I heard BMW sells automatics as well.

Ultimate Driving Machine my ass.

3/22/2010 3:31:37 PM

What??? I hadn't heard this before! Most disappointing indeed! Let the lamers who want Automatic go to MB.

3/22/2010 3:45:51 PM

they sell 300hp cars without LSDs as well!!!!111

3/22/2010 3:55:25 PM

This is too much! I can't take anymore bad news. I wanted one so bad for so long and now my hopes and dreams have been shattered in 2 posts.

I thought this was an exclusive club of Ultimate Driving Machines!

[Edited on March 22, 2010 at 3:57 PM. Reason : .]

3/22/2010 3:57:21 PM

Quote :

"I'd hate to own an X5. Everyone knows that any vehicle you use to tow your boat, travel, or haul the kids around is supposed to be overweight with piss poor handling, a terrible interior, and boring styling. Fucking BMW needs to be put in their place."

have you ever driven one? I have a family member with 2007 X5 (v8 model with almost every option) and I've driven it many times. It's actually kind of cramped inside and the interior dimensions remind me of an Audi A4. Gas mileage is decent for what it is. The interior is pretty good, typical German stuff and comparable to MB/Audi. This one didn't have iDrive, but I'm not sure if iDrive is available in the X5. I guess I've never thrown it into a slalom, but handling doesn't feel any better than any other SUV I've driven of comparable size. I'd give the whole car a meh. He used to have a Cadillac SRX before that. Biggest difference between the two was the gas mileage (BMW was much better relatively speaking). They both drove the same really.

[Edited on March 22, 2010 at 3:59 PM. Reason : the X5 was decently quick in a straight line though]

3/22/2010 3:58:40 PM

Yeah, my dad owned two X5s. He didn't like them, but he drove them for free/profit due to tax write-offs. Once that loophole got tightened up, he went back to BMW cars.



and I don't care for automatics, but I have to say that the automatic in my dad's 335i is the best I've ever driven.

3/22/2010 4:39:57 PM

Quote :

"Everyone knows that any vehicle you use to tow your boat, travel, or haul the kids around is supposed to be overweight with piss poor handling, a terrible interior, and boring styling. Fucking BMW needs to be put in their place. Porsche too."

Interiors of X5 and X6 are like the interiors of BMW sedans. Cayenne's interior is gorgeous.

As for handling, I don't know how you can comment on it without driving one. A month ago, I drove an X5 and an X6 around a track, and even threw them around a slalom. I was pleasantly surprised. They were completely planted, and felt more agile than vehicles that size/mass should feel. And very fast in a straight line as well, and they launched like beasts, and the X6's (400 hp) growl was like that of an American V8 muscle car.

I have also been given high speed rides in the X5 (100 mph), X6 (143 mph), and the Cayenne (100 mph). And they felt awesome going around roundabouts and curvy roads.

The Cayenne Turbo can out-handle many sports cars and sports sedans. And now there are the X5 M and the X6 M. I am sure they handle quite well.

3/22/2010 5:27:52 PM

It can't outhandle any sports cars or sports sedans that cost anywhere near what it costs.

[Edited on March 22, 2010 at 5:52 PM. Reason : I've said before...it's an incredibly impressive machine, but it's fucking stupid and pointless.]

3/22/2010 5:52:29 PM

well wouldn't you just know it:

Quote :

"The craziest damn thing you'll hear today: 80% of BMW 1 Series owners think their car is FWD No, this isn't a joke. Really. Automotive News reports that BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer shared this statistic during a call with analysts last week. It is unclear where this information came from within BMW, but it still comes as a staggering surprise that 80 (eighty!) percent of 1 Series owners believe that they are living with front-wheel drive. As we reported earlier, BMW is planning to bring front-wheel-drive vehicles to market in the near future, and the automaker is worried that it might confuse customers by adding these new products to the rear-drive-only lineup. Guess not. We firmly believe that all current 1 Series owners who think their car is front-wheel drive should hand over their keys immediately... to us. "

Fucking idiots



http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/23/the-craziest-damn-thing-youll-hear-today-80-of-bmw-1-series-o/

[Edited on March 23, 2010 at 1:50 PM. Reason : b]

3/23/2010 1:49:43 PM

Breaking news: Most people don't care.

More at 11.

3/23/2010 7:08:14 PM

Well, if they live anywhere that it snows from time to time it'd be good to know what the drive wheels are.

lol.

3/23/2010 7:31:40 PM

It's a BMW, it already weighs enough that putting additional weight over the drive wheels is unnecessary.

3/23/2010 8:41:05 PM

apparently 1 series owners don't know the difference lol

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/23/the-craziest-damn-thing-youll-hear-today-80-of-bmw-1-series-o/

3/23/2010 9:57:01 PM

^ OMG that's crazy. I've never heard that before or even seen any sort of reference to it.

3/23/2010 10:03:25 PM

^^good to see you're too lazy to even read FOUR lines above where you posted

3/24/2010 8:11:23 AM

good post sumfoo

3/24/2010 11:19:50 AM

Damn...where did you find that gem sumfoo? thats funny although expected.

3/24/2010 11:34:35 AM

Why the hell would you buy a FWD BMW. If you are looking for a FWD "luxury" car then you need to head over to the Acura dealership.

The same goes for AWD. If i want an AWD car then i'm going to Audi, not buying a 328xi.

3/24/2010 11:48:52 AM

Quote :

"Why the hell would you buy a FWD BMW. If you are looking for a FWD "luxury" car then you need to head over to the Acura dealership. The same goes for AWD. If i want an AWD car then i'm going to Audi, not buying a 328xi."

Why would you care? If the car is pretty inside and out and has a smooth ride, good gas mileage, good reputation, free services thats all that is required by the average luxury consumer. Nobody cares about the drivetrain except for that its either 2WD/AWD(4WD) other than petrol heads.

Hell most people don't even know that there is a difference between AWD/4WD. Its all the same to them.

The car goes from A to B with a few 'status kills' on the way. And if its priced right it will be a great success for BMW.

[Edited on March 24, 2010 at 12:11 PM. Reason : .]

3/24/2010 12:09:48 PM

Guess this is just like this engineer i knew during my internship at Sony Ericsson. His wife wanted a 5-series BMW, so he took a 3-series BMW and slapped a "5-series" badge on the back. The wife never realized the difference until months later when the auto mechanic pointed out their her 5-series was indeed a 325i.

3/24/2010 12:39:28 PM

http://www.worldcarfans.com/110032525309/new-bmw-trademark-filings-signal-two-new-model-series

some news

[Edited on March 25, 2010 at 4:57 PM. Reason : kl]

3/25/2010 4:57:09 PM

3/26/2010 1:08:37 PM

^ that can't be the new FWD model because that one is AWD.

3/26/2010 1:31:53 PM

Well my completely scientific survey of asking girls what they think BMWs are (in one case having to explain what "front wheel drive" means as opposed to "rear wheel drive" or "all wheel drive"), I have yet to have someone be wrong about the fact that BMWs are RWD. One even thought her Jeep was FWD because it has good traction (in fact it was RWD only), but she knew that BMWs were RWD.

Judging by how well the current FWD BMW handles, I doubt there's much to be afraid of.

That said, look at Cadillac's incredible turnaround of the last decade, which I think was in no small part due to the RWD only vehicles that are worlds apart from what they used to make, or rather rebadge as Cadillacs through the 80s and some of the 90s...

3/26/2010 3:08:43 PM

Cadillacs were yachts on wheels...they should not be brought into the same conversation.

3/26/2010 3:10:37 PM

^exactly, they were yachts on wheels. If you want to be taken seriously as a luxury automaker these days you offer the majority of your vehicles as RWD (and AWD).

Mercedes-Benz
BMW
Audi (while some models are availabe with FWD, majority are AWD)
Lexus
Infiniti
Jaguar
Cadillac

Then you have the 2nd tier luxury manufacturers (and a lot of that perception is b/c they're primarily FWD platforms)
Acura
Lincoln
Volvo

Hell, even Hyundai is ahead of Acura now with their Genesis sedan.

[Edited on March 26, 2010 at 3:35 PM. Reason : k]

3/26/2010 3:34:54 PM

i read page 1 it sucked.... so i skipped page 2
lol

BRILLIANT!

3/30/2010 8:53:24 PM

Quote :

"If you want to be taken seriously as a luxury automaker these days you offer the majority of your vehicles as RWD (and AWD)."

By auto enthusiasts sure. But the general public don't care. They do care that it can give you a swedish back massage while driving or keep you in your lane on the highway. Or you look baller as fuck.

3/30/2010 9:35:51 PM

they care about the driving dynamics of the car.
whether or not they know why it drives better than a honda they still know it does.

3/30/2010 11:14:13 PM

how about the colbalt ss?

3/30/2010 11:20:03 PM

a cavalier is a cavalier by any other name

3/30/2010 11:25:09 PM

even if it is faster than an Evo or STI, lol.

3/31/2010 12:26:30 AM

Are you talking about that super tuner challenge where the factory backed car beat the two less funded but better cars ?

But you are right I'm sure you'd much rather dd a cobalt ss than an sti.

3/31/2010 1:04:43 AM

Nah, just referencing Ca and Drivers Lightning Lap yearly event at VIR, where a stock Cobalt SS was faster than a stock Evo and stock STI.

3/31/2010 9:27:54 AM

U don't gave to have a lot of power to be fast at vir. 'specially if it's north/south course

3/31/2010 10:05:58 AM

Im not saying i would rather drive one.

I would rather drive a 911 gt3.

Im saying that the Colbat SS is a FWD that handles well, and can turn a decent lap time at almost any course you take it to (with driver mod)

Its a plastic piece of crap,

But its a fast plastic piece of crap that can handle.

[Edited on March 31, 2010 at 10:30 AM. Reason : dd]

3/31/2010 10:24:03 AM

^lol...this!

^^I'm pretty sure they use the Grand West Course

[Edited on March 31, 2010 at 10:56 AM. Reason : k]

3/31/2010 10:55:00 AM

Quote :

"they care about the driving dynamics of the car. whether or not they know why it drives better than a honda they still know it does."

luxury sure. But I don't think my mom would say any car drives better than another unless its a heavy ass car. Like I said, this isn't for us but it is for a lot of people.

3/31/2010 10:57:27 AM

Mini platform right?

Thats a pretty hot car.

3/31/2010 1:45:48 PM