dynamically, even equalling the curb weight of the 3 series – only to throw it all away with a hilarious gadget stolen from a Fisher-Price Transformers toy? I don’t get it. I’d love to be at the board room table when Billy makes these suggestions. And who invited a toddler into the design process anyway? If you want to fight the Europeans and Asians, you have to add refinement and quality beyond rental car levels. After 5 minutes poking and prodding the ATS from the driver’s seat I thought, “this would make a great rental.” And nothing more.

Moving to the exterior, the ATS gives a lot up to the BMW aesthetically, but since looks are subjective, I won’t dwell heavily here. In short, the 3 series offers more shape, and more sophisticated lines embellishing its perfect proportions. The Cadillac falls down here, with more simplistic metal work that doesn’t capture light and shadow the same way. It looks less dynamic at a standstill, and while I don’t mind the industrial, sharp line design approach, somehow the ATS looks a bit dated even before its release. In a few years time the BMW will be growing on us while the ATS will be scrapping the bottom of the Blue-Book resale values.

Spending a little time in the cockpit of the ATS undid all of the hope we held out for this latest American effort. We expect it to win back some points once we get the keys, but if the dynamics and character are on par with the interior build quality – it seems Munich has little to worry about.

You’ve got to respect an underdog, but not if it’s just a dog. Was the model we examined pre-production, rife with tolerance issues and poor materials (again with the pleather-feeling leather)? Time will tell, and we look forward to giving a production model ATS a fair shake – on the track, and under bright lights. We will gladly crown the ATS or any other competitor the superior car – but it must earn this victory.

Nearly five years ago, BMWBLOG launched as a website that acts as a single-point of BMW news. With the help of a great team, years later BMWBLOG grew to a level that very few of us imagined at the beginning of our journey. From just a few articles a month to over 3,000 posts now every year, BMWBLOG delivers the most comprehensive BMW content, starting with test drives and spy photos, and ending with editorials, exclusive interviews and driving events. MINI and Rolls Royce brands are represented as well in our coverage.

With the increase of unique and exclusive content, we soon ran into an issue: inability to keep some of these great articles in front of our readers’ eyes. Shortly after being published, many of these articles would move to the second or even third page of the site, therefore becoming more challenging to discover them.

And this is why BMWBLOG 3.0 comes online.

More content just a click away

Our goal was to keep the web design framework close to what you have been accustomed to, including the top section that features the most interesting stories. This section is manually edited by our team.

But since we believe in the power of community, we decided to add another layer of top stories, this time operated by our readers. “Top Stories” section displays the most interesting articles based on your interaction with that content, from comments to page views and other unique metrics. Crowdsourcing is something we strongly believe in and by allowing the Top Stories to display the stories you find most interesting, we are moving the editorial process into your hands.

At the top, we have also selected some of the most popular categories that will allow you to drill through the content with a single click.

The front page also displays more Latest News, in a more compact design, with our Test Drives and Videos sections inserted between posts, another way for us to point to what we believe is interesting and exciting content.

The sidebar is a combination of social media widgets and other manually selected content that will resurrect some our older stories. Facebook plays an important role in the “new media world” and now you can simply share these articles with your friends, again, through a single click.

At the bottom of the page, we included content sections that spark interest among our readers, another approach to keep content relevant and always available.

Inside the articles, we included a Top Stories carousel that gives you ability to jump into one of the most popular stories at any time, from any page. At the end of every article, related content is being expanded into two different sections with the single goal of tying similar articles to the main story.

Category pages are also revamped with a new format that allows for quick scan through articles.

Photo browsing. Easier than ever

One of the most popular requests we have received last year revolved around the development of a new photo gallery. With tens of thousands of photos uploaded to the website every year, our readers were looking for an easier and faster way to enjoy the beautiful galleries. Our development team delivered a simple, intuitive and modern photo browser that we hope will make enhance the photo experience.

Just a quick note on this: if you are looking for the large version of the photos, simply click on them and you will have the opportunity to browse through them at full scale as well.

Last but not least, our cool logo gets a facelift as well, maintaining the same idea as five years ago but with a modern approach.

We hope you will enjoy our new design and we encourage you to provide feedback and submit bugs you might find.

During a discussion of the BMW ActiveHybrid 3 recently, the subject of energy density came up. Batteries have so much lower energy density than gasoline or diesel that even with the efficiency superiority of an electric motor over an internal combustion engine, it still can’t deliver the range of an IC powered car.

The current ‘best’ battery tech, Lithium Ion, has a theoretical maximum denisty of about two times current energy density. That would bring a 100 mile ranged car up to about 200 miles, or it could increase significantly the performance of the vehicle and leave the range the same, or the vehicle weight could be reduced and the range and performance remain the same.

Until battery energy density improves by a factor of four or five, battery powered electric vehicles will continue to be considered ‘urban mobility’ solutions. That may have to wait on breakthroughs in nanotechnology to transform the storage capacity of the battery cells.

Here is an interesting tidbit – that you may be able to win a bar bit from a total geek on – and a hat tip to a BMWBLOG reader for mentioning this in the comments from a previous article. The energy density per unit of mass of gasoline is higher than diesel. Where people get tripped up is that given equivalent volumes (US gallons for example) of diesel and gasoline, a gallon of diesel weighs more and actually has a higher energy density per given volume than gasoline.

Design

There was an online article, Technology Review’s, “Automobile Design for the Connected Age – Technology Review” (URL here:
http://www.technologyreview.com/business/39483/?p1=BI ) that included an interview with BMW’s chief designer, Adrian van Hooydonk. During the interview van Hooydonk stated that he begine his design career as an industrial designer and that was revealing (and brought a smile to my face).

Industrial design was a creation of the third and fourth decades of the 20th Century (1920-30s). Industrial design brought styling and
ergonomics to consumer goods. The best written account of industrial design was done by a husband and wife team of designers, the Cheney’s. Their book, “Art and the Machine”, is a sought after classic.

Industrial design has given us some greats, Raymond Loewy, for example. But its emphasis on applied design – applied to production products, and the need to merge design and engineering to produce goods, is an outgrowth of the need to remove ornamentation for ornamentation’s sake and introduce ergonomic usefulness to machines is what separates industrial design from the decorative arts.

If you have a hankering to read more on design, there are a couple of good works readily available to read. One is Del Coates, “Watches Tell More than Time”, another is Michael Lamm’s and Dave Holl’s, “A Century of Automotive Style”.

More on the Cadillac ATS

The Cadillac ATS was set up to take on BMW’s 3 series. And it’s not only almost the same size, but it utilizes a similar suspension setup. The rear suspension is a five link unit, a first for Cadillac, and it’s similar to the rear suspension in the BMW. However, being their first go at a five link rear end, Cadillac is hedging its bets on the superiority of it.

There’s a lot to sweat over with suspension design and the first stab at it isn’t necessarily the best. BMW is a couple of generation in with a five link setup and I suspect Cadillac will need to hone its five link further.

Regardless, it’s good to see another manufacturer take BMW on straight up. The better the competition gets, the better the BMW will get. (Or there will be more options to choose from.)

But our efforts might be in vain. A survey conducted in the United Kingdom by Onepoll for the webuyanycar.com website, of 2000 motorists revealed that 53 percent of BMW drivers admit to using their horn at least once on every trip, nearly three times the national average of 18 percent.

So who are the most polite drivers on the road? Nissan owners whom according to the survey are the least likely to use their horn with 95 percent saying they never do or only as intended.

Next in line after BMW drivers are the Jaguar owners (45 percent), followed by Fiats (43 percen), Audis (39 percent) and surprisingly Saab drivers at 29 percent.

To start off, a serious off-roader would be defined by BMWBLOG as an off-road vehicle that features full-time 4-wheel-drive with locking front, mid, and rear differentials. The vehicle should also have unlocking sway bars, plenty of ground clearance (preferably over 14″ or 44 cm), steep approach, departure and break-over angles, and lower gear ratios at the ready, preferably on the fly. A factory equipped winch would be nice, as would a air snorkel, mounted at least side-view mirror height. A fire-hose washable interior would also be nice, particularly if an open top version is offered. Easy reach tow-hooks front and rear would be nice, as would massive, thick-gauge skid plates covering the belly of the beast. Finally, diesel power would be preferred, preferably a torquey, highly efficient unit to extend range.

That’s quite a wish list, we admit. But for those who take off-roading seriously as a hobby, or for those who depend on off-road vehicles for their line of work or service to their respective militaries, this wish list is just the beginning.

The most off-road worthy vehicle BMW currently offers is the X5, and while it can handle slippery roads in stride – it does not belong on the punishing Rubicon trail – nor does it belong in the Outback, or deep in the African or South American jungle.

The potential benefits of building a focused BMW off-roader would include market share in the hotly contested military and security vehicle segment. Mercedes has built over 200,000 G-wagons since 1979, and in fact, the G-wagon is Mercedes’ longest standing model in the lineup, and hence, one of its most successful and profitable. Another niche could be claimed by BMW if they don’t hold their engineers back – BMW does seem to be smitten with filling every niche these days… don’t they? A harder line could be brought to BMW’s marketing partners, thus allowing ads to place this vehicle squarely against the likes of Land Rover, Mercedes, Jeep, Hummer (the original, not the annoying and useless GM-based wannabe version) and Toyota offerings.

The BMW off-roader, let’s call it the BMW X, could be offered in both military and civilian versions. While it’s true that most buyers would not take their civilian X much further off-road than a gravel driveway, this is hardly the point, nor is it an argument against building it. The marketing value and military/security sales alone would validate its existence.

We have no concept sketches of such a vehicle. Anyone out there interested in forwarding their effort? We’ll post all sketches on the website, linked back to this article.

If BMW did decide to build the X, it would come with a premium price tag, what with its bespoke, one-off engineering and high-quality, durable parts. Testing alone would rack up the price tag. But rest assured that with BMW’s security vehicle experience and engineering prowess, along with their diesel expertise, they could take the fight to the competition on both the road ways and the battlefield.

[Photos credit: AutoGuide]