The manual gearbox might be living on a serious time overdraft in many parts of the world, but BMW’s M Division has no plans to stop offering it any time soon. When we spoke to boss Frank Van Meel at the launch of the M2 and M5 Competition earlier this week, he said we can expect to still have the option of a stick shift, even as the company moves to its new, modular fifth-generation architecture...
BMW has recently said it thinks up to 40 per cent of the cars it produces by 2025 may be powered by some form of pure electric or hybrid powertrain, and now we have confirmation that M Division is set to get in on the act. "For sure, all M vehicles will be electrified by the end of the next decade," Frank Van Meel, M's boss, told Australian journalists at the launch of the updated BMW M2 and new M5 Competition in Spain...
Well, it turns out I was wrong. When we shot our Kia Stinger 330Si v Holden Commodore SS-V Redline comparison at the end of last year, I claimed that stability control can't be switched off completely in the Kia Stinger. These comments made it all the way to Albert Biermann's office. He's the bloke that was poached by Kia to head the Hyundai/Kia performance division...
I'm sure you all have mates like mine: they love bragging about the acceleration times listed on their brochures. But, in the real world, these times are often only achievable through a sometimes tricky-to-initiate launch control system...
Local details for the 2018 BMW M3 CS have been revealed, with the "most potent M3 ever built" to kick off at $179,900 before on-road costs when it goes on sale in June. Priced $33,000 dearer than the M3 Competition, the M3 CS gets an uprated version of the 'standard' car's 3.0-litre twin-turbo straight six, now making 338kW of power and 600Nm of torque – 7kW and 50Nm more than the Competition Pack...
Customisation is in vogue at the moment, but choice can be seriously confusing. In our new configurator challenge, we’re going to let the CarAdvice team loose on a manufacturer’s website to create their ideal spec of a certain model. For this edition of the Configurator Challenge, we’re building BMW M cars of essentially every flavour...
Last week, BMW celebrated three decades of the M3 Convertible with the M4 Edition 30 Years. Essentially an M4 Convertible Competition Package with some special interior touches and a glut of unique exterior finishes, it represents the zenith of a long line of M-fettled drop-tops. Here, we've taken a look at where that car's lineage began, how it's evolved and where it's ended up...
The next-generation BMW M3 sedan has been spied for the first time, with the car undergoing testing on public roads in Germany. Spotted (completely by chance) by the head of our spy photography agency, he only managed to snag some photos of the new high-performance sedan from the rear...
The BMW M3 CS has been revealed, adding yet another variant - albeit in limited numbers - to the Bavarian manufacturer's sports sedan lineup. In similar fashion to the M4 CS, the M3 CS sits one rung up above the Competition Package variant, bringing more power, a more focused look, and extensive use of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP)...
BMW has revealed its its new M Performance parts for the new-generation M5 super sedan, along with a special M3 30 Years American Edition for the US market. Set to be displayed at the 2017 SEMA show, the M Performance parts on the new M5 have already been previewed by the new MotoGP safety car, and are all crafted from carbon-fibre...
The BMW M3 CS has been snapped during testing, providing a peek at the upcoming hot four-door. Like the two-door M4 CS, it builds on the base four-door M3 body with a carbon fibre bonnet and splitter, along with a gurney spoiler on the bootlid. All the same touches feature on the M4 CS...
